I have it (MTH Bantam Blue Comet)pulling a pretty heavy train with no problems The Rail tank is on a Williams Heavyweight passenger car chassis and the tank unit alone weighs 2.5 lbs . Pretty cool! https://youtu.be/Bde2WKkfzr8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bde2WKkfzr8
MTH Bantams are pullers all right, I’ve got an N&W Class J I call “My little baby 611” that pulls like a draft horse. Too bad they don’t make those Bantams anymore, they and the starter sets they came in were a good deal!
Yes they were,is your rifle a Brown Bess?
I have TWO Brown Besses! One original and one replica in carbine form.
My favorite flintlock musket, stocked like a modern shotgun it fits me perfectly and shoots reliably. Actually I haven’t shot either one in some years, the passion’s not there right now but it might come back. Who knows?
I used to shoot trap (claybirds) with the Bess carbine too! PULL!
Full disclosure, that’s not me in the picture, it’s one I downloaded.
Nice!do you have to prime the frizzen with 4f powder?
Typically I did. As a sport shooter speed in loading wasn’t a problem so I had a separate flask with 4f priming powder.
Historically the Brown Bess like all military flintlock muskets of the time were primed with the same powder that was in the cartridge, usually the equivalent of modern 2f black powder. If the lock and the flint were good it didn’t make much difference, if any at all, I’ve tried it myself and it works. Modern re-enactors prime with the powder from the paper cartridges they make themselves.
Ok sounds good!
Just in case anyone’s curious here’s that nice young Mr. Brandon demonstrating the military method of loading a Brown Bess. He takes his time with the demonstration but be advised in the 18th Century soldiers were trained to do this in fifteen seconds. Yes, it can be done. I tried it once myself, but only once. There’s no reason to do it now strictly for safety reasons, especially with live ammo. (Unless you’re a re-enactor doing it with blank loads.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YleUgqTFHHQ
By the way, great job on that armored “tank” car! It looks a lot like something the Germans had during WW2.
Actually that’s a bit better firing rate than I suspected. I always heard that a trained man could only fire three “aimed shots” per minute with a muzzle loader.
You ought to o try loading a 1851 Navy fast…not really happening…
Thanks!it is actually a Russian design and features 3 T-28 tank turrets.
I’ve got one of those too. Yep, no way to speed up the process.
One thing that was done back in the old days was to carry spare loaded cylinders. If you’ve ever seen the film “Gettysburg” during the fight for Little Round Top you can see Jeff Daniels (as Colonel Chamberlain) reloading his Colt 1860 Army revolver in just that manner.
Interesting! It’s a beast anyway you look at it!
Three shots a minute was pretty much the case with the rifled muskets of the Civil War period. There was a slight bit of resistance ramming the Minie’ balls down the rifled barrel which slowed the process somewhat.
Smoothbore muskets with their undersized bullets could be loaded more quickly since there was less resistance in the ramming process.
Yes Colts modular manufacturing process allowed the quick change out of cylinder or barrell possible.
Yes the tank superstructure is totally scratch built by me out of 80 styrene,along with the kit based turrets and other details.
I wish someone still made the Bantams. They were the PERFECT starter sets. Scale engines and cars can always come later if the owner decides to go that way, but traditional size is forever!
Yes the performance is remarkable given their entry level price point
Absolutely! A great entry-level package and better than anyone elses, simple and reliable with good track and transformer and no “gee-whiz” electronics to confuse a beginner. The buyer could build on it (which I did) or use it once a year around the Christmas tree if that’s all that was needed.
I wish they’d bring it back as well but I’m not holding my breath.