Don't know why the pics aren't here





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Wow your build looks great, haven't seen it before. How big is it? It most be absolutely massive.

Jakob

The crane, for loading the ammo(I mean the separate one) is brilliant!

Jacob ,it is very big. The track sections are 42 inches .This is about 2 1/2 ft long. The barrel is about 1 1/2 ft.

Matt thanks for the nice comment. That crane was a real bear. The pulley and hook are scratch built as I lost the kit ones. The kit had the ammo cart but I wanted ammo in the air so I built a another ammo sling.Then try to put the wire correctly ugh!!!

next I will add camo to the carriage. Then to the generator unit.

It is starting to pull together. Can't wait to get it on the wall. I made one(of many) mistakes. I should have waited on the crew figures. I may have to break and redo arms .

It is not going to be a contest piece but it should look good in my Artillery Room

In the very near future I am going to do a focused how-to blog on building custom ladders and other ladder type structures. On this build however it looks like you have your problems solved in that department.

Good project, will follow your work with interest. You are getting me interested in building a BIG GUN. To date the biggest thing I have done is a 155mm US.

Here is a link to a similar ladder building project:

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/196219&ord=&page=2

HELP ME MAKE A DECISION!! YOU HAVE 24 HOURS TO GIVE ME YOUR OPINION.
The 28 cm rounds for my gun are painted(by me) a very dark grey black. I got a set of German decals for projo marking bu they are black and will barely if any show.
Should I forget it or should I paint the rounds a shade of gray?

Now another subject
THIS IN THE USA IS MEMORIAL DAY,A DAY DEDICATED TO THOSE WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR LIVES FOR THIS COUNTRY!
I am flying (from top to bottom) Old Glory, my US ARMY retired flag and last my Ist Cavalry Division Flag( Garry Owen!!!)

so I propose a toast to those who have fallen( I remember to damm many)!!!
TO ABSENT COMRADES!!!!

Keep the rounds the color they are. The decals may be a close match, but not an exact match.

Rangers lead the Way! To my fallen Brothers in B Company, 1/7 Cavalry, see you in Fiddler's Green.

Remember them all and Have a great Memorial Day

To my grandfather. Two tours, WWII and Korea on a destroyer. 88 years old and not expected to survive the month.

Hi Lou ..I researched the color for these shells quite a few years ago and I came to the conclusion that they were more a field grey color which is quite green .

http://www.tankworkshop.com/Shop/picserve.cgi?picserve=german/1082Full.jpg

Rick

That would be the MM enamel field grey. The Tamiya offering is too green.

Bonjour to all! The Memorial Day weekend is over. One plastic cabinet for garage,50 18x18 red brick patterned pavers purchased and hauled home and set in front of shed/barn,3 Hydrangeas planted and a bunch of gallon paint cans moved at the bosses directions.

So it is Tuesday and guess what I got more work done on my 28cm Railgun LEOPOLD
Pic one is the new German Grey painted round. Opinions on color. I used this as it will show the round markings details better. The decals are black. Pic 2 is how I glued the rounds.powder canisters and brass shell casings to sprue in order to paint them easier and better.
Pic 3 thru 13 are of the gun,the aft truck with generator unit all with the redbrown german camo. No in a few spots you will note incomplete coverage, I will be touching them up to cover brush strokes etc,















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Lou-- really nice job, great photos...well done
DJ

I used Tamiya XF-22 RLM Grey on the rounds,with AV Brass for the Brass canisters,and the copper rotating bands.
I used Paddinhaus decals for the lettering on the rounds ,powder canisters and powder bagsI used AV matte acrylic to dull the decals.
I used chain from a hobbyshop for the chain on the Generator unit. To my eyeball it looked more realistic.

The photos show a mock up of how I plan to display them.I have a full service charge on the loading cart, a full service charge on the basket hanging from the crane finally I have a ready pallet that will sit in the ground, With rounds,powder bags, canisters etc. I plan on having figures working on the rounds.

I also put chain on the generator unit. As you can see I put the carriage onto the generator truck to my surprise it fits great. I also put a brass canister on the eject holder,it will be waiting to be thrown over the side.



































Finally I need a suggestion. The aiming platform is to small to put a figure there. It has a roof and a floor. I am thinking I detach the floor and re glue it lower so as to put a figure there/That seems easier than cutting a figure/


Thank you .

The crane's cable should be straight, especially when it is under tension. The chain is a nice touch.

Nice work so far!

It has me convinced to add this to the want list.



~ Jeff

If you read my entry above,I asked how to make the figures fit. WELL I an very embarrassed to say I goofed! I was looking at it this afternoon trying to figure why when I did something similar to READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!!!!!
I opened the K-5E Photo book. Then I noticed that the platform was not attached high like you see in the photo,it is suspended almost to track level.

I used de bonder to release the whole thing. Patience and it came apart. I will post pics of the rebuild.
My advice RTFI!! Read The --- Instructions!

Ok,I was able to de bond the incorrect gunnery platform. I cleaned it up and redid the platform. I mocked it up here so you can see that the scale figures will now look good.

I will glue it about last as it will be delicate and break easily I scratch built parts and hopefully you agree it looks military/industrial.

Here are some photos.

There's more to this kit than I imagined.

Nice work.



~ Jeff

A quick up date. I was trying to get my ladders to fit and work. Well the tiny bits of stryene kept snapping and it started to look like carp! I just went on e bay and for $20 I got the Eduard kit(Eduard wants about $36 in cost plus shipping/ good deal),I messed the first one up buy trying to drill out the tiny ladder holes to fit the stryene rods).WRONG APPROACH!!!!

I got some very thin brass rod that will fit in the factory holes. I will make put them through then cut to length.I will also use epoxy so things do not move later.Right now I am sanding and scraping the old plastic and glue off.Thank heavens I decanted a can of Tamiya spray Dark Yellow. If you recall the bottle of Tamiya Dark yellow did not match the spray.

Also advice to you experts. Thank heavens for Debonder!! I was able to salvage a bunch of ladder bits by soaking them in debonder. Now they are as clean and usable as new.

As I have gotten more and more into this build I have become a perfectionist(well close). That's why I am redoing all my ladders. This time I will do it right.

I am also trying to decide how I want the ready ammo pallet to look. Although I should depict the ready ammo standing vertically,as if you were to pile the rounds on each other you might damage the rotating bands.

More advice ,when I started I didn't pay total attention to the instructions this caused a lot of problems later,ladders,trunions etc. Oh well when I do my next project,the 54cm SP Morser LOKI I will remember.

Happy Father's Day to all!!

Got up early,wife got me a really nice Notre Dame polo shirt. My alma Mater!

She decided to go swimming,so I was able to spend all day working on the ladders of the K-5E Leopold. These ladders have been so frustrating. Why did Dragon make the ladder rungs so flimsy and impossible to cut of the sprue!!! WHY WHY WHY?

Ok, I bought the Eduard photo-etch and tried t drill larger holes.ruined it,went on e bay and bought a second one and put it together and I .it looked like crap.Pic 1,2,3,.









I mean bad! I looked at my stash and got out my Plastruct 90725 .5 mm x 2.5mm flat . It is a bit bigger than te Photo etch but thinner and more to scale than the kit. I also got some thin rod. I made a jig to drill ladder rung holes and using my Dremel I drilled out the ladder rung holes. Pic 6,7,8,9,10,and 11.













After lots of breakage finally got them done. Rounded corners ,were made by cutting the square and sanding.I used plastic weld cement with this siphon dripper thing. Worked very well, They may look a bit well not perfect but when I paint them and sand them they should look ok. After all in combat things get damaged and beaten up. I remember jeeps and guns etc after a fight. Broken windshields, fenders atc. Holes. Very few in me thank heavens.

I bought another Verlinden ammo kit. I want to post the gun as if there are ready for multiple fire missions I put them on my sprue paint jigs and painted them with Tamiya RLM Dark Grey Acrylic paint.Pics 12 &13. I painted the shell canisters with Rustoleum Gold metallic paint from a spray can I had in garage. Much better than the brass acrylic. I then paint the other 4 canisters the same, I think they look 99% as good as the brass ones I got from Germany!







While waiting for the ladder kits to arrive,I decided to try the German Uniform Archer Dry transfers and decals.After prepping with Future,letting it dry overnight, I put the Black,red white shields on each helmet, also the German eagle on the other side. They went on ok but my hands are too big and I am glad they give you extra.I used some of the dry transfer shoulder boards, , I put a thin layer of Elmers glue Too, Then I carefully cut out decal shoulder boards and put them over the dry transfers. They looked pretty good. Then I put on collar boards and hat emblems, also the division cuff things, even an iron cross or two, , NCO chevrons etc. For purists please note used some SS and others insignia,I used insignia that shows up best. Pics 12 ,13, 14 ,15 ,16, 17, 18 ,19 and 20.















I don't think I will glue the ladders on until just before I display the gun, they break too easy,

I plan on touching up/improving the soldiers,arranging the ammo pallets. etc. I a;so have to buy a shelf to hold the completed gun! Hope this helps if you are planning to build this baby!

The ladders look spectacular! I can see some seem lines, on the figures; specifically the last three photos.

Hi all, progress to report. I have written a long piece on ladders in the Scratch builders part of the forum. If you cannot see it there let me know and I will post it here.
Suffice it to say I finally got the ladders looking ,I think, GOOD!!! Here are pics of the ladders.










I hope you can see they are straight and not warped like my other attempts.

I stopped by Bobe's Hobby shop and found more stuff. I bought some HO railroad trucks/wheels/. I also bought a shelf to ut the model on. How to pose it. I decided I wanted to post it with an ammo rail wagon. It will fit and ride on the rail road track and is hand pushed by troopers. I got flat stock,glue and well here is the result.The final pic shows a soldier/arms temp off when finished the cart will have ammo on it.I used a flat sheet of stryene,then used l beams to wrap around it. I cut notches in the L beam then bent it,I also carefully melted/almost/ a rod to make the push assy. I laid flat stock to simulate wood. And i used some Popsicle sticks for the sides where I have the axles

I used the ho trucks and painted them I had planned to use one soldier But the second one /soft cap/ looks better, I pulled his arms off and his hands look better. I had to drill out the handles and shorten them,better looking for scale

I also used some of the rail trucks on the deck ammo cart, I think it looks good. You tell me!!

.









The ammo cart will be on the same track as the gun,
I got extra ammo . I don't recall if I mentioned using Rustoleum gold metallic to paint the brass parts. It does a good job. Better than brass acrylic.

This topic entry is about ladders.
I am currently building a dragon 1/35 German K-5E 28 cm Rail gun. This kit has a bunch of ladders. All were of different sizes, lengths, and configurations. This is how after several mistakes, I finally got it right
There are several ladders on my K-5E 28cm rail gun. The kit ladders are too big and besides I messed them up. So I bought the Eduard photo-etch kit. I tried to drill holes in the ladders to put rungs through them. Bad idea see photo. Then I tried using very thin sheet stock, looked like junk see photo. Then I saw another Eduard photo-etch on e- bay bought it and while it looked ok, it still was not up to the standards set by all of you. Plus, if truth be told I thought they looked like c—p! See photo. Then it hit me, my problem was drilling holes in tiny pieces of plastic, getting them glued and even. It wasn’t working.
I went to my hobby shop; Bobe’s in Pensacola and bought 3 sizes of Ladders, pre made. When I got home the middle size looked best. But how to make bends .and ladders to fit within ladders (they telescope).
Ok so here is how I did it and the results are great. First I used the Dremel tool with the rotary sanding attachment and carefully sanded the outer edges of the ladder stock to make it a lot thinner. I used the Mark I eyeball. Then hand sanded it smooth. Next got suitable (close to scale) flat stock and got the Plastic Weld glue with dripper. I used the Eduard photo-etch as a guide.
I cut the ladder stock to length, cut out rungs where needed, until I had all the ladders (9) ready. There are 6 side ladders and 2 front ladders. The front required attachment points that look like the letter F see photo.
I laid the sheet stock and ladder on glass and glued the straight tips, I used butt joints. See photos, I used lots of glue, after they dried I used an Exacto knife to pry it up and turned them over and clued the other side. The front ladders required a lot of small straight pieces that when glued and cut look like they are bent. I shaved the edges to make the right angle glue pieces look round. Then I carefully sanded them, so they looked rounded. On the front 2 ladders I had pre drilled holes on the attachment points. Now I had all the ladders, but all were the same width, they were TOO BIG (wide). I used the Eduard kit ladder to get the width of the front ladders. I took a length of plastic rod and cut a piece the length I wanted. How to get it all perfect? Using sprue cutters I cut all the rungs on each ladder at one edge. Now I had 1 edge with rungs and one that I sanded the tiny rung bumps flat. Then I used the exact length rod and held it against each rung. I cut each with the sprue cutter. Now each rung was the same length. I carefully sanded the tip of each cut rung to be sure it was flat. At this point I put the hangars on the appropriate rung I test fitted them and if ok, I glued the rung half to the other piece. Using a right angle glued with super glue as a straight edge, I made sure that the each side of the ladder was even and true. As they dried I also made sure that they were vertical. You can see the result with in the photos.
Note a few of the end pieces came off during sanding and handling. No problem I either cut new ones or just re attached and glued. The curved nature of the front ladders was tricky as I had to cut some at an angle then make straight pieces seem to be a continuous curve. I took the L shape and very carefully cut the angle, then sanded to make it look like a single piece of steel. I think the final result looks pretty good and very close to scale. Now all I have to do is paint them and glue them to the side of the gun.
I hope I have done a decent job of explaining how to make ladders to scale. Hope this helps some of you on your projects. My next project, the 54cm SP Morser Loki also has ladders so I am ready for that too.
I’ll be happy to answer any questions. Hope this was of interest.
REDLEG Scarlet Guidon

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