Search the Community

IJA 28cm Howitzer Russo-Japanese War 1905 (BT-030) 1:35 Border Model via Albion Alloys This heavy howitzer was originally developed by the British Armstrong company just before the turn of the 20th century, who manufactured them via their Italian subsidiary, who themselves were in the process of establishing a manufacturing base in Japan, based in Osaka. The Japanese army ordered 220 of these heavy weapons for coastal defence purposes, mounted at strategic points of their islands on turntables to allow them maximum traverse for full coverage of the seas they overlooked. During the war with Russia, the Japanese army attempted to overrun Port Arthur, which had been in Russian hands for several years, and had been strongly fortified. This led to horrific casualties for the Japanese during their early attacks, and they made an urgent request for heavy weapons to assist with the destruction of the fortifications in an effort to reduce future casualties as the battle progressed. These howitzers were used as replacements for the initial batch that were lost when their transport ship was sunk by the Russians. They proved deadly in operation, although installation was a substantial task due to the weight of the gun and its massive turntable, which had to be installed on firm footings to prevent movement whilst firing that would lead to accuracy issues. They were used extensively in the destruction of the Russian fleet that was anchored at Port Arthur, after the Japanese took over a hill fort that overlooked the bay, allowing the howitzers to fire freely on their ships with little danger to themselves. Fitted with an integral crane to hoist the 217kg rounds into position ready to be fed into the breech, these 11” diameter rounds could wreak havoc once they had a target’s range dialled in. In total, six ships were sunk, and two others heavily damaged before they could get out of range, and after the port was captured, the Japanese navy refloated many of them, repairing and recommissioning them under new names in the Japanese Navy. Having fired over 16,500 rounds during the battle, the howitzers continued in use during the interwar period, and as WWII came to a close, they were pressed into service again as coastal defence guns in 1945 when they feared an impending Allied invasion of their home island, which was thankfully averted, but led to the dawn of the nuclear age. The Kit This is a new tooling from Border Models of a gun that played an important part in Japanese expansionism in the early part of the 20th century, but was almost unknown in the West. The kit arrives in a sturdy top-opening box with a painting of the subject matter in action on the front, and inside are three sprues of grey styrene, a 7”/18cm length of 0.5mm/0.018” braided metal wire that hides in the inside corners of the box (not pictured), and an instruction booklet that has a short history and four interesting photos of the guns from the time in the front, including one of the installation of the base that gives an idea of how much work was involved in emplacing them. Detail is good, depicting the rugged thickness and size of the metal structures, bolt-heads and screws, including a realistic depiction of perforated tread-plate on the various flat surfaces where the crew would stand. Construction begins with the gun carriage, which is formed from two tapering beams that have bolted inserts added to recesses on the interior faces, and it should be noted that there are a few ejector-pin marks here, which you may wish to deal with if you think they will be seen. A pair of large diameter bolts with brackets are inserted into the shallow ends, and they are joined together by a rectangular piece of tread-plate, and three further cross-members that locate on raised brackets on the inside face. Four pivot support wheels on rotating yokes and their mounts are fitted to the outer surfaces of the carriage on mounting plates, fixing two sprung adjusters to the top of the beams, a foldable chute on the lower lip of the right beam, and a stepped plate covering the deep end of the carriage. Adjustment handles with gears are glued to the front of the carriage, with a pseudo-colour scrap diagram showing their correct location, leaving the gears unglued so they may rotate. A tread-plated crew platform has curved hand-rails and a pair of steps added, fitting a stepped cylindrical part into a hole in the floor, which is then mounted over the gears from the previous step. The breech block is a complex part that has the threaded breech screw surfaces slotted into the core part, fitting the mushroom head to the inner end before it is inserted into the ring, which has matching threaded inserts added before they are joined, twisting the block to secure it in place without glue, ensuring that the screw surfaces have had time to cure. The unlocking and pull handles are fixed to the block, adding a pivoting 6-part shell support to the ring, then inserting the inner barrel into the hollow front of the breech ring, and sliding a circular section that carries the trunnion pins then the two-part gun sleeve over the inner barrel, which has rifling moulded-in, as per the real gun. The trunnions are spaced apart by fitting four cross-members followed by two layers of perforated tread-plate in the rear, and a heavily riveted base plate underneath that locks all the parts into position, so would be best done before the glue cures, but after it has a grip on the parts. A recuperator tube is made from a two-part outer shell, inner piston with two end caps, fitting it under the trunnion assembly along with three other small parts, then the growing assembly is turned upright so that two five-part spindles with gears can be inserted into the front of the trunnion assembly, taking care not to cement them in position, as this kit is intended to be operable as far as rotation and elevation of the gun is concerned. The barrel is lowered into the trunnion block on its two pins without glue, locking it into position with the outer faces of the trunnions, adding two washers on the lower edge of each side, one with a lever, plus a few other small parts including the elevation indicator, and a large adjustment wheel that bears a resemblance to a ship’s wheel, one for each side, made from three crisply moulded parts, which if glued carefully will allow you to change the elevation of the gun. Two shells are made from a slide-moulded outer with a rear insert, although there is a spare on the sprue, one of which is glued to a trolley that has a pair of small wheels attached to the sides to ease movement of the heavy ordnance around the gun. At this stage the gun and its trunnions are mated with the shallow end of the carriage on two large tabs, making the shell crane from two halves that have a length of the included braided wire threaded through the centre and wrapped around the pulleys at the top, adding a hook to the business end, and wrapping any excess around the bobbin at the bottom of the assembly. Two gears of differing sizes end in a winder that is pinned through the smaller cog, and has a small guide castor fitted to the bottom to transfer its weigh to the emplacement. It is glued to the left side of the carriage on a T-shaped tab, fitting a cross-member over the front, at which point you can put the glue away, as the gun is lowered over its base without cement so that it can rotate freely. As to what you do with the other shell and the spare, that’s entirely up to you, but the instructions show one hanging from the crane, so keep a little wire to one side to facilitate that if you wish, although the drawings on the rear of the instructions show a shell suspended by chain. Markings Camouflage wasn’t important for a howitzer, which generally fired from behind the front-line, so they were painted overall satin black, with just the driving band of the shells and the elevation indicator painted brass, although driving bands are usually copper, as it is more malleable than brass, so deforms and seals better. From the box you can build the following: There are no decals included, as there seem to be no markings on most photos, but on others there is some Japanese writing visible on the crane and a few other places. Check your references if you feel like replicating one of those examples. Conclusion Quite a monster of a gun that is well-depicted, and just begs to be built on a base with some terrain, and possibly some artillery crew dotted around in pre-WWI uniforms. Highly recommended. Available in the UK in all good model shops. Review sample courtesy of