Mobile 28 cm K5 railway gun (3D model - for now)

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EPOCH3
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Mobile 28 cm K5 railway gun (3D model - for now)

#1

Post by EPOCH3 » 19 Dec 2016, 21:46

Hi - Several reports after the end of WWII include rumors of a mobile 28 cm K5 railway gun. Texts to date have usually discussed a perspective that a mobile version was necessary as a result of the deteriorating railway system. Track had been destroyed to the point that other modes of transport for heavy caliber guns (including railway guns) was desired. Secondary to the deteriorating railway system was a desire to reduce vulnerability of these large weapons to the threat of Allied Airpower. The need for a configuration of this type may have become very real late in the war however the actual design for a mobile 28 cm K5 predates the war by at least a year.

According to the intel reports, military planners were looking into the k5 specifically with the goal of transporting it over land by means of two tank like vehicles. The tanks have usually been assumed to be Tiger tanks. My 3D model depicted in the pictures is from an original Krupp prototype drawing dated Aug 1938 from my collection. There are official records that German Army was still looking into a mobile version of the K5 as late as 1944. They presumably would not have wanted to design an entirely new propulsion/transport system for it and perhaps legitimately saw the existing Tiger tank as a potential power plant but as the drawing shows, they could have also been considering a modified Karl-Gerät" (040/041) chassis. For modelers, overall length is 35.6 m

This is a project I was going to include into a book some day and I hope to build an actual model of this sometime next year but in the spirit of Christmas giving (smile), I decided to share this little piece of History so that modelers can see what the real 28cm K5 mobile prototype looked like.

Happy Modeling, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all
Greg
Attachments
Ger 28cm mobile 4a wc lr 2.jpg
Ger 28cm mobile 3 wc lr 3.jpg
Ger 28cm mobile 2 wc lr 3.jpg
Ger 28cm mobile 1b wc 3.jpg

EPOCH3
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Re: Mobile 28 cm K5 railway gun (3D model - for now)

#2

Post by EPOCH3 » 19 Dec 2016, 21:54

two more views -

note that both the Kraftzentrales (power centers) could pivot up to 30 degrees total (15 degrees each side from center line)
Attachments
Ger 28cm mobile 6 wc lr 3.jpg
Ger 28cm mobile 5 wc lr 2.jpg


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Manuferey
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Re: Mobile 28 cm K5 railway gun (3D model - for now)

#3

Post by Manuferey » 20 Dec 2016, 03:19

Very interesting, Greg ! And great views ! :D

Emmanuel

EPOCH3
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Re: Mobile 28 cm K5 railway gun (3D model - for now)

#4

Post by EPOCH3 » 22 Dec 2016, 22:24

Hi - just a small snippet of source material that provides (I think) some historical reference regarding the development of the tracked 28cm K5 proving it was in fact something real. As it appeared in Aug 1942, one equipment was actually being constructed. Note, this predates the panic of late war decision making and indicates the tracked version of the K5 was being pursued as earlier as 1941/42. The configuration was referred to as K 5 F. Please refer to the attached pictures of the applicable pages of 661/42 g. Kdos. Wa Pruf Stab highlighting the K 5 (E) als Raupengerät (Caterpillar/tracked/crawler) = K5F reference. Sorry this is a bit more history than modeling.

Happy History
Greg
Attachments
Ger 28cm K5 F 2.jpg
Ger 28cm K5 F 1.jpg

Bébert 1er
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Re: Mobile 28 cm K5 railway gun (3D model - for now)

#5

Post by Bébert 1er » 28 Feb 2017, 00:23

This is a grandiose project I look forward to.

Bernard

EPOCH3
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Re: Mobile 28 cm K5 railway gun (3D model - for now)

#6

Post by EPOCH3 » 08 Mar 2020, 01:11

I finally got around to working on my "träger" Crawler/Carrier design for my Mobile K5 project in 1/35th scale. This will be for converting one of my older DML/Dragon K5 kits to be a mobile version. I will throw the truck assys away (which are toy like) and use the carriage, frame, gun, wiege and crane parts which are fairly good.

I recently bought a cheap little 3D printer for $239 to do quick builds of small parts that would free my other printer up for larger tasks. Working them together so far seems to be a good solution for speeding up work. The first experimental prints I did were for the wheel. axles and hub caps and track links (test parts). I will need 216 track links that I made "snapable". The links just snap together and should be flexible enough to look weighted etc. The one picture shows the first track parts I test printed (just off the printer). When cleaned off, I'll do the snap test to see if things work out. I wanted to individually pin them but with 216 of them I decided to take the quick approach. The other pictures show the first set of wheels I did and wheel related end/hub caps and separation spacers. They should all just plug together in order to make the two types of wheel assys needed (inner and outer sets). More later :)
Attachments
IMG_0303.JPG
IMG_0306.JPG
IMG_0309.JPG

EPOCH3
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Re: Mobile 28 cm K5 railway gun (3D model - for now)

#7

Post by EPOCH3 » 08 Mar 2020, 01:36

My track link test failed - promising and they are close but no cookies as we say. The parts haven't been cleaned yet but a real quick test shows that my snap groove (for lack of a more accurate name) needs to be resized just a bit so there is positive retention when the two parts are fit together - they would probably work if I was just going to glue them together but I want them to be flexible so back to the design desk. Regards
Attachments
IMG_0316.JPG
IMG_0317.JPG
IMG_0315.JPG

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Xavier
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Re: Mobile 28 cm K5 railway gun (3D model - for now)

#8

Post by Xavier » 08 Mar 2020, 06:56

awesome project, looking forward to the updates!

EPOCH3
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Re: Mobile 28 cm K5 railway gun (3D model - for now)

#9

Post by EPOCH3 » 15 Mar 2020, 20:08

Rev 2 - good enough :)
Attachments
IMG_0353 a.jpg
IMG_0356 a.jpg
IMG_0358 a.jpg

EPOCH3
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Re: Mobile 28 cm K5 railway gun (3D model - for now)

#10

Post by EPOCH3 » 21 Jun 2020, 18:36

Small update - I had to take my printer apart to clean it which took awhile but I am back now "crawling"
forward with my K5 crawler project. I plan to use laser cut plastic for the basic structures.
Attachments
IMG_0478 a.jpg
k5 crawler.jpg

slug
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Re: Mobile 28 cm K5 railway gun (3D model - for now)

#11

Post by slug » 29 Jun 2020, 01:13

Hi A couple of things if I can bend your ear. I have long since given up on fixing the Soar Art M1 but Billie Jean says PC are o release an accurate kit. Is it your master? I have ordered Pc's Neu Bruno so your article is a god send (still awaiting arrival in all this madness), and lastly I have tried to backdate Trumpeters K5 (with frame around the barrel) I made an absolute pigs ear of it. Do you have an accurate plan of the frame I can beg borrow or steal please? :D

EPOCH3
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Re: Mobile 28 cm K5 railway gun (3D model - for now)

#12

Post by EPOCH3 » 29 Jun 2020, 14:58

Hi - yes, I think Billie Jean (at PZC) and I will be doing the Rheinmetall M1 as limited release kit (just no date yet).
The master model (as noted) will be based off of the two models I made several years ago and those shown on this
forum elsewhere. So, the Initial Masters in 1/35th scale are done but production models need to be processed. I
was also going to use the Soar Art kit and build a partial plastic version updating it with my own parts but it is just
a bridge too far so to speak. It's perhaps a fun model to make that generally looks like an M1 but is really isn't an
M1 if you know what I mean.

I did a 3D model of Sprengwerk for the early K5s and printed a few but for mounting the old Dragon kit.
I have not test fitted that yet to the trumpeter kit. I'll talk to Billie Jean about it since we were going to
do this as a quick conversion thing but had not yet decided on when to do it. I'll update you you when I get
a chance to discuss with BJ. If you didn't yet see this info, please check out the link at:

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=225496&p=2086783&h ... k#p2086783

Regards

slug
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Re: Mobile 28 cm K5 railway gun (3D model - for now)

#13

Post by slug » 13 Jul 2020, 01:04

Hi, Thanks for the reply, BJ also mentioned doing a conversion kit for the K5. At least my rubbish attempt will be salvaged. I look forward to getting your M1, what a waste of money the Soar Art kit was ! At least parts of it and my turned barrel can be used on your M1/ Karl idea. (stole that).

slug
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Re: Mobile 28 cm K5 railway gun (3D model - for now)

#14

Post by slug » 08 Aug 2020, 11:55

Inspired by this article I have ferreted through boxes of spares and I have two complete early Karl chassis and suspension from Trumpeters 00215 Karl kits and plan using them for the conversion. I will use Trumpeters separate link track as well.(could be an alternative for you too). The tractor unit superstructure I think could be fashioned from the K5 power unit. Your photos and concept are excellent. My only query would be the gun/ carrier connection. Do you see that as a glorified towing pintle? Cheers.

EPOCH3
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Re: Mobile 28 cm K5 railway gun (3D model - for now)

#15

Post by EPOCH3 » 08 Aug 2020, 15:06

Hi - we are test building the crawler carriage as a laser cut plastic as we speak. I was originally going to use the Karl tracks myself but they are a good deal narrower than what the crawler needed (per Krupp drawing) so that is why I did my own. I'll have to check but they are like 40% wider. Wrt to connection- yes, its similar to a towing pintle.
Attachments
IMG_0850.JPG

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