 SMJmodeler wrote: |
| redleg12 wrote: | |
Great shot Mike, I love the combo of camo colors! The weathering should make it even better! I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with the hydraulics and those huge joints for the legs behind the wheels. | redleg12 wrote: | |
Questions: Are the legs so huge for counterbalance or recoil support?...or both? Does that plate at the end of the legs get driven into dirt? What if the dirt is really hard or there's no support vehicle to assist?...would this baby just roll way back after firing in that case? Does the anchoring, or lack of, effect it's range and/or accuracy?...I suspect yes..but how much? |
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OK....Lets answer these one at a time
Are the legs so huge for counterbalance or recoil support?...or both? Yes....The longer "trails" help counter balance the load when towing. Also because of the design, a front base plate to pivot, the longer legs give better support during the shock of recoil
Does that plate at the end of the legs get driven into dirt? Yes...the "spades" are intended to be dug in.
What if the dirt is really hard or there's no support vehicle to assist? If the dirt is really hard or emplaced on rock, the spades need to be "blocked and braced" to prevent the gun from moving. This could be done with logs. The weapon is normally towed by an M9oo series 5 ton truck or now the new LMTV series 5 ton. If the weapon is "air assualted" and no vehicle present the crew would just have to hup it.
In general, the battery commander during his recon of a new position would evaluate the ground conditions and try not to emplace where it could not be dug in. If there was a situation where this was impossible, he would normally request engineer support as part of the battery occupation of the new position.
would this baby just roll way back after firing in that case? If the weapon was not supported, the gun would encounter "displacement" or move each time it is fired. The crew need to determine displacement after each round that is fired. After reaching a maximum, the gun would have to be "re-laid" or re-surveyed. This is not a situation you want to be in.
Does the anchoring, or lack of, effect it's range and/or accuracy?. Yes...as the wepon displaces, it can change the position of the wepon not only to the rear, but sideways, if the barrel when fired was not on center with the carriage.
I suspect yes..but how much? Yes for sure.....how much it is off target depends on the amount of the displacement, the range you are firing at and if you are firing high angle or low angle. When firing high angle, the "range probable error" is higher since the round ins in the air longer, goes higher and is susectable to more atmospheric conditions. To give you an idea, the PE at low angle and 5,000 meters in range is ~20 meters at high angle and range of 25,000 meters the PE is ~105 meters.
Couple that with displacement and you could be off by a few hunderd meters.
Artillery relies on survey, ballistic calculation, meterorlogical input and other factors to shoot long distances accuratly. It's not a tank where you can see the target and shoot it. You may be shooting over a mountain and hitting a target on the other side.
All of these inputs are put into ballistic formulas to calculte the "deflection" azimuth and "quadrent" elevation for a specific round type with a specific powder chage.
Hope this helps
Rounds Complete!!