rnixartillery Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 I recently bought a ZPU-4 from a dealer and had it delivered last Saturday,the gun was one of two that had recently been sold off.The usual story with these being trophies bought back from the Gulf War and most probably stood as gate guards for many years. I had a feeling that all the moving parts would be seized and was not wrong ! the travers mechanism is very similar to that of the Bofors and the elevation running on a ball race the same as the Maxson turret, having restored several of these in the past I was pretty sure that the fastest solution to freeing things up was to get straight into the guts of the gun. After removing the Gun turret I was pleased to see the traverse ball race looking like new and free to turn by hand so it was a case of getting into the Gun turret with the lance to heat the linkage upto and including the hand wheels. Anyway three days later the turret is now fully working which takes it from being no more than a gate guard to being a collectable Artillery piece waiting its turn to be restored. Although it has no real value I have always fancied one of these because I think they are a mean looking weapon and from what I have read were pretty devastating with US helicopter pilots steering well clear of there positions ! Rob..................rnixartillery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rnixartillery Posted November 7, 2013 Author Share Posted November 7, 2013 one more ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
commander Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Hi Rob, nice was this the one at War & Peace earlier this year I looked at that one and was in two minds to go for it but in the end I thought I had better get the ones done I have already Commander Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rnixartillery Posted November 7, 2013 Author Share Posted November 7, 2013 Hi Rob, nice was this the one at War & Peace earlier this year I looked at that one and was in two minds to go for it but in the end I thought I had better get the ones done I have already Commander Chris, Kerry had two for sale ,the one at War and Peace had been blown over with paint and sold (don't know who too ) It was also seized so unfortunately the paint is for nothing if the owner wants to get it freed up and moving again. The one I bought had not been touched so nothing to worry about hitting it with some heat. My one is working a treat now so I guess the next job is to sandblast and paint, it does have all four 14.5 heavy machine guns de-activated. Not sure whether to keep it or sell it on as it doesn't really fit in my collection. It is an awesome piece of kit though ! Rob..................rnixartillery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
private mw Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 nice could do with that on my front garden just a little warning to those dog walkers that dont pick up ! :argh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snort Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 nice could do with that on my front garden just a little warning to those dog walkers that dont pick up ! :argh: You need a paint ball gun, marks them for later!!:-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
commander Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Rob if you come across any spare inert cases for your ZPU-4 I could do with some for my ZPU-1 I have had to resort to making some out of wood Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Hall Posted November 8, 2013 Share Posted November 8, 2013 We've got one of these as our gate guards, XV Sqn, 12 Sqn, 617 Sqn and the Lossiemouth main Gate also have one so there must be dozens of these on bases. The one we have is also seized solid, I had a go at trying to free it but like yours, its going to need some serious heat to free it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rnixartillery Posted November 17, 2013 Author Share Posted November 17, 2013 Got the guns on yesterday ! Rob...............rnixartillery[video=youtube_share;C4B9D5706Y0] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
commander Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Niceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Commander Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulob1 Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 beautiful....lovely machine... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rnixartillery Posted February 21, 2014 Author Share Posted February 21, 2014 beautiful....lovely machine... It is for sale !........................................ Rob.............rnixartillery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matadormike Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Lovely, I don't think the Hawk and Tucano pilots on training flights round here would approve though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rnixartillery Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share Posted February 23, 2014 Lovely, I don't think the Hawk and Tucano pilots on training flights round here would approve though... I live on the edge of Catterick Garrison and I'm pretty sure the Helicopter pilots use my place for simulated battle training what with the Artillery I have outside :whistle:. They are constantly flying around our Farm ! :angry Rob..................rnixartillery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 What's the price tag Rob??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rnixartillery Posted February 24, 2014 Author Share Posted February 24, 2014 What's the price tag Rob??? PM Sent ! Rob...................rnixartillery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Cheers Rob :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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