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

[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.

[davecov]

Progress was good today but not without a mistake or two. A good painting session though.

One mistake was scraping off the paint on the outside edge of the loading ramp decking which I then covered in glue:


As you can see, the loading ramp arms when glued did not extend to the edge of the loading ramp. I had to wait for the glue to dry and then scrape it off and repaint :


There was a problem with the three cross-beams that the power centre hangs from. The fit of them is very week so I added plasic card strengtheners:


I repainted the edges of the cross-beams, ramp arms and decking:


The cradles and some other parts got a second coat of paint:


Even more parts:


The underside of the bogie decking was painted:


The top decking of the intermediate carriers was glued to the lower sections. Six boxes were also glued to the decking:


The inside of the intermediate carriers was painted as were the recoil absorbers:


Last night I glued the two halves of the mounts and today I began painting:


Both mounts have been done apart from sections that I am using to hold:


That is all for now

Dave

[boatman]

HI Dave coming on great an lookin very realistic in a monstrouse way an im enjoying seein this fantastic gun come togeather
chris

[davecov]

Thanks Chris. Make the most of the build for the next day or so because I will be taking a break from Thursday and won't be returning to this build until about the middle of January.

Dave

[adt70hk]

Dave

Great work so far on what is a massive undertaking. Wouldn't even know where to start with something like this.

Keep it up.

ATB.

Andrew

[Guest]

I take it that means you’re not going to be building one for your wargames army?