This is also my 638th completed 1/72 scale armor model.
After one year and five months, I have finally completed my 1/72 scale German 80 cm K (E) Schwere Kanone Dora railroad gun.
I spent 99% of my time building her at St. Crispin’s Hobby Day, where I spent many hours assembling, patching, sealing and sanding. I used Mr. Surfacer 500 exclusively on all seams for this model. At home, I spent three days painting her with Model Master enamels through my Iwata airbrush. I started out with a black basecoat over all. That took seven paint bottles of flat black. Next came five bottles of Panzer Schwartzgrau over all, followed by Gunship Grey over the larger areas to modularize the color. This was followed by further modulation using Neutral Grey. I then dry-brushed all the raised details and edges with Neutral Grey. Next I masked off the barrel and shot Tamiya Bare Metal Silver from the rattlecan on the bare metal parts of the barrel. I sprayed three coats on it. When it was dry, I took a very fine sandpaper sheet, wrapped it around the silver part of the barrel and turned it about four or five times. This gave the very convincing effect of turned metal on the barrel; at least in my opinion. It was certainly what I was trying for. Afterwards, I applied a gloss coat over the areas where the decals went and spent the next two days applying decals. Once they were dry, I hit them with a decal solvent and then dullcoatd them. She was now ready for final assembly.
This past Friday and Saturday I took her back to Hobby Day and proceeded to paint the details. I did the wood parts with a weakened wood color; weak enough to see the underlying grey coat. I then applied a strong wash of Burnt Umber mixed with Mona Lisa thinner to bring out the wood grain detail. I was extremely pleased with how the wood came out.
Once all this was dry, I proceeded to build and install all the detail parts, railings and other fittings. This was a long and tedious process, but I got them all done. Then I went on to paint all the unpainted areas where the parts were attached to the sprue; and finished off with some more dry brushing and touching up glue spots with some dullcoat. At the end of this two-day marathon building session, I finally declared my Dora completed.
Now on to the pics:
Here is a shot of the rear loading deck:
Here’s a shot of the front of the gun from above:
This is a shot of Dora from eye level. See how she looms above the viewer:
And this last shot was a fun little shot when someone placed a 28mm-sized (approx 1/48 scale) catapult next to Dora. It isn’t quite the same scale, but it is quite the hilarious juxtaposition of these two:
There she is. My Magnum Opus; even greater than the armored train I did. For anyone going to the IPMS Nationals in Colorado, you’ll be able to see her in person. I had a friend of mine build me a box to carry her and I am so thrilled to be able to transport her so securely.
Thanks to all who looked in and followed my work as I persevered in this massive undertaking. Your words of encouragement and support kept me going, allowing me to conquer my fear of this model and see this through to the end.
Enjoy these finished pics and once again, thanks for looking in and as always, comments are welcome!
