5cm

A Subject of Mortars in Miniature.com
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	The Kit: This 1/35 scale subject came as stowage with the Tamiya Protze, 6-wheeled cargo truck, and is also molded in styrene plastic. Not much to say about the basic mortar kit as it only consisted of a two part assembly. The moldings are good despite the kit's age, but there is definitely room for improvement here. Accuracy is not 100%, but it does form a good base model to detail further. Needless to say that it was a very easy kit to build, with part clean-up being minimal.

The Details: Wanting to detail this kit up further, I added 15 parts, mostly in the form of tiny bolt heads punched out with the Historex punch set. I also added the trigger guard just below the carrying handle. Also added were sling pivots for strapping this weapon over the shoulder, and these were made from formed up wire. I also drilled out the tube's barrel.

	The Base and Groundwork: The groundwork is Sculptamold and to this was added stones and Verlinden Static Grass. The partial stone foundation is an Armand Bayardi product and is really a tremendous casting. The bushes are from dried-flowers and Hudson & Allen Forest Litter was sprinkled about. The base is cut from pine and is 3-1/2 inches in diameter, stained and sealed.

The Extras: The Kar 98 Rifle is from a Tamiya German Weapons set, and to this a sling was added along with the required mounting hardware. The sling was made from a thin strip of drafting tape and the 'hardware' being made from thin wire and styrene plastic. The ammo box is an ADV product, cast in resin.

Painting, Weathering and Finishing:
PollyS/PollyScale Acrylic Paints were used throughout. Winsor and Newton Oils thinned with Loew-Cornell Odorless Brush Cleaner and Thinner were used for the washes. Dry brushed in part with PollyS Metalline series Acrylic Paints. PollyScale Acrylic Flat Coat was applied overall to the finished subject.

General Info:
Development started in 1934 and was adopted for service in 1936. By 1943, the LeGrW 36 was determined to be too complex for the intended role and fired a too light of a bomb to inflict enough damage on target, so production was terminated. Gradually withdrawn from front-line service, the leGrW 36 continued in use with second-line and garrison units until the end of hostilities in 1945.

Designed for high angle fire only (not less than 42 º), it is muzzle loaded and trigger fired. The weapon's major drawbacks in service were it's inadequate range and limited effectiveness of it's ammunition. Interesting note is that a total of 555,959 GrW 36 rounds were expanded during the French Campaign of 1940, and at that time, a German Infantry Division had eighty-four 5cm mortars assigned. It's intended role was to engage pockets of resistance that were beyond hand grenade throwing range.

As supplies of the Granatwerfer 36 dwindled during 1944-1945, the Germans often relied on captured French and Russian 50mm mortars, and in most cases, preferring the captured Russian mortars over the standard German issue. The Russian Model 38.40 and 38.41, 50mm Mortars and ammunition were far superior to the GrW 36 in having a range of up to 800 meters. The 50mm continued to be popular for the remainder of the war, simply by the fact that it was easily transported by two men, and it provided the Infantry with a hitting power and range capability greater than any other weapon readily available at the squad or section level.

Actual Data: German designation: 5cm leGrW 36. Caliber: 50mm Length of barrel (L/9.3): 465mm Length of bore: 350mm Weight in action: 14kg Traverse: 33°45' Elevation: +42° to +90° Muzzle velocity: 75m/sec Bomb weight: 0.9kg Maximum range: 520m Rate of fire: 15-25rpm Barrel life: 20,000 - 25,000 rounds Original designers: Rheinmetall-Borsig AG

	Courtesy of Mr. Tom Bebbington

References:
"German Trench Mortars and Infantry Mortars, 1914-1945", Wolfgang Fleischer. Schiffer Military/Aviation History.

"Weapons of the Third Reich", Terry Gander and Peter Chamberlain.

leGrW 365 on display in the Ordnance Museum located at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD (1999).

Sources:
Mr. Michael H. Pruett - United States
Mr. Tom Bebbington - United Kingdom

Unless otherwise specified, all models built, painted, photographed and are owned by the author.
Mortars in Miniature, Created and Maintained by Kevin Robert Keefe, Copyright © 2001 - 2008.
All Rights Reserved.

	German 5cm Mortar, Granatwerfer 36 Comments, suggestions, additional info?