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

[Gern]

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?

That'd be good! I read somewhere that it took around 2500 men to assemble and fire this thing!

Edit: Late again!

 

[JR]

God the noise it made when firing must have been horrific.
I'm in please, what a size , really shows that when you add the panzer.
Looking fwd to watching this .

 

[therapy]

I'm staggered by how much you achieved in a week Dave! That's some going.

I'll enjoy following the rest once you get back to it....

Nick

 

[BattleshipBob]

Superb, must have taken ages just to locate a part on all those sprues lol

 

[Jakko]

Actually, I hate painting figures and even 5 or 6 may be too many for me to cope with.

Use the quick-shade method: just paint all the bits in their base colour, no highlights or shading, and then add a dark, translucent glaze over the whole figure.

 

[boatman]

WOW Dave i dint know you made a start on DORA brilliant ive been waiting for this ever since you said you had it in your stash an i will be following along to see this monster come to reality an very well done so far
chris

 

[adt70hk]

Now that is something else.

Great work so far. Very well done indeed.

ATB.

Andrew

 

[davecov]

Thanks everybody.

A bit more progress today which might not seem much but has taken many hours.

Twenty walkway supports were cleaned up and glued in place:

Each of these assemblies are made up of more than 30 parts and eventually they will be glued together and attached to each end of the mounts holding them together:

The Power Centre which was home to a diesel generator to provide electrical power for the gun's systems. Cleaning up of the handrails and steps took ages and the whole unit is now ready for painting:

Before I can start on the painting I had to fit two ladders. This was not as easy as it seems especially as the instructions weren't very clear as to the actual location of the top of the ladders. I found a photo online that solved that problem:

I wasn't going to do any filling before the New Year but as I have made faster progress than expected I got the filler out. The two loading ramps shown have to be glued to the loading table decking and the Power Centre will be attached to the cross beams between the loading ramps:

They will end up looking like this when finally glued together:

Gun barrel sections were also filled:

That is all for now

Dave

 

[Airborne01]

That'll do! Looking forward to this beast!
Steve

 

[adt70hk]

Oh my......

 

[Tim Marlow]

Fabulous work. Looks like ‘Ol’ Dora’s going to rule your life for quite a while…..

 

[davecov]

I'm not that sad, Tim. I have just five days left to work on Dora before it is left alone for possibly a month or more.

Dave

 

[Ian M]

That is a big hunk of plastic!
Just the kind of thing I could fall for but I could never survive all those bloody wheels and would have no place to display it.
Humbrol do larger tins. you know that right?.

 

[davecov]

Ian, I have been using large tins of Humbrol paints for decades and have a few in use at the moment. However, I am not a great fan of them as the quality of them has been a bit iffy. For example a couple of months ago I was using a larger tin of gloss white for some Concordes I was making and it was awful. I bought a couple of smaller tins and the difference was like night and day and went on beautifully.

Dave

 

[Tim Marlow]

Humbrols have always been like that. For example, I have two tins of coal black, both well over twenty years old. Both are still useable, but while one covers cleanly and easily with a really smooth finish, the other is impossible to get on cleanly and streaks like the devil.

 

[Ian M]

It was a comment made in jest but valid enough. I was unaware of the difference in the contents though.
I have seen that sovereign hobbies, the 'new' colour coat paint owners, also do large tins now. Not sure if all colours but worth a look maybe.

 

[davecov]

More progress to report

Sanding of the filler got underway. Not the most exciting part of modelling but it makes all the difference in the end:

Nearly finished sanding with one cradle and a couple of frames to do:

Yesterday this publication arrived courtesy of The German Railway Society. Some interesting information on some railway guns and Dora:

Once again my plans have been reassessed due to my good progress. I got out the H67 Matt Tank Grey and began airbrushing:

The openings of the lower mounts were painted inside and out:

The power centre was painted as were the ammunition hoists and the inside of some lockers that will eventually go onto the bogies:

The breech and one cradle done:

Buffers painted along with the ammunition ram:

Loading ramp decking done - both sides:

Loading ramp arms painted:

Part of the gun painted too:

The painted parts will be left for 24 hours or so to allow the paint to cure. If I have time I will start glueing them together.

That is all for now

Dave

 

[Jim R]

Hi Dave
More excellent progress. Filling is slow, boring and often fiddly but needs must. Good to see paint.
Jim

 

[adt70hk]

Simply mind-blowing Dave!!!

ATB.

Andrew

 

[scottie3158]

It wouldn't be model making without filler.