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Gladiator WW2 Railgun


Garethp8873
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We are considering having our own railway gun produced. Anyone like to pre-order? Now this is a railway gun!

Goodness! Can you tell us a bit more? Who produces it? What is it a model of (unless you've fooled me, and it is the real thing!)? What scale?

 

John S

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Goodness! Can you tell us a bit more? Who produces it? What is it a model of (unless you've fooled me, and it is the real thing!)? What scale?

 

John S

 

 

Joint production, being produced exclusively for us by Oxmannby. Scale is VB (very big) Dora Rail Gun. Pre-order price will be £90, (you will be contacted by email should this price increase, however you will have to pay the higher price). Cash in sealed envelope secures. Alternatively please send details of your name, full address, Bank Account, Bank card details and last three on the back. For security purposes please include your mother's maiden name.  Please send to our bank in the Cayman Isles (details will be sent by email). No refunds. Be quick, strictly limited to the amount of customers who send enough money for us to travel to collect the cash. Put you down for one its-er?

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Joint production, being produced exclusively for us by Oxmannby. Scale is VB (very big) Dora Rail Gun. Pre-order price will be £90, (you will be contacted by email should this price increase, however you will have to pay the higher price). Cash in sealed envelope secures. Alternatively please send details of your name, full address, Bank Account, Bank card details and last three on the back. For security purposes please include your mother's maiden name.  Please send to our bank in the Cayman Isles (details will be sent by email). No refunds. Be quick, strictly limited to the amount of customers who send enough money for us to travel to collect the cash. Put you down for one its-er?

 

Thanks for the excellent offer Dora but I won't be ordering one, even if others are taken in by the style of pre-order price you are emulating :O - regrettably the wide gauge does not meet that nice Mr Brunel's standards. :jester: 

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If you DO want a kit for the gun shown in Widnesses photo, it IS available in kit form, but you'll need to model in G1. 

 

http://soarart.com/2016/05/16/135-scale-wwii-german-80cm-dora-railway-gun-released-in-2007/

 

Still, plenty to keep you busy for a couple of weeks....

 

Edit: It's available in 1:72 too - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hobbyboss-82911-German-Railway-Plastic/dp/B0040QD2SM

Edited by Phil Parker
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I wonder if it can be made to work?

A suitable length of thickish walled tube for the barrel, machine up a breach and locate some suitable calibre ammo.

Could be fun. :O  :jester: 

Especially when the train realistically tears off down the track with the recoil.

Bernard

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This has an interesting write up about the guns in both wars, it appears that the WW2 ones were fitted with 13.5inch barrels from the Duke class battleship reserves apart from Boche Buster which was fitted with a 18inch barrel finished in 1919. I'll let you read the write up as I don't wish to spoil your reading, well apart from the bit I just told you. 

 

http://www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=9108.15

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The curve appears to be the wrong way for the firing spur between Kinston & Bishopsbourne so maybe the wartime photo was printed the wrong way around to confuse Jerry spies

The firing spur was constructed to enable the gun to reach the east Kent coast around Ramsgate, otherwise the main line curves where used to used to cover the south Kent coast.

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Your comment had me rushing to check the books and photos.

 

The disused stations web site says"On the bright spring morning of 13th February 1941, the gun was pushed out of the tunnel by a WD diesel engine, through Bishopsbourne station to the Kingston spur, where it was fired for the first time sending several rounds into the English Channel." & "As a result, only two other test firings were made near World’s Wonder bridge and at Lickpot bridge" http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/features/index6.shtml

 

B Hart's book on the Elham Valley railway also has the same photo and states it is the gun firing from the Kingston spur.

 

The following photo taken by the German aerial reconnaissance show the camouflaged spur running from the main line. [/url]">http://ElhamFiringSpur.jpg

 

All the available photos show the gun pointing southwards and the spur is clearly clockwise direction, but the posted photo shows clearly anticlockwise curve to the line as site curves away from the gun.

 

However on the photo posted, there is a small lifting derrick by the breech on the far side of the gun carriage. On other pictures this is on the same left side (looking from the breech of the gun forwards) so the gun firing photo has not been reversed but the location cannot be the Kingston spur.

 

Another mystery to be investigated....

Edited by howardb
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I wonder if it can be made to work? A suitable length of thickish walled tube for the barrel, machine up a breach and locate some suitable calibre ammo. Could be fun.

Especially when the train realistically tears off down the track with the recoil.

 The thought had occurred that an air pistol isn't way off scale calibre, as a much easier path to this objective.

 

In my mispent youth we combined wargaming and railway modelling, and earned some disfavour for dents in the plaster. So we had to go outside where it was discovered that an H-D N2 will usually stay on the track if the pellet strike is at a reasonably scaled anti tank gun range of 20 to 30 feet, and took no damage other than paint chips. Plastic moulded bodies tended to shatter. (The only 1/76 plastic tank kit that had any durability was the Airfix Chietain - who knew? - sloped armour really works, even in polystyrene.)

 

We would very much have liked to do the operating railgun thing, and there was no problem with the pistol sellotaped onto the Triang Trestrol, but the problem was trigger release too stiff to get the recoil effect, as the firer was necessarily still holding the pistol.

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The curve appears to be the wrong way for the firing spur between Kinston & Bishopsbourne so maybe the wartime photo was printed the wrong way around to confuse Jerry spies

 

I've noticed this in a lot of wartime prints film etc, hull tank guns on the wrong side, drivers on left side, perhaps standard procedure ?

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I've noticed this in a lot of wartime prints film etc, hull tank guns on the wrong side, drivers on left side, perhaps standard procedure ?

 

All done to confuse Jerry in the event of an invasion! 

Edited by truffy
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