Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Given the relatively recent addition of the excellent reference photos provided by Machine's post (found here), I decided to draft a series of technical drawings of the Lewis gun and its various components to be used as printable to-scale plans for those wishing to begin a T-21 build. These were drawn with the most accurate measurements I could gather from the reference photos, done with as little estimating as possible. I did my best to provide dimensions where I felt they might be necessary, while other drawings are meant to be traced directly to their respective material. I will provide images of the sheets here for the purpose of review and hopefully as many suggestions and critiques as I can get to make the drawings as useful as possible. For those of you with drafting experience who would like to have the raw CAD file, feel free to PM me! And for those who feel the current drawings are at least worth a try, I have the 14-page PDF document ready upon request! I myself will begin my first T-21 build tomorrow using the current drawings, progress of which I will be sure to link to this thread. Thank you in advance to any and all help you excellent troopers can provide!

1.%20Parts%20Breakdown_zpsd4mmwjvj.jpg2.%20Main%20Body%20Sec1_zpsvhsavofg.jpg3.%20Main%20Body%20Sec2_zpsitdwexr5.jpg4.%20Main%20Body%20Sec3_zpstnyxh4c4.jpg5.%20Butt%20Stock_zpsnbhppqfu.jpg6.%20PVC%20Pieces%20Sec1_zpshvhip4ni.jpg7.%20PVC%20Pieces%20Sec2_zps5smexljk.jpg8.%20PVC%20Pieces%20Sec3_zpsfiib0mex.jpg9.%20Feed%20Plate%20Layers_zpspqw8ainl.j10.%20Feed%20Plate%20Sec1_zps7db8hzcg.jp11.%20Feed%20Plate%20Sec2_zpsdln6jeaw.jp12.%20Feed%20Plate%20Sec3_zps4medyahw.jp13.%20Sights_zpsyijlq0bz.jpg14.%20Details_zpskcyvsmqe.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you guys for the great response so far! Per Strider's suggestion, I'll just update my build progress on this thread to see if all the work on those drawings will actually pay off!

Right from the start, the PDF prints at the perfect scale, just like I'd hoped:

IMG_6228_zpsk75mwzxp.jpg

I started by piecing together what cutouts needed it, then proceeded to trace them out accordingly:

IMG_6229_zpsa2i9t6e7.jpg

IMG_6230_zpsuquljhwo.jpg

An hour's worth of cutting and several more worth of sanding left me with these pieces:

IMG_6233_zpsgwzv2dbo.jpg

Not having to eyeball the individual layers of the feed plate made for pretty light clean-up to make them stack just perfectly for gluing, which can also be said of the butt stock layers. Speaking of gluing:

IMG_6234_zpsetbdcfvj.jpg

IMG_6235_zpswlprgnlh.jpg

IMG_6236_zpsmnfdkmxx.jpg

The Gathering of the Clamps there is the result of my choice to glue all three layers of the feed cover at once, which can either be attributed to my impatience or my excitement. Mounting that finished piece first will make it possible for the rest of the plate to slide together with ease, so hopefully this will make for a decent starting point once the stock is finished.

Meanwhile, the sheer 1-1/2" thickness of the butt stock will make for quite the sanding adventure as I begin sculpting it to shape once the wood glue is fully cured tomorrow.

My goal today was to finish cutting out and prepping the wood pieces, which I think went well. Word day aside, tomorrow I hope to completely sculpt the butt stock, as well as prep the thinner detail pieces (cut from thin sheets of acrylic plastic) and get them all glued in place.

Again, thank you for the great response! I hope to hear back from all of you who requested either the PDF or CAD file with whatever critiques or suggestions you may have!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's been slow work sculpting the butt stock, but I finally have enough progress to warrant a photo or three, starting with the rather rough way I went into shaping the initial contours:

IMG_6237_zpslfb1jbdh.jpg

Not the most glamorous of traced patterns, but the majority of the work would be done by eye anyway, resulting in:

IMG_6242_zpsshwypnv8.jpg

IMG_6240_zps0yfzujzs.jpg

IMG_6241_zpstgjmv46a.jpg

There still remains a lot of work to be done in refining the more striking lines of an actual Lewis butt stock, but I'm satisfied with where it's going.

One detail I'm a tiny bit apprehensive about would be this piece protruding from the beneath the rear sight that you can roughly make out in Machine's photos:

Rear%20Sight%20Details%203%20Question%20

Butt%20Stock%20Details%20Question%20Mark

I intentionally left this piece out of the drawings due to its elusive nature in the photos. Making an educated guess could warrant decent results (which I may end up doing anyway), but short of etching out the shape and doing some light bondo sculpting, does anyone have any recommendations as to how one would go about replicating this detail?

Thanks in advance for any and all help/comments/critiques, troopers!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cheers bru. It's totally fine when glued with epoxy. Tried and tested. Although I may incorporate the tang into the stock for added simplicity as the kit is refined.

The vertical single screw is actually a single bolt that passes through the stock and is secured with a nut at the bottom, a bit like a coach screw. The side bolts do something similar. This is the famous mk1* butt tang which added the side brackets because of breakages in the field.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Just a note about accuracy: I saw you make reference to two "chisel" marks on the receiver underneath the bolt carrier. In actual fact these marks are détents for the safety bar slide that was present on the original Lewis gun and which are clearly absent from the Lewis that Machine et al inspected.

lewis-4.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...
  • 3 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...