The Duke's Newest Magnum Opus

Thanks guys! Sub, if you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them.

Carlos, you are right. We do have some serious Masters in our midst. I will definitely hang those plaques with pride!

Bit, I look forward to seeing you there at Orangecon. I'll be in the Crew Shirt that says, "The Duke" so feel free to stop by and introduce yourself; I'd love to meet up with you.

"Thanks Bit! It was only a club meeting, but it still felt like the best thing to happen to me ever. She'll be out at Orangecon in a couple weeks. Let's see how she places there."

Well, I'm pulling for you here.  And I know Stik knows of what he speaks . . .

Good luck at Orangecon, you deserve it!   I'll be there if I can.

Duke Maddog

Thanks Bit! It was only a club meeting, but it still felt like the best thing to happen to me ever. She'll be out at Orangecon in a couple weeks. Let's see how she places there.

Mark, considering the quality of builds of the members of out club that is no small feat. Just look at all the awards that some of those guys win at various national and regional contests. We have some world class modelers there.

Nice looking build!, I have this kit in my stash as well, and I will hope it comes out some what as good as yours when I finally crack open the box. Congrats on the awards, well deserved!

Thanks Bit! It was only a club meeting, but it still felt like the best thing to happen to me ever. She'll be out at Orangecon in a couple weeks. Let's see how she places there.

That's an awesome amount of awards!  Congratulations! 

Thanks guys! Carlos, it was great to see you last night. I was (and still am) quite stunned to have swept all that last night. It's a miracle of Biblical proportions, considering how many Masters are members of my club!

As for all that coming in one box....you should have seen the box!

Looking forward to Orangecon! See you then!

stikpusher

Congrats to you Mark for your clean sweep last night at IPMS Chapter- 1st place Advanced Category, Judges Choice, and Theme Award, Out of Box (still hard to believe that all that came in one box!!) Best of luck you and Dora at Orange Con!

No worries my friend- a Meter is roughly 40 inches or 3'4", 2 meters = 6'8", etc.... I do hope to see this at IPMS soon. My schedule should have changed to allow me to start coming in again regularly.

Thanks Carlos, I always get my conversions wrong. I figured between two and three would cover it.

Thanks Dom! I did my best on that model and I'm still surprised that it was me who did all that! LOL! Man, a self-propelled Dora! What a sight that would have been!

Duke;

Fantastic build, I really like your turned barrel effect.

Your painting and finishing effects make it look massive, like it is!

Yeah 1/72 is big enough, I've seen the box for the 1/35

and it alone is the size of a half-fridge.

Who knows, if the Germans could have pulled it off, it

wouldn't have surprised me if they had turned that behemoth

into a self-propelled unit like the Karl!

Good luck at the Nationals,

Dom

2 meters my friend. 3 meters is 10 feet and would be even more ridiculously huge! Not that the 1/35 Dora is not ridiculously huge already...

Thanks Model Maniac. The Dora in 1/35th is over six feet long; about two or three meters. If you have a space on the wall for something like that, go for it!  Since I only build armor in 1/72 scale, this model is ideal for me.

Very nice work! Now I want Dora 1:35, but I don't have space to keep it.

tigerman

That looks amazing Mark. Great to see you back at the bench. Been awhile.

The man is always at the workbench- he brings in more recent builds to AMPS or IPMS here in one month than I do in 6 months... then he does it again next month. A building machine! He just does not post them here too often.

But this truly is a Magnum Opus build... I don't think anything else after this will be quite so impressive, no matter how big or small. 

Great, Duke! Hope you get published with it!

That looks amazing Mark. Great to see you back at the bench. Been awhile.

Thanks Doog! Actually, Hobby Boss makes a munitionspanzer separately so I wouldn't have to rob a Morser Karl for this. Besides, I'm not sure those were used for this massive gun; if they were, I'll definitely pick up a couple. Thanks for the compliment about knowing when to step away. I wanted this to look the best I could so I did what I had to do. I do plan to take all my in-progress posts and convert them into an article for several mags. Thanks again for the excellent comments and suggestion!

Hey Duke,

Ya know, Hasegawa made a Morser Karl gerat kit with an ammo carrier based on a Pz IVF. You should post some 1/72 forums to see if anyone has one laying around. Maybe someone built the Karl but left the ammo carrier unbuilt, and they might be willing to part with it?

Good for you, that you knew when it came time to step away and not rush it when you did. I've seen guys royally screw up a model just by rushing it to "get it done for contest X". It was well worth it--it's spectacular! You should write it up for an FSM article!!!

Thanks Jibber! In all honesty, I was asking myself that question from the moment I opened the box! Your comments have been wonderful, thank you very much.

Thanks Doog! All told; condensing this down to time worked on, I'd say it was at least nine months worth of work. It took me a year and five months to do this; including about 4-5 months of down time spread out in there. At one time I didn't work on her for two month because I felt myself starting to rush and that would have lead to mistakes. It paid off. I did want to place an armored vehicle next to this when I was taking these pics, but  the guys whose tables I was using needed to pick them up and head home. Maybe I'll be able to get more at the Nationals with a scaled vehicle next to it. I also have a ton of German troops I could place on this, I may just bring a couple to the Nats to place on this gun for pics. Thanks again for the awesome comments! I always appreciate when you post!

Carlos, good one! Just give the word! I have a feeling that will be happening at the Nats anyway....

Duke Maddog

"At my command, unleash Hell"

[:D[[

WOW!!!!

Seriously, that is STUNNING! How long did the actual build take, all told?

You're a brave man, transporting that baby to AMPS, but I wish I could see it in person! I hope you don't have any mishaps with her!

One suggestion--you've GOT to put a 1;72 armroed vehicle next to it and give us a "scale" shot. Hell, I'd display it like that too, just for the effect!

You can also get 1/72 figures to put on it or near it. THAT would really lend a huge "WOW!" factor to it. I"ll bet a lot of people don't have an inkling of how massive this baby really was!

Once again, congratulations on a SUPERB build!!!

[:D[[

Duke, very impressed. I know in the middle of these builds you start thinking what have I got myself into, but patience, skill and sheer determination wins out. I've looked at these pics several ways and over again and each time I'm more impressed.

All the best my friend.  

Wow! Thanks guys for the awesome responses!

Carlos, she's coming to both IPMS and AMPS after the Nationals. Then she's going to Orangecon. If she places at the Nationals, then I can only being her to display at all other contests since she would be ineligible to compete. At least I'll be able to take her to complete at Orangecon!

TD4438

That is fantastic.What are the dimensions?

TD, with the barrel fully depressed, she measures out to 40 inches long, 9 inches wide and 12 inches high. With the barrel fully elevated, she almost reaches three feet in height!

Gamera, I know what you mean. She did actually sit for a couple months because I was too scared to start her. Then my desire to have her completed in my collection won out and I bit the bullet and got her started.

Wayne, I can't wait to meet you at the Nationals! I'll be looking forward to seeing your rendition of her when you get started. I'll be happy to give you all the things I remember to look out for. See you there!

Carlos, when they make the models of them in my scale, I'll add them to this!  

Hey Mark, where are all the associated support vehicles now?

sweet build. i jave 1 in the stash and this makes me want to start it. i'll see you at nationals

Excellent work my friend!

Regards!
Rodolfo

Well done, Duke! Beautiful piece of work.

Lee