5 Star's 1/72 305mm Mle 1906 Railroad Gun

On the Real Thing

When the static Trench War set in, it soon became obvious that there was a great need for really heavy artillery, capable of demolishing the more and more sophisticated fortifications that were thrown up on all fronts. In few armies was this need felt more deeply than in the French, that started the war grossly underestimating the need for heavier calibres (instead being overreliant on their undoubtedly efficient field gun, the famous "75"). As in most warring nation, there was really heavy guns to be found, but these were in the navy or the coast artillery. The problem with these guns was that they lacked modern recoil systems, and they were very cumbersome. One solution to this can be seen in the French 305mm Mle 1906 Railroad Gun.

Putting what was originally a heavy naval gun on a railway carriage of course made it mobile enough to be of use in land warfare. The problem with the recoil was solved in a very simple, cheap and unsophisticated way by the firm of Schneider, who designed a sort of standard non-recoil sliding railway mount, that was actually used for a number of different large calibre gun tubes, of which the 305mm was just one. The design consisted of a steel box with the gun was secured onto reinforced trunnion bearings. There was no system to take up the recoil: the gun mount was rigid. The box itself was supported at the ends by boggies with as many wheels as were necessary to take the weight. After being pulled to the site chosen for the gun, the track bed was reinforced by girders laid parallel to the track, whereafter the cross-beams beneath the mounting were lowered by jacks until the weight was transferred from the wheels. When the gun was discharged friction between the girders and the cross-beams simply absorbed the recoil, save for a small movement back a meter or so. It was a pretty crude system, but it worked, and it allowed the French to field a whole array of heavy railway guns, that originally started out in a naval role.

The 305mm Mle 1906 was one of these guns, using the Schneider system. The gun was 45.9 calibres long was originally a ship gun. (There was another 305mm gun using the Schneider design, the Mle 1893/96, but that was a Coastal Defense piece: notice that the Model number designates the model year of the gun.) It had - like all the guns of this design - no traverse at all, but an elevation of +2˚to +40. It could hurl a 348kg grenade with a muzzle velocity of 795 m/sec up to a maximum range of 27.5km. It weighed a total of 178 tons when deployed for fire. Click here for a detail photo of the breech area.

Notice: not all pics show the actual 305mm Mle1906, but show other gun tubes, using the identical designed mount.

 
Click on the pictures for enlarged versions! 

The kit comes packed in a sturdy cardboard box, with all parts either bubble-wrapped or in zip-locked bags. All parts are made in resin, of a relatively hard light-yellow kind. The moulding is close to perfect, with no air bubbles and just some tine amounts of moulding flash here and there. The only possible complaint is the fact that almost all parts comes with a pretty hefty moulding plug, making the cutting free and cleaning up of the parts a time consuming effort.

As you can see on the photos to the left, this not only a HUGE kit, by 1/72 Military kits standards, but also a VERY ambitious  kit, coming with loads and loads of parts - no I haven't counted them. It looks more scary than it is, though, and is not more complicated than necessary, as most of these parts are in some way connected with the wheels and under-carriage. In the kit a length of track for the dispay is also included. The kit comes with an excellent set of plans.

As I see it, this is a very accurate kit. I can find no faults. And judging from other 5 Star kits it should go together well, if you just can muster the time and patience it will take.

You can buy this kit from Jadar Models.
 

How to finish off this kit

The kit comes without any instructions for camouflage and markings (and without any decals) so how is one to finish of this magnificent kit? Judging from photos and other material French railway guns sported two different paint schemes. The first was a simple Medium Grey overall - a scheme that could be seen on many French heavy guns. The second was a three-colour segment scheme, using the colours Green, Black and Sand, or Green, Brown and Sand. The segments could either be wavy irregular or with squarish forms, as can be seen on these two pics. Notice that the left photos is an actual WW1 Colour Photo! (The other one is a contemporary illustration). Notice also that both guns sport nicknames. (These guns are not the same type as in this model, but their paint schemes are applicable.) The third colour plan is made in our days, but the scheme could very well be correct.

Verdict

This is an excellent kit, excellent, perhaps one the best 1/72 scale artillery kits ever made. I can't fault it. It's very impressive! 5 Star really proves that they are one of the top resin companies today.  They are really setting new standards here. You can't go wrong with this one. Highly recommended!!!