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Railway gun "DORA" - 1/35 by Soar Art Workshop


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Hello all together.

 

A long time ago… at a place far, far away … I have started a big project concerning the German railway gun „Dora“. I have planned to continue this never ending project several times, but due to some other projects I never had the nerve to go back to the “Dora-project”. I have made lot of modifications and changes to the kit which made lot of work necessary. This discouraged me to continue so many times… so many times I had the “Dora” back on my desk, but never really started to continue finally. Now finally, after some years of pause I want to come back to this work…. 

 

What are we talking about… the “Dora”. It was Hitler Germany’s biggest (often called by mistake) railway gun, although it was no railway gun as it was not able to drive on rails. It was transported in several separate pieces and put together at its final destination. The kit in scale 1/35 from manufacturer Soar Art Workshop was called the biggest plastic kit ever…. And it is really, really huge. Big parts, lot of parts and lot of mistakes. There are many things at the kit that need some modifications or upgrades, some changes which I started long time ago. 

 

 

A small survey of the changes done before are …

 

  • Gun barrel. The gun barrel in the kit is too long and the proportions are wrong. I have cut the barrel in several pieces, shortened each part and put it together once again with an aluminium pipe inside for stability.
  • Catwalks. The catwalks in the original cannon were made of wire frame. In the kit it is made of one-piece plastic walks. I have made new catwalks with mesh and new crossbars.
  • Railings. All railings in the kit are about 10mm too high. I have modified each railing to its correct sizes.
  • Wagons. The gun was situated on 4 long wagons. Each of these wagons consisted of two separate wagons, put together under carriers. The kit provides 4 long wagons. I have cut each and made 8 separate wagons as it is at the original cannon. The running surface was made new of real balsa wood. 
 

Further changes or modificatsions will follow during the further built of this model. 

 

But for the moment, some pictures of the actual state of the kit in the following …

 

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The next steps will be the platform at the top rear of the gun and the engine bay below it. Also I will start painting of the eight railway wagons in the next days.

 

I hope that this might become an interesting project for you, although I want to warn that I will not be able to work on it daily… so the updates will not come every day or week I think…. 

 

But after such long time I will continue now finally :)

 

Cheers,

Micha

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Hi,

 

here are the bogies once again - totally there are four nearly identically bogies now (each consisting of two 5-axled wagons). The differences are only the railings and the chests on top.

 

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Next step will be a washing of the wooden parts.... then salt/water on the wood.... then airbrush in German Grey.... as fist step :) Then some highlights with light grey... drybrushing, washings :) 

 

Cheers

Micha

 

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Update 1:

 

Some of the doors and hatches at the "Kraftzentrale" (engine room) will remain open or at least partly open. Due to that it was necessary to add something to the inside. I have searched wherever I could but have not found a detailed picture of the engine. As there won't be much visible of it I have decided to make it with some parts which I had left from any other kits... some trucks, tanks, airplanes, sprues, ... whatever I could find and glued together.

After that I have painted it in a light grey with the airbrush, then added some colors with the paint brush to it. I think it would be ok inside the engine room....  Also I have added one area ("indside a 1/24 truck tank") with some handwheels, lever and - later - some gauges.

The floor of the catwalk is made with plastic profile (evergreen) and aluminium mesh.

 

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Update 2:

 

The housing received some putty (not yet sanded) and the doors, partly open, with some (not finished) clasps inside. 

On the roof I have added a new exhaust which is possibly visible on one picutre. Also I have added some closed hatches.

The exhaust on the downside of the floor received some new, open endpipes...

 

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Update 3

 

All the 8 wagons and the 4 bridges were painted in Tamiya's "German Grey" first, then I have added some highlights with a ligther grey.

After that a washing with AK Interactive's "Blue Washing for German Grey" followed, also the (hand painted) silver wheels.

A layer Future as base for the decals came next.... 

 

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Next steps - decals, then matt clear coat, then further wathering ....

 

Cheers

Micha

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UPDATE

 

After a layer of Future I have added all the thousands decals of the new peddinghaus-set. This is a lot of work. ... and each decal needs to be cut out ....  

Now some days drying, then matt clear coat to save the decals ... then a little bit of weathering :) (but not much)

 

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The "Kraftzentrale" was first painted inside in a light grey, then outside in German Grey, with light grey highlights. The doors were painted light grey, highlights in white.

Now also a filter from AK Interactive follows, then future, then decals and matt clear coat....

 

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Cheers

Micha

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Hello,

 

some new update of the Dora gun. First the modified gun barrel, ready for a first layer of primer (and maybe more sanding and primering after that). 

 

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The loading mechanismus of the gun got a lot of modifications. The kit parts are realy simplified and need lot of modification. 

I have added some details with plastic profile, plastic card, parts from other kits, wire, .... 

 

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The plattform at the rear of the gun was mounted next, then lot of modifications added. Some made of plastic profile, lot of mesh for all catwalks, modified hand rail and new made plattform left and right of the pillars.

 

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The loading mechanism was painted with Tamiya German Grey, then added some highlights with a light grey and a filter with AK Interactive's "Blue for German Grey" ... 

 

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The plattform after the painting, highlighting and filtering ...

 

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The painted main struts of the gun. The painting of these was a kind of logistical problem as it is really, really big... lot of paint and much to big for my paint booth ...  :) 

Also painted in German Grey, highlights with light grey, filtering ...

 

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The engine room after the paint, some chains added at the hand rail ...

 

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All the painting was made in a cloudy way, so that the black plastic was partially visibile under the grey paint. This gave some first kind of shadow to the big grey surfaces. 

Some light grey was used for adding highlights in the big surfaces, specially at the areas which were in the light.

The bluefilter from AK Interactive is a great product to give some variety in the color and makes it look more interesting.

 

Next step will be some dry brushing of all the painted parts with a lighter grey, then a pin wash with high diluted black oil color.

 

A final layer of future will be the base for the decals, which were made completely new, printed on a very thin decal foil and will be added next :) 

 

Cheers

Micha

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Impressive, most impressive

 

I thought the 1/72 "Dora" was big, guess not

 

Like the sound of the AK Interactive product sounds exactly what I need for when I start paint on my .........eh!........tiny model  :wacko:

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Hello.

 

thank you very much :) Yes, it is impressivly big :) :) Big and heavy :) 

 

the gun mount with add-on parts also received its painting now. First Tamiya's German Grey, followed with light grey higlights and a blue oil color filter....

 

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Also this part will wait for the print of the decals now, then I will spray on a layer of clear coat as base for the decals which follow next.

After a matt clear coat to seal the decals I will start with a light weathering - rust streaks, rainmarks, dust, ... 

 

But now it will pause a few days, as I will be on a bussines trip until middle of next week ... 

 

Cheers

Micha
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  • 3 weeks later...
Hello @ all.

 

Dora received her decals now... not perfect, but much better then before although some are still a bit visible as decals. But after some weathering it will be ok I think! 

 

After the decals are added and a matt clear coat sprayed over it I have added some light grey dry brushing on the wagons, the bridge and the main gun itself ... 

 

So here it is - as it looks like now ...

 

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I think I will not add much more weathering to it .... I am thinking about some beige dust on the horizontal areas, some rust streaks ... but I am not shure. Maybe I want to keep it as it looks like now? What do you think?

 

 

Cheers

Michael

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My jaw is sagging!

Just amazing

Would love to see it next to something to give an idea of size - like a person or piece of furniture?

I'm really only a plane guy ... but ... I  might just look around for one of these ...

Whatever your "loss of mojo" moments may have been, I can tell you that your amazing build is an inspiration to others

Thanks for posting all the construction pics

Doug

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  • 2 weeks later...
 

Hello,

 

the elevators for the munition are also finished now. First I have modified the crane hooks with some wheels inside and a hook made of wire.

On the top of the elevators I have added also two wheels under the winch/engine and glued in place. Some wire cable was glued inside the hooks, then the hooks were hooked in the elevators and the cables spanned to the upper wheels and glued in place inside the winch.

Now follows the painting of the elevators...

 

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Now I wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

 

Cheers

Micha

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Hello,

 

a Happy New Year to all of you! :) 

 

Some first test with the figures .... lot of figures ... Trumpeter, MiniArt, ....

 

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And here they are .. 

 

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And some comparing of the size of the Dora with the UHU glue bottle .... it is really huge :) 

 

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Cheers

Michael

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Hello,

 

a walkway under the gun barrel was made new with some brass tube and mesh... then painted and glued. Looks much bettter then the plastic part I think ....

 

 

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Now some painted figures... not finished yet.... not glued in place yet .... 

 

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The guys need some further painting, weathering as well as the food, the ammunition and the other small stuff ...

 

Cheers

Micha

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Good god this project is huge!  I can easily see why it's taken quite some time, with breaks in-between.  The additional work you've done in wood and brass to add detail and depth to the original kit work is beautifully done.

 

Please keep posting as this develops - I very much look forward to the end result

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  • 4 years later...

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