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Markings on navy 6 inch projo

A

ali059

Well-Known Member
Want to clean this up and throw some correct markings on it its a carrier 6 inch projo

Only ones on it are vt and very faint m????001

Does anyone know the markings for it I prefer instead of training practice something more realistic. Prob takes something similar to a 5 inch timer fuse or prox fuze?

Thanks for any help!
 
I'm guessing you only want something that looks good, not necessarily 100% authentic?

Anything between what you now have, and this, should impress most people.

Lookee here

358rt39.jpg
 
I can see where your projectile is marked "VT". So, a MK 47 Proximity fuze would be correct but i doubt if you'll ever find one, or even a repro for that matter. If you have a lathe you could make one but the fuze on it now does not look too bad. Simply paint it to look like a VT.

Ray
 
I love it when someone says never...gives me a challenge.

Thanks for the info and picture...

Most 6 inch guns were found on aircraft carriers from my understanding! Not being navy I have no clue to be honest!

No not to confuse anyone, as it sits now Its supposed to be a training round? Is the body the same they used for the actual live ones and if so I would like it to get close as possible!

Although if someone has a pic of the paint scheme and markings that are currently on it would be a deciding factor....

Thanks
 
Most 6" guns were on the mid-size warships such as cruisers. Carriers, generally, were armed with 5" guns, most notably the 5"/38 and 5"/54.

The colors on the photo that I showed would represent the color scheme during WW II and for a few years after. The current projectiles (if there any 6" guns still in service) would use olive drab color in place of the green, and yellow lettering in place of white (see photo below).

If yours was a training round it could have looked excatly as you have it, with the paint removed. A target or practice projectile would have been painted, usually red. Yours appears to have had a green body and possibly a sky-blue ogive indicating the explosive charge (Comp A).

If it was mine, I'd paint it like the one in the above photo, except I'd leave off the white/red tracer band. VT fuzed projectiles usually did not have a tracer. The hole in the base was plugged.

I'd use the WW II colors only because they look better than the O.D.

Good luck on the fuze. I never say never but finding a MK47 is about as close to never as you will get.

Ray
314ugb7.jpg
 
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HI the shell in the pictures are not UK ones Did work on 6" AP, HE, and Marker BL shell many many years ago AP red at the top bronze green on the rest of the body also had a small red band could be Fitted with a base fuse The HE shell was all bronze green with a yellow band and I think was fitted with a N230 fuze Am sure that HMS Belfast has some on board.
Hope this info helps
Steve EX RNAD Trecwn
 
ali059

If you restore the paint and markings on that 6" projectile, post some photos. We'd all like to see how it turns out.

ray
 
ali059,

Nice bullet! The rotating band is in excellent shape for a heavy projectile as old as yours.

Your projectile is painted the color of a standard HE projectile, overpainted with bronze to designate a drill projectile. There should be identification data stamped into the rotating band of your projectile like Mk. XX Mod X and a date. Your projectile is the older WWII style projectile with the shorter blunt ogive. It would have been painted green with one caliber of yellow paint on the ogive along with lettering to identify it, which would include the ID info stamped into the rotating band. The paint job that Ray Meketa shows in his first post would be perfect for an HE projectile of your vintage.
 
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Were you able to find the MK. and Mod numbers and date stamped in the rotating band?
 
ali059

If you do find a source for any original VT fuzes, and there are more than you can use, please let me know. I have been making my own replicas and would sure like to find some originals to replace what I have on some of my projectiles now.

Ray
2nqekh2.jpg
 
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