Hello everyone, took me a while to find a subject on David's GB since you guys are all so fast. I would have liked a submarine but unfortunately, the Lothar-Günther Buchheim book was already taken 🙂
So that brings me to a 1961 movie some of you will know, starring Gregory Peck and Anthony Quinn amongst others:
The story plays in Greece, where an SOE commando is to destroy a huge German radar guided gun emplacement on the fictitious "Isle of Navarone". My father introduced me to this movie when I was a kid. For those interested, the handful heroes of the movie defeat what looks like half the German army. I love this black-and-white movie!
Brings me to the subject matter of my entry: Only last week, I decided to take this movie as a guide for this GB. I researched the large rail artillery that was used in both WWI and WWII to hit targets well within enemy territory. Remember this was a time when missile technology was in its infancy so ever bigger guns offering a widening range were the only option before airplanes became performing enough to offer an alternative. Over the course of WWII the weaknesses of rail guns became apparent compared to aerial bombing and later ballistic missile development.
The Trumpeter kit I chose (#00207) features the 280mm K5 gun in 1:35 (armor) scale. This was the only gun of this caliber that was produced by Krupp (who else) in decent numbers (about 25 in total).
This kit has a very good reputation in terms of dimensional accuracy, molding quality and detail offered. I therefore acquired one for this GB. The model is over 1m (3ft) long and comes with its own track in the kit (well two versions in fact). I intend to employ 1-scale model railroad track (about 1:35), remove it from plastic sleepers and construct 1:35th scale track from this with the correct gauge.
In order to show off the formidable dimensions of these huge guns, I will place some auxiliary railcars next to it, and some figures, of course. Not far from where I live, there is a surviving example near Audinghien (Cap Griz-Nez, France). With the proper shell and propellant, the cliffs of Dover, UK could be dented with these behemoths...
The gun in particular is in a pretty bad shape but is original and otherwise almost unscathed. The best preserved K5 is in the US (Frmr. Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD but now moved to Fort Lee, VA). The latter harassed the Allies on the Anzio beachhead in 1944 from about 30 km away. Rumor has it that the huge shell, when passing overhead, sounded a bit like a freight train in the sky...
These guns were moved to their firing range over the ordinary rail network and in case of France, they were embedded in special bunkers, appearing only shortly before the firing mission.
I hope you like this entry. I think I can start building early January and will post about progress here regularly.
Happy modeling, Michel.
