maybe you have a bridge to sell as well?
Mike,
It is 100% photoshopped. I found the “original” picture they (whoever the mad genius is/was) used to add the triple-turret. Here it is.
This build will be the wackiest build I’ve done, second only the 1/35 Ratte I started (and still have - yep, I kept it).
Mike
p.s. Thank you Brek for that - I’m now 62 so I needed that!
p.s.s. As I understand, Robin, the Golden Gate is still up for sale, per the internet.
You guys are freakin’ GREAT!
You kept the Ratte? I thought you were going to bin it. Where do you have it stored?
I have a 1\35 Dora with no place to build it. I feel your pain there Mike.
Yep. Kept it. It’s currently on its nose in the corner of my modelling room. All the miscellaneous turrets, barrels, et al are in a box and all the collected 1/25 Panther tracks and road wheels are in another. At some point, I’m pretty sure I’ll resurrect it. ![]()
A Dora? Oh man. Uuuuuge! I’d love to have one but that’ll never happen - just too damn big!
Mike
Oh Mike, I would love to see that Ratte build come back to life! What a monumental effort! I’m glad you kept it.
I got the Dora with some conniving on my part. I bought my now-wife an $8000 1.1 carat engagement ring. While she was all ga-ga over the ring, the Dora arrived UPS on a hand truck, and I said, “And I bought myself this.” She didn’t care.
I also purchased the metal barrel and breech they made for it, and the Peddinghaus decal sheet. I had more money than brains then, now I’m retired and poor. Although I now have a model room, it would take up all the floor space I have, and all of the components are too big for my bench. I don’t know what I was thinking.
Would love to see that Ratte someday, though. Keep the faith Mike.
I remember that Ratte. Some models move through history. A completed Ratte is history.
That triple stack KV must be 25 years old by now. Came out about the same time as the stretch KV.
A Dora railway gun would be awesome. Recently bid on one of the mortars.
Oh you have to! I’ve got skin in that game…
Yes you do!
Anyhow, sorry for the thread being side-tracked. This is the triple turret:
The hand holds will be removed and replaced with wire. I need to double check the rear hatch - supposedly it’s inside out. If need be, I’ll remove, repair, and replace with the one from the Trumpeter kit.
Mike
Gotta love that triple turret!
I wonder if all three fired simultaneously, would the recoil pop the turret out of the ring and onto the ground? Never mind what would happen if they fired to the side.
Rough calculation using approximate values.
KV-2 turret: approximately 12000 kg
Projectile: approximately 50 kg
Muzzle velocity: close to 500 m/s
Momentum is calculated as mass x velocity.
Assume that the howitzer barrel does not have any recoil mechanism at all (it did have recoil dampers but that just complicates the maths ..).
Assumption: the momentum given to the projectile causes an equal amount of momentum in the opposite direction:
50 kg x 500 m/s = 12000 kg x ?? m/s
The turret would, if it was mounted on a weightless sled on a totally frictionfree surface, move in the opposite direction at almost 2.1 m/s (close to 7 feet per second).
The velocity would be reduced if we add the recoil mechanism, even if was shortened compared to the original howitzer, and the friction from the turret ring.
The triple turret has two roofs less but maybe it needs additional internal structure so I made the assumption that 3 guns firing from a triple turret results in the same numbers as one gun in one turret.
If the triple turret would be in danger of toppling when firing then I would assume that it would fall over if a careless driver took a turn too sharply, braked roughly or maybe even accelerated.
Some site on the internet claims that firing when on sloping ground could damage the turret bearings. Sloping ground also makes turret traverse difficult.
Sensitive and overloaded …
Consider changing the spacing since now it is a ladder from the top of the hull up to the roof of the top turret. Looks like there ought to be one handhold or ladder rung at the joint between the turrets (2 extra rungs needed)
….or fit an elevator on the side…. ![]()
Absolutely. That is part of the game plan.
Mike
I really wish there were pictures of the turret interior. I’d love to do something inside to kind of cover just “how” they’d get rounds to the top. I do have a small crane I could attach. Perhaps I might be able to display it closed for storage/movement or open, in use, as I have several brass rounds. Something to consider.
Mike
Some sort of elevator/hoist beneath the commanders position?
There will only be a single commanders hatch, way up there on top,
so the corresponding volume in the two lower turrets would be free.
Three loaders will be required but the number of gunners could be discussed. The guns can be aimed independently in elevation but
traverse is one-for-all. Maybe the gunner switches between the guns?
Fire top, aim and fire middle while top is opened for reloading, aim & fire bottom while middle is opened and top is being loaded, aim and fire top
while middle is being reloaded and bottom is being opened.
Put three rounds into the same target or traverse and aim for new targets.
If the gunner is in the top turret, better visibility, then the gunner positions
in the two lower turrets would be free space for ammo racks or for an
ammo hoist.
I love how we’re trying to rationalize an obvious Photoshop prank rather than build our kits. This is why wives have to deal with a bunch of junk to unload after we’re gone.
Even though it is obviously a PhotoShop prank it
could still become a rather cool build
![]()
Similar to the Farley Fruitbat aircraft joke/gag
That will take up 2 shelves vertically.

