Takom P.1000 Landkreuzer "Ratte" 1:144

[Mike]

P.1000 Landkreuzer "Ratte"
1:144 Takom

Weighing in at a projected 1,000 tonnes, the Ratte was the ultimate paper panzer, designed to be a super-heavy tank that was impregnable, dwarfing all on the battlefield. It was conceived as a mobile fortress, capable of bringing massive firepower to bear on bunkers and other entrenched positions, and gained the approval of Adolf Hitler in 1941. He did like his ridiculous projects!

It would have carried the same turret that was mounted on battle cruisers like the Gneisenau, but with the centre barrel removed to save weight. It was also to be powered by marine diesel engines, using either two used by U-boats, or a massive eight from the S-100 fast patrol boats. The main turret sported two 280mm guns, plus a "secondary" 128mm tank gun, mounted either on the glacis or on a smaller turret on the engine deck, but there is conjecture about which was most likely. Inside it had space for an infirmary, storage for a couple of reconnaissance bikes amongst other things, which gives some idea of the size of the thing. As to size, it would have been over 39m with the guns pointing forward, and 14m wide, running on three widths of King Tiger track on each side. The top of the turret would be 11m from the ground, assuming it didn't sink into the earth!

A rather more level-headed Albert Speer cancelled the project in 1943 seeing no conceivable use for the finished item.

The Kit
A flight of fantasy from our friends at Takom, as can be seen from the pair of flying saucers included on the boxtop. It has been tooled in 1:144 due to the sheer size of the thing, and to keep it affordable, as well as reduce the "I'm not buying that because my house isn't big enough!" issues. It arrives in a standard enough box, and although they are on the box top, don't expect to see any UFOs or all three of the Maus' – there's only two! Inside the box it isn't too crowded, with the two hull halves taking up most of the room. The hull, four Maus sprues, four superstructure sprues and one outer wheel sprue are moulded in sand coloured styrene, while the two track and turret sprues are in a reddish brown colour. A long sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) is included for the railings, and a small decal sheet containing a few crosses and Nazi flag. The instruction booklet is quite small, accompanied by a small errata sheet that corrects some mis-numbered parts, and the painting guide is spread across three separate A5 sheets on glossy paper.

The first item to be constructed are the two massive track runs, which have been simplified so that only the outer wheels have detail, with the rest being depicted by cylinders linked together on a back-plate. This will speed construction a great deal, and shouldn't be very noticeable once the tracks are on, and installed in the hull. The tracks themselves are link and length type, with long runs top and bottom, a short run toward the drive sprocket and idler ends, and individual links around the ends of the runs. The outer faces of the tracks are quite well detailed, but the inners are less so, but once covered in muck and grime, that won't notice either, although the track outer will take some hiding, due to its rigid flat edge.

The track runs fix into the lower hull using long tabs, and this assembly is then put to one side until after construction of the upper hull. This shouldn't take long, as there isn't much to do. It does start with some confusion however, because it shows two flak turrets being affixed to the rear deck on raised outlines, which aren't there on the rear deck of the tank. This is not a major problem if you mark and fix them neatly yourself, but it tells you to make up two, and supplies four. Use two or four then, as you see fit. No-one will realistically be able to say you did it wrong! The bases are square with sloping sides, while the turrets look very like stacked Panzer I turrets armed with four flak barrels in twin mounts. These could be replaced with some metal barrels if you can find some similar, but they're not bad out of the box.

The engine deck has eight armoured covers in rows of four, implying that Takom opted to depict the S-boat engines mounted, and behind them are two crew compartment cooling units, which look a little different from the usual, but as it's a what-if, we'll let them off. If you put a little fine mesh over them, no-one will even know. A PE crew access ladder drops down from the rear deck to the ground, and a trio of safety railings run around the back and sides of the upper hull, with another ladder going up the side of the main turret. The main turret has a flat lower with the turret ring moulded in, while the upper has spaces for the range-finding "wings" that project from either side. The main guns are moulded from one part each, and have slide-moulded hollow muzzles, and these fit into holes in the front, trapped in place when the two turret parts are joined. The rear of the turret is another separate section, and is fitted after the barrels, then lined up with the lower turret before it has fully set. The secondary armament is added to the glacis in a Stug-style flexible mount, and this again has a hollow muzzle. Fitting the turret to the hull and locking in place with the standard bayonet fitting completes construction of the Ratte.

You also get two tiny 1:144 Maus Heavy Tanks in the box, which take up two sprues each. The turret is nicely detailed with a hollow muzzle to the main gun, two-piece mantlet, coaxial gun, and detail on the turret roof. The tracks are one part per run, which affix to the narrow lower hull, and come together with the single piece upper hull and turret at the end. Then you have the fun of painting them!

Markings
There are three fictitious marking choices in the box, but realistically the world is your oyster, as… well yes. You remember it's a paper panzer, don't you. The schemes have been done by Mig Jiminez's new company, and of course the call-outs are in his Ammo paint numbers. The third page offers up two possible schemes for the Maus, which are more fact based, given that the Maus almost made it, and you could imagine these schemes being used on the King Tigers during the closing stages of the war.

The decals are printed in-house, and look to be of good quality, and the Swastika has been printed in two parts to avoid getting anyone into trouble where it would be illegal or frowned upon.

Conclusion
What is not to like about a crazy thing like this? Takom have given it form in styrene, and although it is a little lacking in track detail, it's entirely forgivable because it is quite a niche product. It's a shame we don't all have massive houses to fit a 1:35 kit, but the designers have taken the more realistic route and at least now we have one in styrene. If you really are insane or have masses of space in your house, you could always use this kit as a pattern for a scale-up to 1:35, buy a ton of plastic card, shed-loads of King Tiger kits, and all of Friul's KT tracks. I know someone is crazy enough, because I've seen the pics out on the 'net. More power to his elbow!

Highly recommended.

Review sample courtesy of

[Panzer Vor!!!]

I defo after this one, imagine it the colour scheme worn by the battleship Bismarck ============ black and white stripes

I wonder if we had anything to as crazy to match him????

[Basosz]

No no... this isn't too crazy at all.... I just want it as a 1:12 RC model

[Mike]

...based on the chassis of a London Bus?

[Basosz]

Something like that yeah 39 meters long in 1:12th scale would be 3,25 meters long. That's longer than our little Fiat 500

[Mike]

there's your donor vehicle then Mind you, if you built an add-on skin to go around it, you wouldn't lose the use of your car

[Kuro Nezumi]

Very nice review!

Being called 'Ratte' and weighing 1000 tons is something that one of my rats can relate too (she has a rather round tummy).

Now, how about a P.1500 Monster in the same scale?

[Mike]

We'll have to hope that this one sells well first, I'm guessing. Maybe we should hope for a scale-up to 1:35 or the more reasonable 1:72 first? We can dream though, can't we?

[The wooksta V2.0]

I'm definitely after one but a little gutted that the two "Hanebu" (or Adamski) saucers don't come with it.

[Albeback52]

Now, how about a P1500 "Monster" to follow this!!

Allan

[Julien]

We'll have to hope that this one sells well first, I'm guessing. Maybe we should hope for a scale-up to 1:35 or the more reasonable 1:72 first? We can dream though, can't we?

There is a guy building a 1/35 over on Armorama! http://www.armorama.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=214353&ord=&page=20

[Kuro Nezumi]

We'll have to hope that this one sells well first, I'm guessing. Maybe we should hope for a scale-up to 1:35 or the more reasonable 1:72 first? We can dream though, can't we?

A 1/72 version would be great! Especially if a Sherman or T-34 were added for scale as an opponent.

[Mike]

There is a guy building a 1/35 over on Armorama! http://www.armorama.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=214353&ord=&page=20

That's the one I alluded to in the review. Some slight differences between this kit and his (ignoring scale), but that's to be expected from a paper project

A 1/72 version would be great! Especially if a Sherman or T-34 were added for scale as an opponent.

Being crushed under the tracks would probably be just as effective and save ammo. That was exactly the reason it got cancelled. What would it have gone up against in 1944? The Allies would have just flooded round it and left it isolated behind enemy lines, where they could have either left it to run out of fuel, or called in the bombers

[John_W]

Nice WIP in the armour section.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234979064-takom-1144-lankreuzer-p1000-and-maus-kit/#entry1964702

[Kuro Nezumi]

Being crushed under the tracks would probably be just as effective and save ammo. That was exactly the reason it got cancelled. What would it have gone up against in 1944? The Allies would have just flooded round it and left it isolated behind enemy lines, where they could have either left it to run out of fuel, or called in the bombers

Or even captured and used as a stationary bunker. After all, the Luftwaffe weren't exactly in a position to carry out mass close-support sorties. And after the war, it could have scrapped and used to make another 1000-2000 Shermans, Pershings, Centurions perhaps. 1000 tons of steel can go long way, and there's another why the Ratte was never built.