Looks really Awesome, Mike!!

Looking forward to see more

Had today the chance to look inside the Motorbuch Verlag book on the Überschweren Panzerprojekte THey have a speculative drawing of the P.1000. I saw some pics of wooden models of the Ratte, on has the Scharnhorst turret plus 4 15cm twin Navy Flak turrets on the 4 corners of the hull, the vehice also had 2,5m roadwheels. Maybe an idea for another scratchbuild?

Paul

It felt like reading a novel, going through these hundreds of posts. Amazing work and great input and help from the community! This is modelling!
Keep it up!
/Stefan

That has been key to this build. A community affair.

Thank you for your comments Stefan and welcome to the adventure.

Mike

Been a bit - I've been fiddling with upgrades to 1/16 armor.

I've started the second rail on the turret roof. Styrene rod cut to length for the inside, laid on my height gage, and super glued into place. I think it looks good being a bit thinner.



The rear of the turret pretty much just needs the hatch/door handle and hinges. Rain guard on above the door now. Tom cadded my design and Shapeways printed the curved "vents." Very nice.



Looking good.

Mike

Wow! That's lookin' good! (Can't help wondering if you ought to scratch a battleship to go under it... )

He's building Ratte, remember?

LOL!!!!

Hi Mike,

I've just registered my account just for this thread alone. In the past few weeks i've been reading your thread and anxiously awaiting updates. I love the work you did on this project.

No harm in ratcheting up the challenge though...

Welcome aboard Habbo. I'm glad to have you with us. Don't hesitate to offer opinions or suggestions and those have had a lot of form in this build.

Mike

Nice progress, Mike. Looks absolutely awesome and totally mind blowing!

Looking forward to see more

Thanks Mike,

I'm working on Takoms 1/144 scale kit of this monster, as you might know it comes with two 1/144 Mausër and they look like midget tanks compared to the Ratte. It also comes with 4 AA turrets + turret mounts, but there is only space for two. The Maus turrets and there are interchangeable, as the maus turrets can also be fitted to the turret mounts and the AA turrets also fit on the Maus hull. For now I'm thinking of sourcing some Panther hulls in 1/144 and fit the remaining AA turrets on these, as the Ratte Geschwader probably includes some sort of AA vehicle

While doing research on my kit I came across a build of someone who wrote 'Dieser Tirpitz ist unsinkbär'(This Tirpitz is unsinkable) painted on top of the turret. Another guy made a diorama out of it with a Ratte in the middle of a city named Witten, complete with signs saying 'Witte welcomes the Ratte' and protestors protesting about the destruction of the local roads by the Ratte. But to stay on the topic of how to paint the thing: someone suggested painting an entire Bavarian village on it as camouflage.

And I just learned that Pegasus Hobbies is releasing a 1/144 scale Haunebu II flying saucer, these are the flying saucers on the box art. (not that it is something that's suitable for your build. But I hope some other people here might want to know)

Been away from the Ratte for a little. I've been working on these to an extent:

The Pz. III needs decals and weathering, the Sherman needs weathering, and the others? They all need new paint, details, decals, and weathering. In time...

So, the Ratte turret...

The railing is completed for the turret top. The ladder will be set off the wall (by a couple of spacers). At the top, it will connect to the ladder, also set off the roof, going up to the rail. Now that I'm looking at the picture, I'm hashing out if the ladder is too wide....( ? ). I just may have to narrow it some...



Finish the ladders on both sides, add the angle brackets to both sides with bolt detail (you can see one side's worth is on), make the cover for the vent that would have stuck out of the roof (like the large covers on both sides), and other than that, I think the turret will be close to being done...

Mike

P.S. Habbo, regarding the 1/144 scale Haunebu II flying saucer: If it were larger, I'd be all over it. However, I did recently pick up a 1/35th Lost in Space Jupiter II!

Hi Mike
Looking good.
Your RC tanks - 1/16th Heng Long/Imex Taigen or 1/24th VS/Waltersons?

Mal

Mal, they're 1/16th Heng Longs. The Excavator is by Top Race and is 1/12 or 1/14. The Excavator was for chits and grins...I'll replace all the hydraulic lines and add detail and proper markings...again, in time.

Decals for the Pz. III are in, but I'll wait. I really want to do the ladders and other detail bits. Prime everything up and give it a haze gray coat.

Mike

Hi Mike, I had to look up that Jupiter II but it looks nice. I'll have to add it to the ever growing wish list now.

The turret looks like it's coming together quite nicely. And those Hen Longs look nice as well.. And it reminds me that I have a 1/16 Tiger I awaiting paint, removing all the PIN marks in the tracks and assembling them. Not the most fun part.

Just a little work to the turret base right now. I've added the angle brackets that are attached to the turret and its ring. It extends (for now) a bit to the rear to support the ladders.



Ladder work this weekend.

Mike

It isn't quite matching scale but squadron now has a 1/72 Haunebu II

I've seen. Pretty neat...one I wouldn't mind having.

Mike

It seems like everyone is releasing a Haunebu II. It will only be a matter of time now I think

Little bit of ladder work. The ladder attached is set off 1/8 inch from the side of the turret. The ladder being assembled in the foreground will be set 1/8 inch from the sloped side.



I expect that I'll have the ladder on the one side completed today.

Mike

I would say it would have a command structure similar to Kriegsmarine ships, with a CIC like Dan already mentioned. But it's crew would consist of all the different services, Kriegsmarine (KM), Heer (army), SS and Luftwaffe (LW) because it doesn't make sense to have for example an all Heer crew to have them train on operating the Main Turret. So here is how I imagine how the crew would look like:

• Main turret: KM
  
• Engine room: KM
  
• CIC: KM, LW, Heer/SS
  
• Minor turrets: Heer/SS
  
• Protection detail: KM Marine-Stoßtrupp-Abteilung/LW Fallschirmjäger
  

The CIC is like any CIC in a navy ship, where the highest in command resides with supporting staff like LW and Heer liason officers relaying orders to supporting units.

About ranks: the Commander of Engineering of the Bismarck was a Kapitänleutnant (NATO: OF-3). The overall commander would be a Kapitän zur See (NATO: OF-5) or it's Heer equivalent (Oberst). I'd imagine each 'department' had a commander with a similar rank or maybe a lower rank, as not to make the whole organisation 'top heavy' And I've included a protection detail, consisting of first rate soldiers like Fallschirmjäger or KM Marine-Stoßtruppen to defend the Ratte against attacks by SAS or Resistance/Partisans and for reconnaisance/communication.

(But I'm not sure if the KM Marines were considered first rate, or even second rate. They were involved in the occupation of the Channel Islands, hardly a first rate posting, I'd assume)

Habbo, very much what we've discussed to an extent. It makes a lot of sense. The nice thing is there are figures that match those elements in 1/35 - styrene and resin. I have a couple already in preparation for the day the vehicle itself is done. This will be brought up again!

Finished the one sides ladder and gave most of the turret a primer coat:



One ladder set for the other side. The Heimdall turret came with two small control boxes; I may attach these to the rear slope of the main turret and run a cable from each to the Heimdall mount. We'll see, but I'm liking the idea. Or, I attach one to each side near the ladder for easy "maintenance?"

Hmmmmmm.

Mike