Started off the day by working on the details of the front end of the car. The headlamps were painted in Flat Black according to the color plate finishing guide and their "lenses" painted with Tamiya Clear Red. The air hose for the brakes was also painted, with enamel Gunmetal, and the various metal fittings painted with Metalizer Gunmetal and then given the Rust wash/Burnt Umber dry-brush treatment. The bumpers were dry brushed with Steel and I dry brushed some Burnt Umber on the plow blade as well to round out the front details.



A lot of work, but no photos due to the fact that I was trying to get as much done as possible before leaving for a vacation tomorrow, so I'll be short in summarizing what came next.

Everything was sealed with a Future coat, the simple balkenkreuze markings applied and snugged down with some Solvaset, then a 2nd coat of Future laid down. Once all that was dry, I started in weathering by applying dot filters of enamel Gunmetal (to simulate soot) and Raw Umber. A pin wash of Burnt Umber was applied to all the raised details and such, and that gets everything to this stage:



...which is where it will sit for a while as I don't return from Cancun until Sunday.

Great work so far Bill, it really looks the part.
However, I may have added a few more scratches etc. to the 'plow-blade' i'm sure those pesky partisans would have laid the odd peice of debris over the tracks to warrant its use!

Enjoy the trip!

James

Thanks James, I dinged up the plow blade more than shows in just the one shot as it was a preliminary step, but didn't turn it into a construction-yard derelict either. I also tried to keep those dings/nicks/scratches in scale and not go overboard with it either but may revisit it. Thanks for the comments.

Looks great, your making me want to buy one of those puppys.

Thanks Ethan, apologize for the late reply. I have to admit the subject, along with the other armored train elements, all have an odd appeal to me as well, this one in particular. It's probably the "hybrid" look that they've got as being half-tank and half-railcar more than anything else!

After tweaking a couple of places here and there after returning from vacation, I decided to call an end to this by applying an overall coat of Testor's Lusterless (Flat) via rattlecan. The base was sprayed with Testor's Gloss and then masked with regular masking tape and the rail bed sprayed with the Lusterless to get the finish I was after. It didn't quite work out as well as I'd hoped, probably due to the nature of how the rattlecan functions more than anything else in terms of even coating/distribution, but I did end up with a demarcated glossy base and flat rail bed.

Taking photos of the finished combo of rail car and bed was a challenge ...the darn thing is too long to turn lengthwise in the photo booth so I had to get creative. Here's a couple just to show the finish, I'll put more up later in the On Display area.

Hehe, I have tried to take photoes of my BR52 and found out the same

Nice build up - personally it think the addition of a coupple of figures would give a better impression of soze and scale and the ballast could be dirtier - otherwise i think you have the balance between a relatively new piece of equipment and wheatering dead on.

Cheers

Bill great to see this finished,
this blog has been a real help for when I decide to tackle mine!
Be great to see you get stuck into the RSO now, am going to try and get some pics up of my own build in the near future.

Cheers,

James

Jan,

Appreciate the comments as always. The trouble with rail-based subjects of course is they always have odd linear dimensions, not something you usually have to deal with for "normal" AFVs!

James,

The RSO is next on deck, I'd put it on hold to do this one, am looking forward to it and also to see pics of your progress.

I've got to send it to you first James!
I should have it in a day or two, the club meet last week was cancelled so I never saw my source so I need to drive over to Brum to see him.

It looks great Bill, shall look forward to the On Display feature when its up.

I'll be looking out for the RSO too, have an hankering to build one after seeing a pic of one thundering down the road.

Looks great Bill i have yet to tackle a rail build and to be honest until this one i wasnt too interested in doing so but seeing this one get built really has me wanting one, the camo turned out great, i may break down and get one and build a shorter base for it (my shelves are filling up) its been a very interesting blog, Thanks.

Ron.

Thanks Mark, the RSO is a funny little beast, I've had the kit in my stash for well over 2 years now after picking it up at a sale...so I figure it's waited long enough.

Ron,

In hindsight, the rail-bed provided is wayyyy too long for displaying just the car and makes things awkward in many respects as a result. The base parts could easily be modified to produce a shorter display base though, just have to do some careful work with the rail tie lengths vs. the base sections.

Great build, checking this thread out made me aquire the version2 kit...this will go one day on a long section of track to my DML railcar kits...which leaves my question...how the heck does the rear of this car hook up to any other car...no usual twin bumpers to mate up the the car behind it...and this car was meant to be in front. I'm sure when/if trumpeter brings out that lowboy tank carrier car{seen behind the variant 2 box art} that will be solved, but what about the mean time...anyone know how the car hooks up to any other armored rail car?

Bob,

The rear on the Type 1 has a box-like protrusion with two small bumpers and a hook on top of the box that would allow it to connect to the U-shaped hitching gear of the car behind it. It's the hook that would allow it to be connected up, however I don't think it was designed to be hooked to other cars but rather to the front of the locomotive, which is why it has the large track clearing plow blade on the front.

Ahhhh..thank you. The type 2 is the same rear coupling as well, and just alittle longer chassis w/built in storage boxes as opposed to the type 1 with the external storage box...I either need to get the locomotive{which I need to do anyway} or wait for the next car out by trumpeter{...or both!}