Colin Key builds and reviews Takom''s 1/35 scale offering of Krupps 420mm Big Bertha siege howitzer from WWI.



Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

After researching the actual Big Bertha gun, found that the kit is wrong where the ammunition winch is placed. The winch could not be cranked so close to the rear platform, it would hit the ladder. There were a lot of missing rivets, over sized rivets and missing bolt detail. Also the winch drum is poorly detailed with ribs instead of a coil of cable that should run under the main platform to the boom via a pulley system. The directions if followed exactly will make assembly much harder, especially when assembling the wheels. Maybe my kit was different but there were so many seam lines and pin marks to clean up that it was labor intensive. Great subject, but not for the beginner or the person who wants a quick build.

Thanks Kevin, you certainly bring some more issues with the actual historical accuracy of the kit to light. I was more concerned with how the kit went together and while some of the seam line cleanup was tedious it is something present with almost every kit and it still does build up into an impressive imposing model. I did think the hoist was a bit too close to the platform as well but I had not spent the time to research as thoroughly as you did!

Cheers

Good review.

These guns were a major part of the Verdun battle (The Price of Glory is a superb account of the conflict), so I think a fire base with one would be an excellent subject matter.

good model of real "big-bertha" cannon.ww1 still fight.

good review key, like ww1 guns

Colin, Very nice review. I hadn't thought about getting one of these until I read your piece and saw the images. Now I'm interested...

Paul H

The breech area is way over simplified and wrong. I completely redid that area. I too noticed the winch drum. That will be a total rebuild too.... But considering I never thought we would see this piece as a plastic kit I love it !

Love the fact that new kits like this are coming to market but you should check out some of the comments relative to kit accuracy that were posted to the Landships web site. The kit was based off of a 3D model from turbosquid and then slightly modified. Shame that so little additional research was conducted to make it right. While this is an impressive kit and made well, it seems that it is not very accurate. Happy Modeling

Excellent review Colin. Thank you again for taking on this review for me. This kit and the Riich Models Maschinengewehrwagen 36 If. 5 definitely went to the right guy.

Thanks again,
Randy

Any suggestions on figures to use with this?

I don't believe there are any dedicated figure sets, yet, but there are some generic inf figures such as this: http://www.milminwh.com/images/Stalingrad/STG1111-1.jpg , and this: http://www.milminwh.com/images/Stalingrad/STG1113-1.jpg , and this: http://www.milminwh.com/images/Stalingrad/STG1112-1.jpg , and this: http://www.milminwh.com/images/Stalingrad/STG1115-1.jpg . All resin figures from Stalingrad.