Leopold German railway gun by Popeye the Sailor - 1:72

[Old Collingwood]

7 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

I've never heard of freezing the plastic models.  But if it works, it works.   I'll have to tuck that away in case I do plastic again.

I think it must be  that Terminator freezing  type thing  were the join can just be snapped clean off.

 

OC.

[Baker]

Good to see that everything turned out alright

Glued plastic pieces in the freezer to loosen the parts again.
I'll keep this in mind for future emergencies ...😉

[Canute]

Glad to be of service. I had been skeptical of that technique, but having done it a few times, it works.

 

Most RR car manufacturers are making fewer kits any more. The average pogue wants ready-to-run equipment. Too in a rush to spend time building and painting a kit. Or afraid to screw up a build. Most of my club members are like that So if we want to build a variation, we need to disassemble a built up kit.

[Egilman]

10 hours ago, Backer said:

Glued plastic pieces in the freezer to loosen the parts again.

It won't loosen them, it just makes the glue more brittle than the plastic....

[popeye the sailor]

I've never heard of it......I'll give it a try next time.  thanks Ken     since I knew where I glued it,  I was able to cut the parts free with a razor blade......the back ends were the worst,  and of course,  took the brunt of the damage.   I though I had set everything in order......must have had my head somewhere else at the time.   I will always post my mistakes OC.......if it saves someone else from doing it,  then I've helped with valuable information     I made a little bit of progress,  but not enough to write home about.  more soon   

[Canute]

Denis (and all of us), I've used it to disassemble a factory built kit, because I needed it in parts and no undecorated kits were available. You may lose some of the fine detail parts, but those are easily replaced. I did the first one or two with trepidation, not really wanting to do the deed, but they worked and I have less qualms about doing the disassembly via freezer. It's a no other options left procedure.

[FriedClams]

On 11/4/2021 at 7:19 PM, popeye the sailor said:

of course,  I made sure that this assembly is cemented real good.......now I have to figure out how to take it apart

Isn’t that always the way it goes?  Excellent recovery though Denis and like OC. stated the repair is unnoticeable. Nice save.

 

Gary

[FriedClams]

On 11/4/2021 at 8:20 PM, Canute said:

put the glued item into the coldest freezer you own

I didn’t know about this either Ken - good to keep in mind. I wonder if spraying electronic contact cleaner on it would be cold enough to work? It would be almost instantaneous and with the nozzle straw you could pin point where to apply it.

 

Gary

[Canute]

You should check for compatibility of the spray and the styrene. Some aerosols have volatile organic compounds that may attack the plastic. The idea is to get the glue brittle enough to pop the parts apart without breaking up the plastic. When I've done that, the parts don't just fall apart. You need a little twist or prying with a tool soft enough to not damage the plastic. Once the model is deconstructed, clean up the glue joints.

[popeye the sailor]

....in the coldest freezer I own.........you mean hotpoint was B.S.ing me all these years?!?!?!   {sorry....the comedy bug bit me}

 

hey gents.......been on edge the last week or so....not a whole lot of modeling going on.   I've got an update since my last.........thought I'd better get it up here,  before the admiral calls 'errand'.  ..........Gibb's P call* 

   ...back.  she cleaning the chest freezer......I'm sure I'll come into play somewhere.  to start this off,  I decided to play with the ammunition and truck assembly.  first thing I noticed,  is that there is no floor....what can be seen is the part number stamped in the well.  I began by making a floor to cover this over,  but to stay flush with the door openings.  I started to make it from wood.......but I didn't like the thickness.  I had some sheet plastic that did though.

...seems odd that there wouldn't be one........there is a shelf for one to sit on

I had to trim a little away to fit the door lips....inner walls are a flat white....the floor will be a rusty red color.  I may make a rack to hold the extra munition........the kit comes with four,  with one for the crane.  speaking of the crane.......I must have done it,  but the part that fits at the end of the crane is broken.  I have glued it back together,  but I got it backwards,  so it looks opposite than what you see in the picture above....I have to fix it.

with the deck on,  it looks much better....looking inside.......

I made a couple till I got it right....one of my attempts can be seen in the corner of the picture {the door openings is too deep and shows a gap}.

.....update two coming up.......

 

 

[popeye the sailor]

wait........helped with the turkey.    still thinking of a direction to paint the trucks.  now my thought is that they didn't paint the interior in the sand yellow,  but left it in the gray {I'm using the Dunkelgrau 2...I have two tins}.  best I have so far for the yellow,  is Humbrol #119,  which is light earth {I have the dark earth too}.  I got some Model Master that might work too......I'll have to check.  so in this light,  there is a balance of color that I think should look pretty good.  the undercarriage is another consideration too.......whether to do it in flat black,  or in the German gray specified.  while I played ping pong in my head,  I trimmed up the 24 bearing caps and added them to the bearing assembly strips.

 

next was the component assemblies that make up the elevator.  the piston and slide track.  it was pretty hard to glue this together,  so the piston slides in and out.  as it dried,  I continued to move it in and out,  until it move freely.

I was going to paint the bearing assemblies separately from the truck bodies.......but it's beginning to frustrate me.  in thinking what would be the best way,  I said to myself......the heck with it and glued them to the bodies.  I'll worry about it later.

with these drying,  I looked at the insert for the main body.  funny.......at first,  I thought that they had two different versions for the body........until I figured out that these fit inside the main housing and serve as the inner walls.  the front and rear caps are shown with one of the inner walls of the insert.

the floor has been added to the wagon

the insert fits into grooves molded in the main part of the body.  the front and rear caps were added to the main body......inside there are guides for the insert.  for the top to fit on,  there is no room for miscalculations.  to make it easier,  one half of the insert has faint arrows where the inner walls are to sit......there are 7 of them and three more along the bottom in the center for the piston assembly.  the slide track was added to the main body.

adding the wall that supports the piston was a pain........it too must be movable.

thee underside of the fork has serrations.......they fit through holes in the forward wall.  the paint tins you see might be the outer color....it's a good contender  

one side of the forward wall has been cemented....the other side will insure it's position until it is finally assembled with the piston assembly installed.

I have one more small update.........

 

 

[popeye the sailor]

when the time come to put the top on,  it must be cut,  because it is done in sections.  ...not yet though.......it begins like this.  four inner walls are cemented to 'the' one side of the insert with the faint arrows.  the two pins that hold this together were really tight,  so I trimmed them a tiny bit.  now I need to use tape to hold it together...can't win for losing 

I left the slide pad off of the track till it dried......it wasn't hard to slide it in place.

 

should be fun putting all this together.........hopefully it works 

 

[Baker]

I think I have some info about painting 
I'll look for it this evening. I'm at work now ☹️

[Canute]

Denis, I'd go with the German gray over the flat black. The flat black sucks in too much light. A weathered black is what you want, I suspect. That German gray is the color a number of model railroaders are favoring for the undersides of equipment. Keep the efforts to have  a working  carriage. 👍

[Baker]

At home 🙂

 

Info found in "German railroad guns" (squadron/signal NO.15)

The base color would be Reichsbahn Grey. But is this much different from the panzer grey? Dont now.

 

 

 

[popeye the sailor]

thanks for the info Patrick......is that a publication that Squadron put out?  perhaps I can dredge it up on the internetoscope   {here's a new word for ya Webster  }   I'm thinking that where Leopold started out in the gray color and was repainted,  some parts were not painted,  but passed over as part of the overall camo.  the red/brown camo streaking wasn't added until a bit later,  before it was shipped to Italy.  this very well could have been done after it reached Italy.  so......it spent time painted in the gray,  then in the sandy yellow,  and then sandy yellow with the red/brown streaking.  the instructions give all three versions,  but they are just drawings and in Black n white.  there is a book......I'm going to try and get it.  I did do a little painting today.  the wheels gave me the most trouble,  because of the way I had set them up.  I had two Bamboo skewers pierced through a box close together and placed the axles on them in a long row.  I started with flat black for the wheels and the underside.  with the way I had them......getting the underside of the wheels could not be reached.  so I grabbed a pair of tweezers and painted them one at a time.

I added more to the trucks......the front and back panels and the side panels.  the underside was painted flat black.......not getting any on the outer surfaces.  in working with the Dunkelbrau gray.....I find that it is a variant of gray/blue.  ....and yes,  it is far from the Panzer gray { it's less blue tint}.

    I have a Schiffsbodenfarbe III grau1 that also possesses some tinting of blue........the number says it all  KM 05 Kriegsmarine.  all of White Ensign paint have this form of color numbers along with their name { Pactra was sold like this....I miss it}.  after the underside of the trucks were painted in the flat black,  the outer sides were painted in the German gray.  this way,  when the wheels are installed,  they should blend right in.   the next step is to take the sand yellow and spray it on an angle,  so it doesn't totally paint over the bearing strips.......merely shadow them.  anything that can't be seen from above....won't be painted the sand yellow.

the gray is darker than the plastic.......in the beginning,  I had my doubts.

so this is where I am so far    I also like the way the bearings are shadowed with the rust color.........food for thought  

 

thanks for look'in in gents.......I like the gray aspect too Ken    it's not too late to change to a two camo gray........sadly,  Leopold wasn't done like that.

[Egilman]

10 hours ago, Backer said:

The base color would be Reichsbahn Grey. But is this much different from the panzer grey? Dont now.

Bout a half shade darker... (whatever that is) a few drops of black in panzer grey should work

[Egilman]

2 hours ago, popeye the sailor said:

the gray is darker than the plastic.......in the beginning,  I had my doubts.

I think your spot on... 

[Roger Pellett]

I wish that someone would offer a kit for one of the US Navy railroad guns from World War I.  There is a real one on display at the US Navy Memorial Museum at the Washington Navy Yard.  I would buy that kit in a heartbeat.

 

Roger

[Egilman]

National Museum of the U.S. Navy... (website)

Naval Railway Guns...

 

There were several railway mounts that were used in France, most notably the 14" gun (essentially a battleship main gun mounted in a railway carriage) We had railway mounts up till '40 or so, at the start of the war coastal artillery was being bumped down the list of priority cause it was well understood that the airplane trumped for good all coastal batteries, made them obsolete... The effectiveness of the German emplaced guns at Normandy proved that fact permanently... Railroad artillery wasn't much better....

 

TM4-210 War Department Technical Manual, Coast artillery Weapons and Material... (dated March 1st 1940, PDF)

 

It goes into detail on what we had just prior to entering WWII including the M1920 14" railroad gun, (page 93 of the manual) Considered the best railroad gun we ever had...

 

I would build one as well... (being as I'm a U,S. artillery nut)

 

Edited November 21, 2021 by Egilman

[mtaylor]

Fort Stevens in northern Oregon was operational during much of WWII.  It's now a state park and was the only US continental site fired on by the Japanese in  June 21, 1942.  They still have a lot of the batteries and many have some guns... big things but not sure if they were battlewagon guns....

[Egilman]

4 hours ago, mtaylor said:

big things but not sure if they were battlewagon guns

No they weren't, the Railroad guns were though, at least derived from them.... The Coast Artillery was a separate branch of the military kinda semi shared between the Navy and Army..... You could transfer to it from either branch, I believe it was disbanded in '46 or so... the US Railroad guns in France during WWI were though and were under the complete control of the Navy......

 

Yes they were still active for a time during WWII, I believe the last battery established was on one of the islands of Hawaii using the guns salvaged from the Arizona... it was deactivated in the late 40's as well....

Edited November 21, 2021 by Egilman

[Egilman]

12 hours ago, mtaylor said:

big things but not sure if they were battlewagon guns

Update to the above information... They were indeed Battleship guns.... 14-inch/50-caliber gun ...

 

They were used on the New Mexico, Mississippi, Idaho, Tennessee, and California and served throughout WWII... They were planned to be installed on the North Carolina class battleships, but the abrogation of the Washington Naval Treaty allows them to put 16-inch/48 caliber guns on those

Five of these guns served in WWI on the western front... Gun No. 119L2, a Mark 2 gun on a Mark 1 Railway Mount No. 148 is the gun at the naval museum, It actually served in France... There is also one at the US Army's Ordnance School at Ft Lee... 

[FriedClams]

Nice progress Denis - the paint looks great!

 

Gary

[popeye the sailor]

good info........but I think I covered that.......rail guns have been around since the civil war.  naval guns were used due to most artillery not having the capability of firing shells over great distances.  they were also used for 'pill box' installations along coastal battle fronts.   only a few variants of the Rail gun ever left the tracks.......the Germans were in the process of developing one,  but it was abandoned towards the end of the war.  the rail gun was intimidating,  but not very functional given their handicap.

 

not much to report at the moment....turkey time folks.........have a Happy Thanksgiving  

[popeye the sailor]

pardon for being such a ghost......it's been quite busy of late.  Christmas is coming so fast it seems.  I've managed to pick away at some of the painting though.......the colors I've chosen look to be pretty good.  Hasegawa also produced a second 'box art' for this kit,  calling it 'Anzio Annie',  besides the Leopold kit...not sure which one came out first.  I did express an desire for this kit......but I think I got shot down,  right along another idea I had.  I figured I'd better stop at this time,  before the eye lasers came out  

 

so I started off with the flat black.......painting the wheels and the undersides of the trucks.  with these dry,  more can be done......move on to the gray.

the wheels are done....may need touch ups,  considering the way I have them here  

the outer surfaces are done in the Dunkel gray....the under side was done in the flat black,  along with the wheels.

more to follow  

[popeye the sailor]

I got some build time in on this session.  I noticed that I was a little off on a couple of the front bulkheads for the inner assembly of the gondola....had to cut them free and reposition them.  installed are the piston and the rest of the bulkheads for it.  the actuation rods are not to be cemented.

 

one of the caps for the piston pivot pin,  interferes with the actuation rod.......I'll see how much of a problem it is when the guns is in place.  before turning to the sand color,  I added a few more parts to the trucks.  the tops are just dry fitted....I don't want any ghosting from the sand paint {this is a Humbrol color #94 {AA1047) brown yellow}.

 

the inner assembly was cemented together.....all this will be painted in the Dunkel gray

these are the bulkheads I spoke of earlier.......there is a slight angle that I didn't take account of,  which allowed them to become offset at the top deck line

 

more to come  

 

[popeye the sailor]

today I sprayed some brown yellow........one can tell that the paint has sat a while.........stirring the can,  I thought for sure that it had solidified on the bottom!  I did this with two tins of it.......using a stick,  broke it up and stirred it for quite a while until most of it was gone.  then periodically,   it was shaken to further blend the pigment and suspension.........I've been shaking them off and on for a couple of days now........I think it's ready to use.  I will likely have to do the same for all the other tins I have from this lot.......good to know that the paint is still viable.  I'm sure I'll fair better than with the Billing's paints....

.....I'd open those bottles,  to find that the paint either had a skin over the top,  or was solid throughout {I was still satisfied with the ratio of paint that was useable}.  I painted the bottom of the gondola,  waiting since I painted the inside first...that is the Dunkel gray.

the tops of the trucks were next....this is the base color

they are still wet......still other colors to add.  the truck bodies them selves were interesting to do....as mentioned,  I wanted to be sure to 'shadow' the wheel bearing aspect of them.  as for the ghosting I wanted to avoid.......I wish I had masked the inside of the truck bodies.  I failed miserably.

 

last was the gun barrel.......I'll give it  second coat.  the hoist mechanism parts will be the Dunkel gray.....whatever will remain below the gondola deck.

......and then I walked away....    story of my life.......I get  an idea, and off I go.  thinking of the second coat on the gun barrel,  I went and did it.  but.....I really need to move things I painted out of the booth.......the gondola was still in there!!!  the bottom was speckled with the brown yellow  so I had to repaint it.........to do it though,  I had to prep more paint.  I'll smarten up one of these days.....

[Egilman]

Head..... Against...... Wall...... repeat.....

Been there done that brother...

Edited December 9, 2021 by Egilman

[popeye the sailor]

thanks.......the one nice thing about it,  is that they disappear with just a spritz     been in and out since posting......I am so far behind on what you all have been up to.  I should do a redirect with the morning coffee.  doing the re paint kinda blew my afternoon anyway....I wanted to get the brown yellow on the gondola.   oh well....it is what it is,  I suppose.  I hope to have a more robust update for you next time  

 

thanks for look'in in gents........meanwhile,  I'll try to catch up.