Skoda 42cm... One of the big buggers

[digger303]

Fed up with the detail painting on my little car I started something completely different. A lovely artillery piece. I know this is a WW1 build and on the box lid it says 1942 at the siege of Sevastopol . However this particular gun was actually built In 1917 during WW1, but was not actually used. Of course this camo would not be applicable, but I thought to show it.....please excuse the amateur photographer.



Factoid
_{The Austro-Hungarian 42cm Howitzer was probably the most potent artillery piece used by any Army in WW1. Interestingly, it was not conceived as a land weapon, but was originally intended to be used against Naval targets. The first version of the gun was to be used by the coastal artillery of Austria-Hungary, to protect it’s naval bases in the Aegean. Therefore it was mounted in a armoured turret. The first of two was installed near the naval base at Pola. Pretty soon as the war started, the Austro-Hungarian High Command found out that the threat from the sea was less than the demand for heavy artillery on the land fronts. So Skoda was asked to make these coastal howitzers mobile, or at least transportable. Which they did. The result was the 42cm Haubitze M.14. (It is recognizable by the fact that parts of the original armoured turret was used in action.)}

The instructions look simple and clear enough, however I have found that they have their short comings in being not very precise in where some parts should eventually reside.



The sprues look to have very crisp parts attached. Some plastic injection points are a little large and do represent a challenge for clean as they plow into some recesses and some parts aren't as flat as whats needed.




Joining the two semi circles together left the centre with a uneven surface requiring filling and copious filing. At this point I should mention that the plastic is quite hard and requires a fair degree of effort. I can assure you that one slip of the file doesn't ruin it at all.

I put a piece of 1mm card under the join. Being mostly a but join it didn't seem strong enough.


In this shot you can see the prominent seam line needing to be removed.


The barrel is a two piece affair that leaves a gap to be filled. I laid down some masking tape and filled with sprue glue. Now that was a mistake cause it didn't need to be done. As I wasn't really aware that the long piece actually stays concealed and it is only the shorter bit that needs attending to.



I tried dry fitting the barrel together and found the actual barrel ( long bit ) was 0.2mm short. I remedied this by using that flat diamond sharpening plate, placing the flat surface on it and drawing the part along. This flattens all the high spots and also reduces the overall length making it a perfect fit.

Those big bolts on the bottom weren't touching either before and this sorted that as well.


Factoid
_{In January 1915 the M.14 version fired its first shots, at Tarnow in Poland, with great success. During the summer the gun (the other one was still at Pola was used) was shifted around, and used at the Serbian, Russian and Italian fronts. As more guns were produced (finally six), more batteries were formed, and put into action.}

[Twokidsnosleep]

Interesting subject and very impressed by the problem solving
You are flying along

[Timplastic]

That’s a great looking weapon and not a crazy amount of parts but the mould seam is going to make a fair bit of extra work.

[digger303]

So I have cemented most of the parts and can't progress much more until I paint this interior area. It would be a real pain to try to do it later as it will be closed in a lot. Yet a lot will be visible.

Interesting subject and very impressed by the problem solving
You are flying along

Thanks Scott. It's not a big kit though builds big.

That’s a great looking weapon and not a crazy amount of parts but the mould seam is going to make a fair bit of extra work.

Its a chunky one for sure and why not at 105 tonne.

Factoid
Calibre 420 mm
Min./Max. Elevation +40°/+70°
Loading Elevation -1°
Traverse 360°
Weight Emplaced 112,735 kg
Shell Weight (Type M.14/19) 1000 kg
Muzzle Velocity 415 m/sec
Time to assemble and set up 12 - 40 hours
Time to disassemble 12 - 26 hours
Rate of Fire 6 - 8 rounds per hour
Max. Range 12,700 m

You are so right about the mould seams though and there are some you can't see as well. I spent a full day filling, filing and polishing. The plastic is so hard....I'm going to buy a better file set. This Chinese one has 2 good files in it. ...oops I should say usable files. The rest are not good and it would be better to have different grades .

Cheers and thanks for looking in

[Tomcat64]

Well that's a whopper isn't it??

Nice quick build mate - looking forward to seeing how it cleans up and looks under paint.

[digger303]

I put the frame together and it occurred to me if someone in Takom had really thought about how to paint this they would have made the trunions in 2 halves so you could just drop the gun in the frame when your ready.

Wouldn't ya think !
And here is a problem of my own making and I should know better by now.


Mental note Wash the kit !!
I was in too big a hurry....

[Quax]

reminds me of Big Bertha but that's enough about my ex girlfriends...

Looks an interesting kit Digger and you're doing a good job with it, figure out a diorama with this and the car and kill two stones with one bird...

Paul

[Nev]

Whoa that’s a whopper! Stick it in the bath mate if it needs a wash. Btw That’s going to look really good when painted the moulding looks great.

[Gary30]

Imagine being on the receiving end of that?!

Looking forward to seeing this come together

[Kevthemodeller]

What a brute, it's coming together really nicely Digger

[gaz45]

Great guns coming along nicely

[pourquoi61]

Wow one monster of a gun.

[digger303]

After a looonggg lay off, I'm back on this beggar. The kit came with a figure so I worked on this yesterday. It's not a very good figure with seam lines, large gaps and weak definition. I tossed in some sprue glue and it looks horrible.


However with a generous application of some extra thin it blended in well I thought.


There was a huge gap between the shirt and pants, but that now will look more normal.


It'l be a good figure to practice on and I do need the practice.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Good to see you building gain

[digger303]

Good to see you building gain

Thanks. I did actually think that me working in the archive section might have gone unnoticed. How wrong was I !

I decided to use this product from VMS to create some fine casting texture on some parts of the gun. Now I don't know how accurate this would be in reality, but it seemed possible.




It chipped off in a couple of places and I think it is because I applied it too thick. A case of less is more situation I suspect. No masking was necessary as the glue is applied with a brush and any excess at the finish can be easily removed. Clean took very little time. Having said that I should say it is not easily damaged either.
I'm not going to worry about trying to reapply in those chipped area's where I applied way too much. I'm thinking it will be hardly noticeable once painted.

Getting ready to apply a primer and base coat now

I replaced a wheel handle or two and tried to under score some molded on features and sharpened up some groves around hatches and such like.
thanks for taking a look.

[Twokidsnosleep]

You know what they say about a big gun???

Overcompensating got something small, ahem

[digger303]

You know what they say about a big gun???

Overcompensating got something small, ahem

Sorry Scot, but everything is bigger in WA....

[digger303]

I started the weekend with a major paint f*%% up. I mixed my paint Tamiya and Mr hobby AND a acrylic flow improver. Not even remotely noticing this I poured it into the AB and then had many blockages as I tried to persevere me being a bit stubborn and a slow learner.
So I had many small lumps stuck to my paint job. I spent a few hrs once dry going back over the kit sanding, picking and lastly 3-4 coats of pure hardware lacquer thinner to get it to mostly level out. I then got the remaining paint and strained it with a old elastic bandage.


There were a lot of lumps , but I managed to salvage some paint. I didn't realy want to toss it because The mix I made was on the fly and I didn't keep a record of the 4 different paints I used.

I then used kids Magnetic thinking putty also known as Panzer putty to mask up.


Now this stuff doesn't stay in one place for long preferring to ooze down to the lowest point and I did take a while to mask this.


It does remove quiet easily though

The paint looks a little washed out here as the actual model is some what darker. Still the camo came out OK. No Tamiya tape to rip off my paint this time....

[digger303]

Mostly done now. I tried my hand at a bit of weathering, paint fade and some rust.





I still have the figure to do, then I'm calling this done for now. I may go and put it in a diorama one day when I have more room.

Since I went and put Camo on it. It is no longer strictly WW1 more like WW2 so maybe this should be moved ??

[Tomcat64]

Great to see this come together - really nice, subtle weathering on the final pics

[Kevthemodeller]

Looking good Digger that Panzer putty looks pretty runny I've got some of the Ammo Mig stuff but I find it too stiff even when warmed up in the airing cupboard, haven't used it because it so stiff.