1/35 K-Wagen FINISHED!!!!

[TomZ]

Sergeant Jones was woken from his lumber early in the morning when he heard a low rumbling coming from the German lines The last couple of dayd, thing had been quiet on the front but now it appeared as if something was going on.
At first he saw nothing in the morning mist but then he saw something moving on the German side. A box-like creature was moving from the German lines towards him. As it moved towards him, the thing kept getting bigger and bigger. He had been briefed about the new "tanks" but this appeared much bigger than anything that was described in the briefing.
He stood frozen in his trench until the apparition was almost upon him. He fired his rifle but that appeared to have no effect at all. The thing kept going and he saw it was enormous. It came directly for him. When he finally was able to move, it was too late. The German machine drove over his trench and everything went black.....



In June 1917, before the first A7V tanks had been completed, the German War Ministry ordered the development of a new superheavy tank intended to be used in break-through situations. Design work was carried out by Joseph Vollmer, a reserve captain and engineer working for the Verkehrstechnische Prüfungskommission ("Transport-technologies Board of Examiners" of the army), and a Captain Weger.



On June 28, 1917 the War Ministry approved the draft design and ordered ten examples, five to be built by the Riebe ball-bearing factory in Berlin and five by Wegmann & Co. of Kassel.
The vehicle originally weighed 165 tons but this was reduced to a more practicable 120 tons by shortening the length. The huge size and mass of the K-Wagen ((short for G.K.-Wagen or Gross-Kampf Wagen) made it impossible to transport complete, so it was decided that it would be split into four sections for transport by rail, to be reassembled behind the front line near where it was to be used.
The hull of the K-Wagen consisted of six modules that could be transported separately by rail: the control room, the fighting room, the engine room, the transmission room and the two sponsons. The commander could give orders to the crew by means of electric lights: fire control was comparable to that of a destroyer, the Germans seeing the vehicle as a veritable "landship". The drivers would have had to steer the vehicle blindly, directed by the commander.



The K-Wagen was to be armed with four 77 mm fortress guns and seven MG08 machine guns and had a crew of 27: a commander, two drivers, a signaler, an artillery officer, 12 artillery men, eight machine gunners and two mechanics. At the beginning of the project the incorporation of flamethrowers was considered but later rejected.
The first prototype of the K-Wagen was tested in April 1918 and 7 were shipped to take part in the offensive at the Marne river in July 1918. The seven tanks received names of German/Nordic mythological giants, the Jötnar.
Although heavily armed and able to cross enemy trenches without problems the K-Wagen proved to be too heavy and were prone to get stuck in the mud of the battlefield. All seven were fairly quickly put out of action. Any further production was halted



The RW story
Two prototypes were built at the request of Hindenburg, but were still incomplete by the end of the war due to lack of raw materials and other demands for weaponry.



Model: Scratchbuilt 1/35

[Wardukw]

Amazing build of such a awkward shaped tank Tom 
Top marks on this one     

[su27rules]

  

[buzzbomb]

Most excellent

[Rick Lowe]

 

[frank2056]

Great build and paint job!

[stevehed]

Well done, great build and a classic example that biggest isn't always best.

[NARSES2]

Great build and paint job!

Very much so   

[Jakko]

Very cool Next project: build an extension to your house to put it in?

[Old Wombat]

I was waiting for this one to finish! Awesome work, Tom!   

[Rheged]

Superbly done.

[Captain Canada]

That is really wild ! Great work for sure.

[Jakko]

It was interesting to see this one in the flesh at ESM2025 yesterday — I of course knew it was big, but seeing it IRL drives that home a lot more. (Even though I get the impression @TomZ didn't understand why I introduced myself to him, or didn't seem to catch my name — or at least, didn't connect it to this forum But then, I couldn't remember his username either ...)

[zenrat]

It was interesting to see this one in the flesh at ESM2025 yesterday — I of course knew it was big, but seeing it IRL drives that home a lot more. (Even though I get the impression @TomZ didn't understand why I introduced myself to him, or didn't seem to catch my name — or at least, didn't connect it to this forum But then, I couldn't remember his username either ...)

Which is why we all need to have identifying tattoos - our forum username on the under side of the left forearm would do the trick.  Just flash that and et voila.

[TomZ]

Even though I get the impression @TomZ didn't understand why I introduced myself to him, or didn't seem to catch my name — or at least, didn't connect it to this forum But then, I couldn't remember his username either ...

Indeed I didn't catch your name when you introduced yourself. Sorry. My ears are not what they were years ago so some things go past me.
But good to see you. And hopefully next year I at least can remember your face. Unless I start forgetting faces too.........


TomZ