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Skoda 42cm Heavy Siege Howitzer


Shar2

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Skoda 42cm Heavy Siege Howitzer

Takom 1:35

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History
The 42 cm L/15 Küstenhaubitze M. 14 (42 cm, 15 calibre, Coastal Howitzer Model 14) was a super heavy siege howitzer used by Austria-Hungary during World War I and by Nazi Germany during World War II.
It was designed to penetrate the weakly armoured decks of modern dreadnoughts in accord with the prevailing coastal defence doctrine that held it was better to attack the weakest point with high-angle indirect fire than to attempt to challenge their strongly armoured sides with exceedingly expensive guns that had to be equally as well armoured to withstand return fire from the battleship. Howitzers were significantly cheaper and could be hidden behind hills to avoid the expense of armouring them. The known problem of hitting a moving target with indirect fire was to be alleviated by massed fire from multiple weapons all firing with the same data.

At any rate, two howitzers were bought to defend the main Austro-Hungarian naval base at Pola on the Adriatic. They were to be installed on a turntable carriage with an armoured dome able to traverse a full 360° for all-around defence. The turntable rested on a ball-race ring, set in a concrete foundation. However, with Pola unthreatened after the outbreak of the war, it was decided that they might be better used in support of the Army. The first howitzer was already fixed in place, but the second wasn't yet installed and Skoda was able to adapt it for mobile use by January 1915. On the 14th of that month, Howitzer No. 2, assigned to Küstenhaubitze Batterie (Coastal Howitzer Battery) no. 1 fired its first shot at the railway station in Tarnow, Austrian Poland.

Eight M. 14s were eventually ordered (along with a spare barrel and cradle), although one was retained by Skoda. Barrel production was very slow, so slow that barrels originally ordered for coastal mounts were put into service as part of the 42 cm Autohaubitze (Motorized Howitzer) M. 16.

One surviving gun was used in 1940 by Nazi Germany to shell the Ouvrage Schoenenbourg from a position near Oberotterbach; the 60- and 80-cm guns later used by the Third Reich (for example at Sevastopol) were not ready in time for the French campaign, so World War I vintage heavy pieces like this Skoda and also a surviving Gamma-Gerät tube had to be used. The Skoda, apparently the sole M17 model, entered German possession following the annexation of Czechoslovakia in 1938/39, and was renamed from 42 cm houfnice vz. 17 to 42 cm Haubitze(t); it also served at Leningrad and Sevastopol, even though its barrel life was rated to only 1,000 rounds.

The Model
As with the SKODA 30.5cm reviewed HERE this kit depicts a M.1917 as it was used in the siege of Sevastopol in 1942, and according to history it was the only one. Contained in the top opening box, with a stylised photograph of the weapon with Eric Von Manstein standing to one end, whilst another weapon is seen firing on Sevastopol in the background, are three sprues of dark grey styrene. All the parts are free of flash, but there are quite a few flow marks and a few ejector pin marks on visible faces of the larger parts, but look to be fairly easy to clean up as there isn’t too much detail around them that could be lost. As per the previous kit Takom have used slide mould technology very effectively in the production of the barrel parts allowing for a pretty seamless build, although there is less in this kit so there will be some cleaning up of the barrel required.

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The small landscape A5 booklet of instructions is very clearly printed and easy to use. Construction begins with the assembly of the of the centre section of the gun which includes the trunnions, the breech, and breech block, which are all made up of two parts. Two collars are fitted to the front of the centre section, followed by the outer barrel. The assembled breech and breech block are then attached to the rear of the trunnion section, after which the three piece inner barrel is slid in from the front. The single piece end section of the inner barrel has a nice representation of the rifling, although if you look really closely they are straight and not curved which is a limitation of the moulding process. On the underside of the gun a rounded base plate is affixed along with a shaft fitted on the centreline, between the recuperator ends.

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At this point the central circular base section is assembled form the two halves provide and fitted with four tabs, which will slot into the outer base when complete. The traversing gearbox is fitted with etched lengths of bolts before being attached to the left hand trunnion mount and finished off with the attachment of the traversing wheel, which is assembled from three parts, the wheel, shaft and handle. The elevation wheel is fitted with its handle, whilst the two footplates are attached to the left hand mount, which is then fitted to the base. The elevating shaft is fitted with two cogs and attached to the inner face of the left mount. Do not glue this shaft if you wish to have the gun barrel movable. The shaft is covered by a large plate fitted to the front of the mount, after which the right mount is fitted to the base, ensuring the elevation shaft is fitted correctly, followed by a curved plate fitted to the upper rear of the mounts. The traversing lock/brake handle and clutch unit is fitted to the four piece housing and the whole assembly is attached to the base, just next to the left mount.

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To the rear of the mounting there is another gearbox, with a double winding handle attached. This is then fitted with a double wheeled contraption which hauls the shells up to the breech. This is quite a complex assembly so a bit of care will be required. The build is completed by the assembly of the outer base halves to which the circular base is then slotted into position. The kit also includes one figure, that of Eric Von Manstein who commanded the 11th Army in the Crimea during the bloody siege of Sevastopol in which this howitzer was used. Strangely the paint chart shows two different schemes, one of green over grey when used by the 787th artillery division at Sevastopol and the other in grey overall, also at Sevastopol. Since there was only on gun of this type available it does seem a bit odd to have two schemes, but there you go.

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Conclusion
As with the 30.5cm siege howitzer this is one pretty obscure weapon. Whilst there are not too many parts, they are all very well moulded and when complete this will look most impressive on the shelf, or as part of a diorama. Unfortunately, as with the earlier kit, no crew are provided, and in this case no ammunition either, so some scratchbuilding will be required if you go down that route. Highly recommended.


Review sample courtesy of
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That dude on the box is one stiff-upper-lipped dude. There's a huge gun firing a few meters behind him and he's just standing there looking like it's the most common thing in the world. Big thumbs up to him !!

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