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

[mtaylor]

The Germans may well have considered the two tank transport.  However, I think matching the power output of the two and speed may have been an insurmountable problem given the tech of the day.  

 

Things are looking good on the bench and I'm happy to see you back and at it again.

[Old Collingwood]

And when the Admiral  actually  encourages  you to buy another kit  - that is  the Best News   - love the look of that new kit.

 

OC.

[Baker]

The Leopold is very impressive with the 2 Tiger tank hulls, nice work.

 

Ps,

This is the only i have on your project.

No project has progressed beyond the drawing board. For the first project (with the Tiger I) Henschel's short answer was: no time to build 2 extra chassis

 

 

 

Edited February 12, 2022 by Baker

[Roger Pellett]

It looks like it would have been unstable on anything but level ground.  An advantage of limiting large guns to railroad transport was that they always moved on tracks level with limited grades.  Furthermore, unlike internal combustion engines, diesel or gasoline, steam engines do not stall, they just keep pushing.

 

The gun would have also required a jacking system to disconnect it from the tank bodies when set up to fire.  The recoil loads would have been tremendous. 

 

Roger

[popeye the sailor]

but that's the point Roger.....there are more roads than tracks.  there could have been an advantage here.  but I do agree about the instability......I think the gondola should be shorter.    it likely would also require stabilizer legs,  much like heavy construction equipment for support,  and when positioned,  the tanks could have been turned 45 degrees to help counter the residual recoil.  the K5 gun itself has the ability to buffer the recoil,   built in...hard to say how much more would be left over.   thanks for the pictures Patrick.....interesting that there was a pillar system on the drawing board,  considering that most mechanized mortars were short,  an utilized the coupler and King pin concept.    given what I had to work with,  I figured it figured it wouldn't be too hard to snaz up Hasegawa's shortcomings.   

    this concept doesn't mean that it would be a totally 'off road' piece of equipment,  but it opens up more strategic advantages for it to be more effective.  even tanks navigated roads,  as well as open field,  to get where they were needed.  most of the time,  they were in a convoy along with other pieces of equipment that would have a hard time.  as said,  I do think that the wheel base is too long,  but reading this information,  made it too hard to ignore.  it was a great exercise in the 'what if' catagory    

 

I have the next two days off........along with my normal week end,  I should have more to add here    

[Baker]

While searching through old photos I found this one. A much younger me and a Tiger tank.

La Gleize Belgium 1992 

Link to the museum

http://www.december44.com/en/the-museum.htm

 

 

 

[popeye the sailor]

love to try camo like that.........daunting     you have such cool pictures!  

[popeye the sailor]

it's been a while..........I'm trying to revive and continue...please bear with me     I did see a rail car like this in my searches.......so my 'what if' got the best of me.  I knew the admiral won't allow me to get another Leopold kit to show both versions.  so.......in my way of nonchalantly kick'in a can down the road,  with enough sheet plastic on the desk,  I set off tinkering.   my early form of turret use wouldn't utilize both turrets,  so I embarked on a small scratch build project that would.  first would be to create a gondola that will host both turrets....the armored artillery vehicle begins.

I'm glad I didn't toss out the cast off part for the turret plug....when I closed off the openings on the chassis.  I used it to trace the openings on the deck.

now to add the sides to the deck.....

there was a lot of sanding to do.  I didn't want the 'body' to be too thick on the coupler ends.

braces were added to make the body stronger, while in the process of closing the body up.

the sanding was constantly being done........I can't leave things looking rough for too long.  filling in seams too.......

the bottom area was closed up....seams sealed and of course,  more sanding.

fine sandpaper was used to smooth out the heavier sandpaper strokes.  it should look quite smooth for when it's time for paint.  the turrets were snapped back on to see how it looks.

the next plan is to couple it up to the chassis.....from there will be the add ons and paint.  it was disheartening to see that both cut aways weren't long enough to allow coupling.......I had miscalculated.  pondering over the situation,  it was decided to add on to the ends,  rather than throw it out.  

[popeye the sailor]

starting with what is to be the aft end,  the parts for the add on was cut and assembled.  I gave it a tapered look.

with this end roughed out,  work began on elongating the other end.

this end was left as a flat end...squared.  it then was closed up,  and when dry,  sanding and fill in gaps took place.   lines were redrawn to remark the centers.  when set onto the chassis,  it looked more promising...the pintle and the hole could be set and drilled.  all the while..........more sanding  

[popeye the sailor]

when the sanding dust cleared,  it revealed a smooth looking gondola.  it was dry fitted to see the results.

hmmmmmmm......looks a bit odd.  I wonder if the concept can be reversed?

I found that it could without any problems..........the tapered end looks better in the front too    it needs more to it........railings and such {i'll see what I have} I decanted the rust primer for the camo........more to come  

[Canute]

Nice engineering work, Denis. And a good save with your extensions.

[GrandpaPhil]

Very cool!

[popeye the sailor]

thanks gents.........it didn't want the turrets to go to waste.........or in a bin to be forgotten.  I had the chassis already done,  so it's a good way to make use of them.   old model kits had anther Leopold kit in their listings,  but I bit my tongue....too many expenditures this month.  I also tinkered with scratch building a battle ship turret {the smaller ones}.......either that or a really good start on an AT walker   

 

trying to get back to this one........soon I hope!

[popeye the sailor]

hey there........kind of an update, but no.  I haven't made any progress on either fronts....even the Stukas haven't seen any movement.  basically,  I need to find a way not to let life get me down.  I'm just bogged  

 

   I did make a purchase though a week ago.  I was skimming through my regular haunt,  and I happened onto a kit that was pretty reasonably priced.  it follows the subject and my current musing,  and that's what I think caught my eye.  I picked it up for $24.00........with shipping it ended up being around $42.00.  I just saw on Amazon that the same kit goes for $47.99,  so I still feel I got a deal  

I was curious about the Vol 2 thing..........I found out that this model is the second variant and sports a Pz. Kpfw. IV turret.   the first variant sported a T 34 turret and had an ammo box on the aft end.  it is a fairly large model...the picture doesn't show the true size of the box.  it's still wrapped in plastic,  so it is virgin.....produced in 2007.  more on it when the time comes.......the two albatrosses come first