Takom 42cm Big Bertha

[gedmundson]

While waiting for the paint to dry on my other project, I decided to build another German WW1 artillery piece - Takom's 42cm Big Bertha. The model seems to be based on a model in a museum in Paris (there are no original Big Bertha's left) and reference material is scarce. There are several inaccuracies in the kit, which I've tried to correct. I've also added detail where I could see it was missing from photo reference. My primary reference was the Osprey book on the 42cm Big Bertha, which helped.

Once set up, the gun was used without the front platform in place, so I had to remove from the kit. The front end had to be modified to accommodate this change. The artillery piece had to be mostly constructed before figures could be decided on and positioned. I've also tried to build/convert some figures from a combination of resin castings I've made for the eventual display. Some of Dragon Models 1/35 scale WW2 German Artillery crew were modified to have a WW1 appearance.

Work continues with figure painting and weathering the gun (the huge shield on the front still needs to be fitted later).

Cheers,
Gary

[rhwinter]

WOW!😳

[Borsos]

Fantastic job on the gun and the figures!
Andreas

[gbrivio]

Terrific job (and size!) and lovely additional detailing.
Ciao
Giuseppe

[Edo]

wow! awesome!
really good job!
i like the added details you did a wonderful job!
ciao
edo

[gedmundson]

Thanks Richard, Andreas, Giuseppe and Edo - your encouraging words are appreciated.
I now have the figures primed and ready for paint, so I can hopefully finish this project within the next month!
Regards,
Gary

[ModelCellar]

Looks fantastic Gary.

Paul

[TimDEFR]

Hi Gary,

I have this kit in my stash for quite a while now but never started because I wanted to a scene with crew but struggled to find the right figures. So, thanks a lot for presenting a solution even though I'm not sure I can actually realize that myself. I will bookmark this thread anyway for the day I will eventually build it

Best regards,
Tim

[pepperman42]

Very nice work!! An excellent combination of research and execution. Your figure conversions are amazing!!

Steve

[gedmundson]

Paul, Tim and Steve - thanks for taking a look and leaving your kind comments!

My figures have been primed to check for overall appearance, and will be painted hopefully over the next couple of weeks.
Cheers,
Gary

[gedmundson]

With the painting of the figures underway I'm putting a few more weathering touches on the gun, and have attached the shield.
Cheers,
Gary

[Alexis]

It looks functional !


Alexis 

[gedmundson]

Thanks Alexis - it finally is looking the part, so a base is being made and figures getting painted.

One of the figures holding the map needed a pair of glasses to see properly. I found an old DML etched brass sprue which contained a tiny part I needed.



Cheers,
Gary

[Borsos]

Fantastic work on the model and the figures, Gary. Breathtaking paintjob. If I may, I‘d add a little detail: German artillery of ww1 didn’t wear the Pickelhaube but the Kugelhelm instead. The pike was replaced for a ball looking mount like this:



The only exception were Bavarian artillery troops. These wore the Pickelhaube, but sadly no Bavarian artillery units served the 42cm Dicke Bertha. If this should be of interest, some magic sculpt and a little shortening could do it to turn the Pickelhauben into Kugelhelme.
Best regards,
Andreas

[gedmundson]

Fantastic work on the model and the figures, Gary. Breathtaking paintjob. If I may, I‘d add a little detail: German artillery of ww1 didn’t wear the Pickelhaube but the Kugelhelm instead.
The only exception were Bavarian artillery troops. These wore the Pickelhaube, but sadly no Bavarian artillery units served the 42cm Dicke Bertha. If this should be of interest, some magic sculpt and a little shortening could do it to turn the Pickelhauben into Kugelhelme.
Best regards,
Andreas

Andreas - I have to thank you so much for this information. My scenaro was based on the following photo, but knowing the proper uniform information allows me to modify their head wear, and make the diorama more plausible. I believe the photo shows visiting dignitaries to the Big Bertha gun setup (perhaps not attached to the artillery).



I'm currently making the correct tops for the Kugelhelms and will post pics when done.

Here is a photo showing of what you speak - troops of a 42cm "Gamma" gun with their Kugelhelms:


As a side note - I have ordered and am expecting soon the Panzer Concepts 1/35 42cm "Gamma" artillery gun 

Cheers,
Gary