Delta's Karl-Gerät

[delta]

Progress has begun on this beast:



I'll be making the Gerät 040, the earliest model with the short 60cm barrel. The kit has decals for Adam and Eva. I'll need to do some more research to figure out which one had the 60cm, if not both. Honestly the research for the models is as much fun as building them. More educational than all of high school.

The kit looks very good. A bit of flash to cut off but great detail and a reasonable piece count, not too simple and not too strained to make a separate part for every hinge. It has rubber band treads instead of the kind you assemble, which I've read is frowned upon, but the detail on them is very good and I'm not sure I'm ready for handmade treads quite yet.

So far I've only constructed the wheels and added a few parts to the sides:





I'm not sure when to begin painting the model. Once I attach the larger wheels there will be obscured areas that will be difficult to reach, so I'm tempted to begin now. On the other hand, I'd not want to accidentally paint an area that will require glue. I've noticed many of the builds here seem to be completed before any painting is done at all, is that standard? Or is it dependent on other factors?

I also need to figure out just how to paint the thing. The paints recommended turn out much darker than the cover image while applied. That's not necessarily a bad thing as the real photos reveal a very dark grey or green (I'm color deficient so I'm not sure) for the early models. There's one on display with the Adam name on it:



And it sports a glossy dark grey/green coat with a stippled texture, but I'm guessing the name and paint are not the originals, especially considering the Adam one was renamed with a more Norse name during the war. The box at suggests a light grey/tealish color (as far as I can tell) with greener treads and wheels.

Not sure which way to go or when to go there. Any and all advice, tips, comments, and criticisms are very welcome (For all my threads at any time always).

[Deano]

Cool subject and my favourite scale , watching with interest !

[delta]

Thank you!

Worked to 230AM (My usual bedtime is 3ish) and came to a good stopping point. The sidebars and wheels are all on and all painted. I decided to paint the wheels first as they'd just be too hard to get to with the sidebars on. The greens are a bit more vibrant than expected, but the gloss and texture match the Russian captured example. Might tone the shine and color down a bit once it's assembled, will see how it all looks once together.

[Leon]

Off to a good start delta!

[TRM]

Hey Ari, nice to see you getting this underway! Tons of wheels on this one!!

As for the color, I would say the original was a dark grey or bluish grey. One thing about using museum photos is that someone undoubtedly painted over what was originally there and in most case, not even close. There probably wasn't a gloss finish to the original version whether the scheme was correct or not. In the end though, you do need to model it the way you you want and see it my friend!

As for the assembly part of things...in most cases some folks mock up the builds for pictures, disassemble and then paint, masking off areas where glue is to be applied. Sometimes not though. When it comes to tanks, typically the wheels and tracks can be left off to make the painting easier by far. Larger jobs, like with ships, you can break things down into sub-assemblies and finish individually.

Good luck!!

[wbill76]

Looking forward to seeing the monster come to life! T's got you covered when it comes to paint order and assembly. There's no 'one true way' to handle that sort of thing, you've just got to kind of go with what works from one build to the next depending.

[deafpanzer]

Oh man, this is going to be huge! I have been eyeing at Dragon kit similar to this at the hobby shop. Its on sale for $30 or $35... should I get it or not? LOL

You definitely have my attention... good luck!

[delta]

Thank you TRM for the advice, and for the encouragement! I've gone ahead and bought some blue-grey to match a few lighter tone builds I've seen around.

Thank you as well WBill76!

And thank you DeafPanzer! The scale on this one is 1:72, so it's only a few inches long. I'd love to see what you can do with a Dragon kit of the Karl-Gerät. It's an amazing, strange monster of a mortar and I'm very interested to see what you could do with one, creatively as well as in terms of talent. If the recent sub and torpedoes in Duels are any indication it would be very cool!

Long day today. Epoxied and painted the treads, and built the full chassis and painted it with that new blue-grey I mentioned:



It's a bit bluer than I expected, and the greens remain greener than I'd hoped. I think I'll be looking into some way to treat this as an undercoat and paint the while thing grey, reducing the bright colors to more subtle hints of color and change in shade.

I've been looking at Testor's "Smoke" spray, does anyone know if it does something like the above? I'd like a fairly transparent paint that will let a bit of the color show through while reducing contrast and desaturating the previous coats. A flat finish also seems prudent.

Thanks again everyone for chiming in with advice and your thoughts!!!

EDIT: I've just ordered the same company's Munitionsschlepper companion vehicle, it took another tank with a crane just to carry 4 shells for this thing. They should look great together.

[deafpanzer]

Man, I think I am going to buy that kit... LOL Yours is looking good!

[delta]

Thank you!!! I look forward to seeing your version!

Assembly and gluing is complete, as is the basic first coat. Next I'll give it a black wash for detail and weathering in what will now serve as the prepainting for a final, thin grey.



This has been a very fun kit to build, not too complex, not too simple, but just right for my tastes.

[Tojo72]

Very impressive build.

[Leon]

Very impressive work in such a small scale Delta.

[Deano]

Looks great Delta , hard to tell its 1/72 with a reasonable amount of detail in the kit!

[wbill76]

Nice bit of detail for 1/72 for sure, looking good.

[delta]

Thank you Toji, Leon, Deano and WBill72!

I'm very happy with the kit's level of detail. A few cranks were so thin as to shatter completely with even the slightest budge from their spurs but they glued back together okay.

From what photo-reference I can find, only the treads lack totally accurate details, and even they have the right shapes, just a bit too thick and without the depth and interlocking.

Hopefully I can find the last paints needed tonight and finish it off later or tomorrow. It's definitely been a fun one, and a unique subject. Thank you all again!

[Foenetik]

came out really good. theres quite a bit of detail at that scale. i probably should have gotten that one instead of the 1/35 monster sitting in my room haha. cant wait to see more.

[delta]

Finished! All in all a very fun build!







Thank you all for your advice and kind words as I was working

[Deano]

Eva looks excellent and might I say its one of the fastest builds I have seen on the site . Give ole Dupes a run for his money

[delta]

Thank you! Procrastination for one thing can be an exceptional motivator for another. I have school-work and a book to finish by March, so I've completed two model kits in a week

[TRM]

Well done Delta! Nice to see you get this one off the "books"! Keep up the good work!

[Leon]

Delta!Nice finish on Eva.

[afvfan]

Love the paint job. Turned out really nice.

[delta]

Thanks all! It's been a pleasure sharing it with you here

[wbill76]

Nice work on this one Delta, hope you don't get too swamped with school-work for your next project.

[delta]

Thank you! I hope so too

[desertrat]

nice little (big) build i've got the 1:144 scale dragon kit in my stash, after seeing this might be my next build, thanks for the inspiration!!!

[delta]

Thank you desertrat! I look forward to seeing other takes on the Karl

[406 Silverado]

Looking very good.
hm, reminds me, I have two of these in 1/35 that I need to finish someday.

[delta]

Thank you! I hope we get to see your take as well

[delta]

The "Munitionsschlepper" for the Karl has finally arrived. It's... Not a large model.



Lots of detail though for 1/72, and I look forward to the big beast getting its little sibling.