After almost 3 and a half hours work the gun on the dragons 88 is almost finished.



The gun alone has over 100 parts,plastic and metal plus 2 chains.
This kit is amazing hopefully i can do a online build with weekly updates as i progress.
if your thinking about buying this kit,what the hell you waiting for,go out and get it :-)
cheers karl

Loks good Karl, not sure the loading tray would be able to sit half way up though.

Vinnie

Pretty cool! I always wanted one of those I wish i could get one mailed to me.

yeah,i like it.i saw the kit today at my hobbyshop,looks really good.this is going to be in the dio with the famo right??

close, its going to be in a dio with a 8 tonne Sd.Kfz.7.
i found out the famo did not pull any 88s.luckely i found an old Tamiya kit from models in motion,got it cheap as well :-)
cheers karl

ok ,sticky was right :-) in the other thread.i looked it up and it was the 8 tonne sd.kfz.7 who pulled it indeed. we learn we learn :-)

Hey Karl,

with regards to the Sdkfz 7, ModelKasten do some replacement wheels and tracks that really do help redress one of the major drawbacks of the tamiya kit. If you can get hold of the Eduard PE as well, you can really turn the Sdkfz into a very good kit, one that certainly does not show it's age....good luck with it and looking forward to the pics.

Regards from the Swamp

Hawkeye

That's pretty much what it looks like in this picture. And looking good Karl. I'm almost that far with mine.

I had that baby in my hand yesterday at Craftec Hobbies in CT. There's a few of them in stock there.
I didn't grab one because I'm gearing up for that "Wheeled" Campaign".

Cary, the pic you have shown is probably not a gun that is actually in use and therefore doesn't really prove a lot. It's amazing what you positions you can get things to stay in with a few coats of paint and a bit of rust. I'm not saying it can't be in that position, I really don't know that much about the gun, I just want to see a picture of one in use.

Vinnie

I'd be grazy for those parts, is it really 100 pieces??
wow Then I have to get that kit in my collection...

Looks good, I can't wait to see it painted.

Greetz H

it's used as part of the automatic rammer system
this is the uncocked position prior to the laying in of a shell -when the tray would be rotated to the horizontal position . This feature (auto rammer) was used, I believe, when the angle of the gun was very acute and close to the perpendicular of the ground, it assisted in the loading of the rather heavy ammo rounds.
The rammer and tray were usually removed by the troops in the field as it was in the way.

Looking good Karl, picked mine up today. I was at World Expo in Boston and had an opportunity to get one 50% off and for some strange reason i didn't get it so it has been kind of haunting me ever since.

Looks great Karl

It's good to here such good things when I have this kit waiting for me to begin on my shelf.

It looks great Karl.. 3 and a half hours did paid off for you.!

I wished I got one of this kit.. time to save up for it..!

maybe this link to my clumsy attempt at this kit will help some
http://www.planetarmor.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1063

I think the position is correct. It's not halfway anywhere, it's against the stops. If you look at any large calibre AA gun, there's usually a similar arrangement (e.g. 3.7" ). It's to speed up loading when firing @ high elevations & it'sdifficult to load the shell "uphill" (even for gunners, who tend to be suprisingly muscular!). BTW the old Tamiya kit had a similar arrangement, but in their case it pivoted. It needs to swing over to clear the breech when recoiling.
I'm currently well along with this kit. If you thought the gun took some time you've only just started! The carriage & bogies take twice as long! There's some serious detail on the bogies, & it's true what they say, you get far more insight into how things were built & worked if all the parts are seperate!
The only thing I would warn builders about is this. You can build the gun & carriage in either firing or travelling mode, but you can't have both (you could with the old Tamiya kit, as it had several parts movable that aren't on the Dragon). If you opt for firing position on the outriggers, you will find you can no longer fold them up for travelling mode (if you opt for travelling, you can of course still fold them down, & only a real anorak like me would notice they're not "locked"). Also if you glue the ground spikes in, you won't be able to attach the bogies any more. This is a shame, because it looks good both ways. I notice on the box art, that there are extending "props" for the bogies when detached, but this option isn't offered. Why?

Thanks Jet, for clearing that up! I have to agree that the kit looks good rigged for travel and for firing, so having built one for firing HERE I'll have to get another one to build in the travelling configuration. By the way Karl have PM'd you about next weekend to see if you're interested.

Vinnie

I've built mine in the transport position w/o gunshield. The gun and cradle have been built, and I'm working my way through the first limber. I'll have to agree with people in that the limbers take way more time to put together than the gun itself. I'm debating how much them to assemble before starting the paint - I don't want to end up with gray peeking out.

Mine will be finished as a piece from Flag Brig XIII, as they were evacuating Finland in September, 1944.

Mika

have you guys seen this one yet
http://www.aaamodel.net/product/LE35053




I'm not a big LionRoar fan but this is the only PE set out there right now

wow,almost more PE then plastic on this one

wow... the gun in 3 hours... that was fast..
i have the kit still unassembled for more then a month now...
pitty me!!!

I got mine built in about a week of working on and off evenings. I'm doing a 'near-eastern front' scene, Germany 1945 with mine.

I built the -36 with gunshield, no loading tray, fuse setters open, using the metal equilabrators, and in firing position. Other than needing to pay close attention to the directions and the crossbars on the underside of the trailers I had no troubles. It is very well engineered and builder friendly kit.


I've still got a couple of fiddly bits and some wiring to add, but for all intents and purposes the build is done.


The build-ups here plus James Tainton's build-blog over on Planet armor http://www.planetarmor.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1063
were very helpful.

Quick question for the 88 experten out there. Were the fuse setters used in ground attack mode? I figure that the Armor piercing shells just blew when they hit something, but wasn't the 88 used -rarely- as an indirect fire weapon in desperate situations?

Mike