HobbyBoss 1/72 German 80cm K(E) Railway Gun 'Dora' (82911) - Demo Build

[davecov]

This is a demo build of the HobbyBoss 1/72 German 80cm K(E) Railway Gun 'Dora' (82911), a 2019 Christmas present from my partner, Aileen. I had promised her that it would be started in August 2020 but Covid, other builds and other issues have meant it has been delayed until now.

It is not just huge in size of kit (it is over 110cm long and 28cm wide) but the number of parts (over 1,760) and the manhours it will take me to complete it isn't insignificant either. I am not going to reveal all of the contents of the various boxes and bags straight away but when I need to open them.

Boxart:


Instruction book contains 44 pages:


Painting Profile:


On taking off the lid, you are presented with a selection of grey boxes containing parts and they sit on top of sections containing lots more sprues:


Helpfully, the boxes illustrate what is inside them:


More boxes:


Photo etch box:


Here I have lifted one of the cardboard partitions to reveal more boxes and parts. I will show these in my next post:


The kit box with an Airfix 1/72 Panther box for comparison:


The Dora box is 650mm (25.5") wide, 400mm (15.75") high and 150mm (6" deep).

BTW, this is a tiddler compared to the Soar Art 1/35 Dora Railway Gun. That has 3,000+ parts, is 5 feet long and costs £800! https://www.emodels.co.uk/soar-art-1...-gun-9511.html

That is all for now.

Dave

[davecov]

Some more photos of the contents now. They are crisply moulded in a toffee-coloured plastic and are flash-free. There are also a few photo-etched parts. I will describe them in more detail when I start construction.





























I have spent some time reading research material and the instruction leaflet time and time again but construction won't start for a while yet. There will be a lot of painting required and I have just had a delivery of H67 Matt Tank Grey - twelve tins worth. Not sure that they will be enough for this build but it's a start!

That is all for now

Dave

[davecov]

The photos in the first two posts were taken in October. However, the passing of my partner's mother in November and me contracting Covid-19 for a second time have meant that modelling hasn't been at the forefront of my mind.

Last week I was able to get started on this build and to assist me, six weeks ago I purchased this book "Deutsche Eisenbahngeschütze. Rohr-Artillerie auf Schienen" by Gerhard Taube. It is an excellent book with over a hundred pictures of the Schwerer Gustav during it's assembly and operations. I am having to learn German rather fast in order to get the full value from this book:


One of the pictures in the book shows a breakdown of the major components of the gun:


I spent some time removing all of the plastic bags and foam and was left with this lot. The parts are moulded in a slightly soft, sand-coloured plastic which I discovered early on does not like heavy treatment with sanding sticks:


Sprue A - there are eight of these which means a total of eighty wheels, eighty leaf springs, eighty axle boxes and forty axles:


Sprue B - there are four of these:


First job was to clean up the eighty wheels and forty axles:


It was mind-numbing stuff and took many hours:


Eventually, I got them finished:


Then it was time to clean up the eighty axle boxes:


The eighty leaf springs undergoing some cleaning up. They are going to take a long time to do:


The frames weren't left out either:


First bit of cleaning up is now finished:


That is all for now

Dave

[davecov]

Some more progress to report.

The eighty Axle Boxes were glued to the outside of the frames:


The Axle Springs were cleaned up:


They were glued to the inside of the frames:


The four intermediate carriers were cleaned up:


Steps were glued to one end of each carrier and pairs of supports were glued to each side of the carriers:


The doors were glued to the sides of the Kraftzentrale (Power Centre):


Components of the gun barrel were cleaned up:


The breech block was assembled. There were a total of twelve pieces of metal that had to be glued inside as a counterweight for the huge barrel:


The barrel assembly from tip to tail is 60cm long:


The cleaning up of parts continues. Six of these have to be fitted to each side of the two lower mounts:


Some of the parts of the recoil absorber assemblies have been cleaned up and glued:


More parts of the recoil absorber assemblies have been glued:


All of the parts that have been glued will be left to dry. Filling and sanding of them will be carried as necessary.

That is all for now

Dave

[davecov]

Lots done today.

First of all it was handwheel time. Here are 224 of which I will be using 216:


All removed and ready for glueing:


Three down, 213 to go:


I was worried that airbrushing will be made more difficult with the handwheels in place but seeing how awkward fitting them later will be, I think I have made the right decision:


Finally finished glueing handwheels after three hours work:


Two ammunition hoists and other parts for the handling gear:


Wherever possible I am glueing smaller pieces onto the larger sections. Here are some lockers but unfortunately one of them has pinged off into orbit so I will have to scratchbuild another:


Yet more parts needing cleaning up:


There are seven pieces that form the base like the one in the photo below along with two end pieces:


The base pieces flex so much that they cannot support themselves, let alone the whole railway gun. I will be putting plastic card and balsa strips along the underside to brace the sections and put them onto plywood.

That is all for now

Dave

[davecov]

The cleaning up of parts and glueing of sub-assemblies continues!

Two shell handling trolleys have been assembled:


Lifting hooks glued and parts of the ammunition hoists assembled:


Four buffer beam assemblies completed and ready for painting:


Handrails were glued to two of the vertical hoist frames:


Sixteen levers cleaned up and ready for fitting to the bogie frames:


Handles glued in place:


Here I am assembling twelve lockers:


The lockers were glued to each side of the lower mounts:


Note the Airfix 1/76 Panzer IV shown for comparison. Although the Dora is 1/72, it still gives a good idea of the size of it.

BTW, the Panzer IV had been in storage in my shed for ten years until today and the paint finish has been affected. This is what it looked like when I finished it:



That is all for now

Dave

[davecov]

Lots more done yesterday and today.

I spent quite some time cleaning up the joins of the gun barrel sections and worked on the recoil assemblies which are dry-fitted at the moment. The Airfix 1/76 Panzer IV is really dwarfed:


The trunnion bearings were glued to the cradle. At the moment you can still see some joins but most of them will be hidden by other pieces:


Photo etch time. There are a lot of walkways that have to be assembled and here I have done the Power Centre ones:


Some smaller parts that aren't fitted until near the end:


The bogies PE was fitted with the assistance of lots of clamps:


Some of the PE for the long walkways that go either side of the lower mounts:


Work has started on the walkway PE. It took quite a time as I had to glue the PE a couple of pieces at a time:


The last PE sections have been fitted:


Handrails were then glued to the walkways:


The two halves of the two loading ramps were glued:


Supports for the walkways were glued in place:


Close-up of the walkway supports:


I am reaching the point where I cannot assemble any more without filling, sanding and painting. However, I won't be starting that until the New Year.

That is all for now

Dave

[davecov]

I couldn't resist dry-fitting many of the components to get an idea of the size of this monster.

The loading ramps and hoists:


Cradle, recoil absorbers, mounts, trunnions, gun and breech:


You can see how far the bogies extend beyond the mounts:


It's that Airfix 1/76 Panzer IV again:


That is all for now

Dave

[davecov]

All the above has been achieved in a week. However, I won't be doing much more over the next few days and as I said earlier, filling, sanding, priming and painting will not start until the New Year.

That is all for now

Dave

[Andy the Sheep]

Wow, Dave! I thought my 1:72 Leopold (built in my teens) was big but... that's a gun! Probably almost useless in 1:1 scale even in those times :surprised:, but a great piece of engineering... and a great modelling feat for you!
I will follow your build with interest, no matter how long will it take both for the unusual subject and to get the answer to the question you raised in your second post: will 12 tins of paint properly cover all that plastic or a further supply will be needed? :anguished:. Humbrol is hoping for the latter .
Andrea.

[Tim Marlow]

Wow, that’s simply huge! It will look absolutely superb when done. Enormous amount of repetition in the bogies though. Must have driven you loopy…..

[Guest]

That is almost a ridiculous kit Nothing but praise for you for being able to get through all those parts for the bogies and other repetitive bits. Just one question: are you going to add a full crew too?

[outrunner]

That is some job you have there with that kit, well done for taking it on.

Andy.

[Jim R]

Hi Dave
Well that's what you call a kit. I'm glad you included the tank for size comparison. Looks as if a huge amount of work has been done and yet there are many, many hours of work left.
Jim

[Dave Ward]

Dave,
that's a real monster!!! How are you going to display it, and transport it?
Dave