Building the 1/35 German 80cm Railway Gun “DORA”
by EG “Bull” Ruiz
When I first saw this kit at Lil’s Trinoma, I knew the club just had to have it. A project like this would involve many members of the club, an activity not new to the talented members of IPMS-Philippines Bert Anido. And so, after convincing Frank Ching to split the cost with me, we brought this monster home.
Opening the box was like unwrapping a window-type air conditioner. It was that big and just a tad lighter. The parts were placed in separate boxes inside the main one. And upon opening the five different boxes, everyone had a mixture of amazement and intimidation. The two largest pieces were the superstructure that held the enormous gun. The excitement of everyone could be felt at the UP College of Fine Arts workshop, as we brought out all the parts. I asked Hermie Landayan to break it down into subassemblies, not an easy task to begin with! As Hermie gave me the list, I asked Desi Reyes to come to the house where I brought the kit, and we proceeded to cut up the parts for the four bogies that he was assigned to build. This alone took us two full hours! I then asked Oliver Sia to build the immense trunions where the gun pivots, along with the two crab-like arms in between the superstructures. I asked Joseph Carunungan to build the ramming assembly. I then started to build the superstructure, the largest part of the kit aside from the long cannon, which went to Wrandell Selda who just loves to stroke long, cylindrical objects. He was eventually helped by Daryl Ayo, much to his chagrin. The enormous barrel still came in halves, so sanding them to a seamless tube was quite a task! I also built the breech, the power/hydraulic unit under the loading deck, the structures in between the superstructures, and the loading deck. I asked Rancie Legaspi to clean up the seams of the winches, shells, powder charges and loading carts. I made a mistake in installing a part, as I followed the hole provided in the kit. As it turned out, the holes were drilled out in error, and further studying of the kit showed that a duplication mistake was made by the manufacturer. The two parts should have been mirror-images of each other. This is when I called on Ian Borja, who by far has done most of the harder jobs needed to build this kit. The error was corrected, and he proceeded to build the finer details such as the numerous ladders, railings and the two elevator-like platforms at the back of the gun. He also scratchbuilt the wire frame around the barrel of the gun, since the ones provided by the kit was severely warped. I then painted the basic color of the model. All in all, I used twenty-one cans of Tamiya NATO Black spray paint to cover the entire model from the bogies up. I know I could have used cheaper hardware brands, but I wanted this project to be special. When everything was dry, I turned over the model to Vinny Ibarra, Poch Nualla and Jojo Janolo for shadowing, washing and drybrushing. Mel Silvestre then started to work on the base and tracks, with Frank and Vino Nañagas helping out highlighting the base. I wasn’t happy with how the kit represented the pulley block that lifted the two platforms, and decided it needed Hermie’s touch. He came through, using mini four-wheel drive rollers to detail the blocks. He didn’t stop there, as he changed the ramming rod to a metal one, and made the platforms work! I’m thankful I did not give him the bogies, nor the breech as he would have made the suspensions work, the gun recoil and the breech operational. After Poch and Jojo were done highlighting the model, we assembled everything. It took at least four people to sandwich all the structures in between the two superstructures. I painted the 80 road wheels where they come in contact with the track with Tamiya silver enamel. Vino painted the portions of the gun that recoils when fired with Alclad Chrome. We then lay the superstructure on the four bogies that were already on the track, and temporarily attached the gun barrel. We stepped back, and were amazed at the size of this thing. A few more things were done to enhance the model, until it was finally finished. I then asked Desi to build the GI figure, to give a reference for scale, and add a little humor to the presentation.
The kit has its problems, and had we more time to build this, I’m sure guys like Hermie, Ian and Mel would have corrected and detailed this even more. The photos provided in the instruction manual were already firing up the likes of Hermie, Ian and Mel. But it has accomplished what I wanted it to. And that was to have the group participate in building the model, further fostering camaraderie and friendship among ourselves. Not to mention we all just had a great time building it. For this kit is for everyone in the club, and not just for a few to flaunt and brag about in modeling sites everywhere. This DORA belongs to the club.
And so I thank all the “Doranians” who helped build and make this project a successful one. It would have been plain selfish for a single person to build such a model.
And the best is yet to come, as it always is with IPMS Philippines Bert Anido!
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