Dave Shick becomes our newest reviewer with his take on the Trumpeter 21cm Morser 18 in an in-box and partial build review.



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Thanks!

This is very well written and really informative review, Dave. I am really considering getting this kit and now that I've found a good review of it I may just take the plunge.

Thanks for sharing!

Rob

Thanks for the review!
I had the idea to build one of the both big guns, the "17cm Kanone 18" or the "21 cm Mörser 18". But that´s not sure.
Also I have noticed, that both kits have a "small" error.

The both "gangways" (I don´t know the name) are straight in the instructions... but in reality the rear part touch the ground.
But this seems to be no problem, to fix that.
I found a good build-log, and the builder had fixed the problem.

But another error are the missing spades.
There were 3 spade-sets... made up of 4 earth-spades each, a plate and a connection to the base.

The smaller (1/72) Revell-kit has them.

(sorry for my perhaps wrong english )

Soren, could you share that log with us?


Again, do you have photos you could share?

A very good first review and I look forward to many more from you. Well done.

Hi Dave

Thanks for Your review which gave me a few points I should consider as soon as I'm going to build my 17 cm Kanone, which is essentially the same gun with the exception of the smaller caliber.
I also read your introduction with interest, but I have some objections to make in respect of the used tractors. First, I don't know what You want with the Mörserzugmittel, basically a Skoda 35(t) without turret weighing less than ten tons which could therefore tow about the same load as the eight ton halftrack Sdkfz 7.
The 21 cm Mörser was heavier than 22 tons assembled. As far as I can say that's why the Germans had at least one 18 ton Famo Halftrack in the heavy artillery batteries to move the three assembled guns of the Battery from the rearward assembly positions into the firing positions. The Sdkfz 7 were used for towing the gun tubes on their trolleys and the 12 ton Halftracks (Sdkfz. for towing the gun carriages. Of course You could tow an assembled Gun with three Sdkfz. 7 or with two Sdkfz. 8 but this was quite a delicate matter even for experienced drivers and nearly an impossible task while trying to pull a gun into position with a compsiton between 30 to 40 meters (about 90 to 120 feet) in length on heavy ground.
I know, there were heavy batteries which used turretless 38 (t) tanks as prime movers for towing their 15 cm s FH 18 but that was an intermediate solution and the sFH 18 was a considerably lighter gun compared to the 21 cm Mörser.

However, Your review helped me to discover a few important things like the thickness of the springs on the lower carriage and the number of the jacks needed to hoist the gun I didn't care about before.

Cheers

Arun Bauer

I'm planning on building an artillery version of Tamiya's Famo so that I'll have an appropriate vehicle to tow the 21cm howitzer. Bit of a challenge getting the extra seats and rear stowage lockers, but hey that's part of this wild 'n wooley hobby!