1/35 German Super Heavy Railgun “The Dora” or What to build if you have a spare 6 months..!!
Hi All, I'm a new guy to this site and live in Australia where I have lived for 42 years since moving here from the U.S. ( Springfield MA ) I'm heavily into armor and have a special interest in WW-2 German armor with an even keener interest in their railway stuff. I stumbled across the Soar Art "Dora" kit a couple of years ago and it took me quite awhile to talk myself into buying it as I had heard a lot of unfavourable comments about the accuracy of the kit. However I bought it anyhow as it was my intention to simply build what I had and not worry if the barrel was too long or the rail trucks not set up correctly etc etc... So what I have built is essentially an Out Of Box build where any modifications were to simply facilitate the overall construction of the kit. eg. replacing warped and/or broken parts with scratch built parts. The kit contains over 3,000 parts and is made from ABS plastic which, as I'm sure you all know, is a lot more brittle then Styrene. Just organising all the sprues in some sort of order to commence the build was a feat all in itself..! The instructions were vague at best and I was fortunate enough to have found a reference book in Germany and although it was written in German it was the photos that I was interested in. And to add to the frustrations there are NO decals so again I had to turn to Europe where I found a company in Norway that made a large decal sheet for this rather huge kit . The real gun was painted German Grey and I had read on another forum where someone went through 22 cans of Tamiya spray paint..! Well, that stuff is expensive down here so I found a close color at the local car parts place knowing that I was going to do some weathering to the gun so a dead accurate shade was kind of pointless. In the end it took 4 cans of this paint to paint the entire model at $8.00 a can..! The only added feature to the kit is the figures of crew members to give an indication to the size of the gun and the VW in the forefront is also the same scale..! Sorry all... I'm really raving here so I'll sum up by saying that this kit is not for the faint hearted but after all the hassles that I had with the build I am absolutely happy with the results. If you are a stickler for accuracy you may want to stay clear of this kit unless you are up for a challenge and I mean a challenge..! But if you want to have something in your collection that stops people dead in their tracks when they walk into your display area then this is the kit for you...! Cheers everyone and all the best for 2014. Bob
I saw this build at the 2013 Queensland Model Hobbies Expo, it's an exceptional build and I have a few photo's that I'll upload tomorrow and link here.
Welcome onboard, Bob. What a piece you show us here for starters. Thanks for sharing! /Martin
Wow. At 1/35, just exactly HOW long is it? Incredible.
More a supercell weather warning than a model. Would love to see the shell sticking out of the VW sunroof...
WOW we're do you keep a thing like that?
Welcome to the site too, great build. I guess everything you post from now on will be smaller! Weathering something that large must have taken many sessions. Amazing
Having now seen this kit, I know I did the right thing and left it alone.
You have done a great job there Bob,
For those who wish to know, the barrel is 24" long. the carriage 48" long and the track was 72" long.
A bit to big for the living room shelf.
A very well done.
Welcome Bob, and thanks for sharing the photos. Your patience (and open wallet) certainly paid off. The figures are a great additon in order to understand the real life size of this piece. Enjoyed looking at the photos and can honestly say that I will never attempt to build this kit. I appreciate your effort so that I can enjoy the results.
Amazing piece of Modeling. Brilliant 🙂
Wow! Stunning!
A monument to insanity and talent in equal measure. 🙂
Hello again everyone. Thanks very much for your comments. I found them gratifying and at times amusing..! I see Simon has covered the dimensions of the model. Thanks Simon, it saves me having to climb into the display cabinet to measure the thing..! In answer to the question of where do I put it I'll try to attach some photos of the display that the Dora sits in. It is a "sort of" diorama depicting a ficticious German rail marshalling yard that is a work in progress. When complete it will contain 60+ models, not including figures and well over 22,000 pieces. Did I mention that I'm retired..! So, Tom if you think building Dora was a monument to insanity how would you define this..? :>) Cheers All, Bob
Bob,
I can only add to the praises of all of the above. Absolutely beautiful model and I also viewed your other posting of the marshaling yard. Incredible to say the least. Regardless if you are retired, this is a life's work.
Have you ever considered the diorama as a possible home for the snake?
goodness gracious...that thing is over three foot in 1/72...amazing
Dora the Exploder!
Now this is something a bit different. That thing is huge! Looks amazing Bob, stunning!
I just bought this model at my local IPMS club's yearly show. It was a huge bargain at $150.00 USD. The inner and outer box has some water damage. but all the parts inside are in good shape. The instructions are missing though. Anyone have any advise on where one could find or buy a copy?
Thanks, Derek