30.5cm sfl. Bar - German Paper-Project Assault Gun
- Description
- Reviews
- Files
Y'know the Sturmtiger? The giant rocket launcher strapped onto a Tiger I chassis with a casemate and a dream? The one that knocked out a full platoon of Shermans by accident? This was its competitor.
During the disastrous Battle of Stalingrad, the Wehrmacht came to realize that they were not in possession of an assault gun capable of surviving - much less thriving - in a densely urban environment; the Stug III was good at what it had been designed for, which was not firing into tall buildings and leveling blockhouses. The hastily-converted StuIG 33B was... better, as it had enough armor and firepower to take hits while being able to assault some positions. Only twenty-four were built, but they were good little vehicles and were satisfactory for the jobs they were designed to complete. In true German fashion, though, they had bigger dreams.
A few months after the close of the Battle of Stalingrad in February '43, the manufacturing firm Krupp proposed to the Wehrmacht a quintessential German wunderwaffe, the 30.5 centimeter L/16 auf selbstfahrlafette Bär. This was the concept of an assault gun taken to the absolute extreme; a Czech-built 30.5 cm howitzer, 13 cm of armor plating, the running gear of a King Tiger (also still in development at this point), and 120 tons of misjudgment.
In short, the program did not move forward. A full design was drawn up by Krupp, planned to use many components from the King Tiger - standardization, a rare wise move from German industry. This vehicle was not a response to a request from the Wehrmacht I might add, as it was completely independently designed for no reason but the hopes to score a contract. Sadly for Krupp, Alkett had the same idea and proposed what would become the Sturmtiger - a more reasonable design by all metrics - shortly after. The Bär never left the drawing board. Of course, the Bär wasn't a very good design altogether anyways, completely lacking anti-infantry armament and being quite frankly huge, so picking the vehicle which was half the weight, half the complexity, and performed the same function was the easy choice. Significantly altered plans dating December of '44 do suggest that Krupp may have continued development of the Bär for whatever reason after the vehicle was rejected.
This file is one I am very proud of. There are four versions of the hull; as only a few sketches exist of the Bär, I made versions both completely historical - that is, only things that were on the blueprints - and slightly ahistorical - with added details like vents, extra detail on the engine, a mount for a headlight, and a built-in grenade launcher. All of the added details were ripped straight from the King Tiger to make them as historical as possible without being historical. The model pictured is the ahistorical version, labeled 'production' in the files. This also includes versions of the hull both with and without fenders. The painted model is without fenders; I did test-print the fender version and the print succeeded.
The gun barrel is separate so that it can be glued at whatever elevation you choose. I would recommend printing it face-up as for it to look the smoothest. There is one track file which can be duplicated and mirrored in your slicer.
This also includes files of external track links in chains of 4 and 8, as well as a 30.5cm shell.
Print at 0.1mm layers for everything. Use supports. Happy printing!
During the disastrous Battle of Stalingrad, the Wehrmacht came to realize that they were not in possession of an assault gun capable of surviving - much less thriving - in a densely urban environment; the Stug III was good at what it had been designed for, which was not firing into tall buildings and leveling blockhouses. The hastily-converted StuIG 33B was... better, as it had enough armor and firepower to take hits while being able to assault some positions. Only twenty-four were built, but they were good little vehicles and were satisfactory for the jobs they were designed to complete. In true German fashion, though, they had bigger dreams.
A few months after the close of the Battle of Stalingrad in February '43, the manufacturing firm Krupp proposed to the Wehrmacht a quintessential German wunderwaffe, the 30.5 centimeter L/16 auf selbstfahrlafette Bär. This was the concept of an assault gun taken to the absolute extreme; a Czech-built 30.5 cm howitzer, 13 cm of armor plating, the running gear of a King Tiger (also still in development at this point), and 120 tons of misjudgment.
In short, the program did not move forward. A full design was drawn up by Krupp, planned to use many components from the King Tiger - standardization, a rare wise move from German industry. This vehicle was not a response to a request from the Wehrmacht I might add, as it was completely independently designed for no reason but the hopes to score a contract. Sadly for Krupp, Alkett had the same idea and proposed what would become the Sturmtiger - a more reasonable design by all metrics - shortly after. The Bär never left the drawing board. Of course, the Bär wasn't a very good design altogether anyways, completely lacking anti-infantry armament and being quite frankly huge, so picking the vehicle which was half the weight, half the complexity, and performed the same function was the easy choice. Significantly altered plans dating December of '44 do suggest that Krupp may have continued development of the Bär for whatever reason after the vehicle was rejected.
This file is one I am very proud of. There are four versions of the hull; as only a few sketches exist of the Bär, I made versions both completely historical - that is, only things that were on the blueprints - and slightly ahistorical - with added details like vents, extra detail on the engine, a mount for a headlight, and a built-in grenade launcher. All of the added details were ripped straight from the King Tiger to make them as historical as possible without being historical. The model pictured is the ahistorical version, labeled 'production' in the files. This also includes versions of the hull both with and without fenders. The painted model is without fenders; I did test-print the fender version and the print succeeded.
The gun barrel is separate so that it can be glued at whatever elevation you choose. I would recommend printing it face-up as for it to look the smoothest. There is one track file which can be duplicated and mirrored in your slicer.
This also includes files of external track links in chains of 4 and 8, as well as a 30.5cm shell.
Print at 0.1mm layers for everything. Use supports. Happy printing!
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| Filename | Size | Last updated |
|---|---|---|
| 30.5cm L16 auf Sfl. Bar.zip | 11.6 MiB | 2026-02-19 |
