1/144 scale proposed German WWII P1500 Landkreuzer tracked mobile howitzer.

seadude · January 08, 2026, 02:24:30 PM

This is a project I have been itching to do for a very long time.
The proposed, but never built, German World War II P1500 tracked mobile howitzer. (Notice how I did not say "tank" because it isn't one.)
If you've ever heard of the fantastical P1000 Ratte German super heavy tank, then you've probably also heard about the P1500 monstrosity as well. The two are almost inseperable.
P1000 Ratte
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landkreuzer_P._1000_Ratte
P1500 Monster
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landkreuzer_P._1500_Monster

Neither was ever built by the Germans thankfully. Contrary to popular belief, the P1500 was NOT a tank. It was to be a very large tracked mobile howitzer. The most popular iteration of this large vehicle was to use the same gun (800 mm) as that found on the Dora/Schwerer Gustav railway guns. No actual blueprints, schematics, etc., etc. exists of the P1500. Everything seen on the Net is purely speculative and fantasy from people's minds. Except for the following..............

I'm going to use the following book for reference material as I believe that to be the closest and best possible source for information on the P1500. Particuarly pages 144-145 and 163-164.
Data specifications are very conflicting for the P1500 among various sources. You can read them in the two data charts I made up below.
The big problem I have is that there seems to be two different designs for the P1500. One is about 138 ft or so long while the other is about 82 ft or so long. The former seems to be more fantasy while the latter seems to be more realistic from the Super Heavy Panzer Projects book.
The fictional imaginary design that is most commonly seen around the Net is the black and white drawing shown below.
So..........Do I build the longer 138 ft fictional design? Or should I build the more realistic 82 ft design? Either way, it's still a what if model project as the real vehicle never existed.

seadude · January 08, 2026, 02:48:34 PM

The only decent fictional representation of a model of a P1500 that I have been able to find on the Net was this 1/87 (?) scale model (Below) built by a French modeler if I'm not too mistaken. Pretty damn good scratch building skills if I do say so myself.

Model manufacturer TAKOM was planning to come out with a 1/144 scale P1500 model about 15 or so years ago, but sadly they never did for unknown reasons.

The last picture below which I found on the Net shows a 1/144 scale model of the Dora railway gun (Left) next to a 1/144 scale fictional model of the P1000 Ratte super heavy tank. The 1/144 scale P1000 model is made by TAKOM. The P1500 howitzer I plan to build will also be 1/144 scale.

seadude · January 08, 2026, 02:56:17 PM

So how will I build my 1/144 scale P1500 howitzer?
Luckily, I was able to purchase a Fujimi 1/144 scale Dora railway gun model kit long ago on Amazon. As for other tank parts, chassis, etc. to use, I've got three 1/35 scale DRAGON T28 Super Heavy Tank model kits at home. I'm not going to spend a fortune going all over the place buying various tank kits and parts to use for my P1500. I'm going to try and use what I've already got at home and also scratch build whatever else I need.

Wardukw · January 08, 2026, 04:03:21 PM

Strange coming acorss this Seadude mate as i've just brought the Hobbyboss Dora railgun ( can't wait for it to arrive ) and i have had thoughts about building this SPG version .
Shocked to see three T-28's in one pic ya lucky bugga as finding even one here is impossible and buying one online has proven pretty bad to for a while ..that might change soon it seems but i ain't buying one from the US that's for sure cause the last time i looked at one the postage was damn near 3 times the price of the kit

You can bet i'm gonna be into this build mate ..this is not only right up my alley but it's including both the streets that run beside it too

buzzbomb · January 08, 2026, 04:57:45 PM

Quote from: Wardukw on January 08, 2026, 04:03:21 PMhocked to see three T-28's in one pic ya lucky bugga as finding even one here is impossible and buying one online has proven pretty bad to for a while

What he said... good pickup.

Pretty impressive project

seadude · January 08, 2026, 05:11:10 PM

Quote from: Wardukw on January 08, 2026, 04:03:21 PMStrange coming acorss this Seadude mate as i've just brought the Hobbyboss Dora railgun ( can't wait for it to arrive ) and i have had thoughts about building this SPG version .
Shocked to see three T-28's in one pic ya lucky bugga as finding even one here is impossible and buying one online has proven pretty bad to for a while ..that might change soon it seems but i ain't buying one from the US that's for sure cause the last time i looked at one the postage was damn near 3 times the price of the kit
You can bet i'm gonna be into this build mate ..this is not only right up my alley but it's including both the streets that run beside it too

Well, from what I can remember, I bought one T28 at a hobby store ages ago. A second one came from the model stash of a person who belonged to my local model club, but he passed away. And the third one either was from my local model club's auction or I bought it in the vendor area at a contest.
I'll probably only use parts from two T28's to build my P1500 model. The third one will stay in the box.

Wardukw · January 08, 2026, 06:05:55 PM

Quote from: seadude on January 08, 2026, 05:11:10 PM
Quote from: Wardukw on January 08, 2026, 04:03:21 PMStrange coming acorss this Seadude mate as i've just brought the Hobbyboss Dora railgun ( can't wait for it to arrive ) and i have had thoughts about building this SPG version .
Shocked to see three T-28's in one pic ya lucky bugga as finding even one here is impossible and buying one online has proven pretty bad to for a while ..that might change soon it seems but i ain't buying one from the US that's for sure cause the last time i looked at one the postage was damn near 3 times the price of the kit
You can bet i'm gonna be into this build mate ..this is not only right up my alley but it's including both the streets that run beside it too

Well, from what I can remember, I bought one T28 at a hobby store ages ago. A second one came from the model stash of a person who belonged to my local model club, but he passed away. And the third one either was from my local model club's auction or I bought it in the vendor area at a contest.
I'll probably only use parts from two T28's to build my P1500 model. The third one will stay in the box.

Yeah a very good amount of scores for certain ,,shame about that bloke passing away but he'll be happy knowing his kits aren't being wasted .. and yes i'm already having nasty ideas what do to with the remains of a T28 if i was doing what your doing

If i used the 72nd Dora as the gun for a build then i'd to be looking at 35th as i don't think there's any other real choice you could go for unless 3D printing got involved.. knowing the Ratt like i do it's a pretty simple thing to build really ,,the SPG tho aint ..much more complicated a build detail wise which is of course fun ..the only thing which really got my nut into a tangle is the running gear ,,me being me of course i'd try to copy the real thing with with wiff in there too ..one thought was the Maus ,,scratching copies of its bogies and going AM with the tracks ,,they are pretty wide to start with and for it to be a very close match they'd have to be 1.5 times wider but then being I'm mental so i started to look at an entire 35th scale build ,,that's the gun from the 35th Dora being used ,,1/16th King Tiger tracks joined side by side for width with Tiger 1 road wheels or Panther ,,probably would have gone with Panther ones .
Would be one hell of a monster project

zenrat · January 09, 2026, 03:08:02 AM

1/16 seems to be the in-vogue scale for armour these days Phill...

Just saying.

Wardukw · January 09, 2026, 10:14:55 AM

Quote from: zenrat on January 09, 2026, 03:08:02 AM1/16 seems to be the in-vogue scale for armour these days Phill...

Just saying.

Oh no need to say me ol mate .. 16th has been a fav of mine for years ,, before "The Incident" i had on my shelves 2 Tamiya Tiger ones and a Tamiya King Tiger ,,some brand Panther and 2 panzer three's along with a 251 halftrack ...now the amount of 16th scale goodness is amazing ..where i live now it's getting very close to having trouble finding space for a 35th scale model let alone a 16th scale one and here's me buying a fecking Hobbyboss Dora railgun

I've already made space for that which wasn't easy

seadude · January 09, 2026, 10:59:46 AM

Here's some sample pictures of information from that German Super Heavy Panzer Projects book that I mentioned in my very first post in this thread. The red highlighted items are information related to the 800 mm howitzer (P1500).

seadude · January 09, 2026, 02:24:44 PM

So let's assume for a moment that I were to build the larger and longer fantasy version (138 ft long x 59 ft wide) of the P1500 which is described by the Zach Parsons and David Porter books. How might that look like in 1/144 scale?
A rough guess is the pictures below.
The length is definately longer than the 11.5" inches as described in my specification charts. I'm assuming the 11.5" is the TOTAL length (barrel included).
The width is slightly more than 5" inches which comes close to what I mentioned in my specification chart.
Once I add the wheels and tracks, the height would also come close to what I mentioned in my specification charts.
Now if I really wanted to go big (See last picture), I could tack on another T28 tank hull piece so that I'd have extra room for the engines, the projectile shell loading apparatus, and smaller defensive armament like machine guns and such.
The problem with this version is that the P1500 has eight tracks, 4 on each side. Each track is about 3 feet wide in real life, but would be approximately .25" inch wide in 1/144 scale. So I would need four 1/4" inch wide tracks on the left side and four 1/4" wide tracks on the right side. The tracks from the T28 model kit are 5/8" inch wide.
So in real life, each side of the P1500 has approx. 12 feet wide total of tracks. In 1/144 scale, that's about 1" inch.

Captain Canada · January 09, 2026, 02:33:09 PM

Go big I'd say.

Old Wombat · January 10, 2026, 06:39:33 AM

Normally I'd say "Go Big or Go Home!", & I say that here, but with a caveat - only use about half the second hull!

This is because any longer than that & the length to width ratio gets too great & the vehicle loses any ability to manoeuvre.

As shown, the vehicle would throw both sets of tracks with even a slight turn to adjust position. Driving to the gun-line would be practically impossible.

jcf · January 11, 2026, 08:40:37 AM

The author of the Super Heavy book is adamant about the P.1500 being a self-propeller howitzer and that it was not going to mount the 800mm rifle of the Dora railway gun, just that it was the same caliber.
To my mind that suggests something like an enlarged Karl-Gerät, the longer barreled 54cm 041 in particular.

Wardukw · January 12, 2026, 07:11:58 PM

This is a case Jon of everybody is wrong and everybody is right at the same time .. as this was never built and even the drawings can't be 100% verified is any real ones ever existed at all to start with what ever model is built it's correct .
With ol hitler being the ballbag nutcase he was and his love for anything massive i would tend to be more looking towards Dora's 800mm guns being used ...hell it was him that ordered Dora built in the first place ,,along with the Maus,,E100 and the class of super battleships which never saw the light of day ... my reasoning is seeing this thru ballbags eyes ,,would he want a 1000ton plus SPH or assault gun of sorts or whatever its ment to be with a smaller calibre gun then what Dora had and remember ,,this dude was seriously mental to boot ...so six of one and half a dozen of the other on this one me thinks .