Some background : (all pictures below found on the internet – except for my dio )
Tula (Russian Тула) is an industrial city in Russia and the capital of the Oblast with the same name. The city is build on the Srednerussky hills near the rivers Oepa and Tulitsa. The region is a major center for metal industry and has a large railway complex.
On April 26th 1942, elements of the Russian 31st Separate Special Gorki battalion of armored trains (31-го Отдельного Особого Горьковского дивизиона бронепоездов) arrived in Tula. They came from the Bryansk frontline were they were part of the 3rd Army. The 31st had several armored trains including the "Kozma Minin" (Козьма Минин ) and the "Ilya Muromets". The trains pulled several wagons with anti aircraft guns, etc.. The Kozma Minin was manufactured in the city Горького (who can translate this for me ? ) between October 1941 and February 1942.
The diorama in 1/35 scale :
The idea is to depict a scene at the railway complex of Tula. The "Kozma Minin" steam engine (plans can be seen on this site) is under maintenance and receives a new load of coal. Some members of the crew stand near the train and a larger depot/building is in the back of the dio. At this point in time I'm not yet planning to make any wagons, just the steam engine. The complex has a water tower as well . A typical Russian 5 or 6 edged stone made tower, with a wooden upper half and a staircase to enter the building. A shed is build next to the tower and shares a wall.
These armored trains were often accompanied with BA20Zhd armored vehicles which performed reconnaissance duties. The BA20Zhd runs on the tracks as well. A BA20 4-wheel version will be put near the water tower in abandoned non operational state without his wheels. The BA20 and BA20ZHD will come from RPM.
A BA20
A BA20zh (first vehicle)
I not yet sure, but I might attempt to make a number of flatcars with their loads, all will be (nearly) obsolete vehicles in 1942, like the T-28, the light tanks BA-7, BA-5, etc… Usually, one does see all the same vehicles on transport, but I would like to make several different tanks instead and not 10 T-28s for example. Also, an S-60 Stalinets tractor, several trucks, other types of armored cars, GAZ staff car, and many soldiers etc.. might find a place on the diorama next to the railroad.
Here is an overview of the dio, which will measure approx 1 by 1 meters; It consists out of 6 smaller dio's which I will make one by one to keep focus. The upper three are 3 cm in height and contain the maintenance building (at the left), coal loading activity (middle) and water tower (right). A track for vehicles will run through the middle of the dio in the direction of the water tower. The three lower dio's have no height and contain two tracks, a switch, flatcars and their load and a loading area.
The tower is nearly finished. It was build from a plaster plate (carved stone structure), death wood found in the forest and wood from packaging material, windows from plastic foil and some lead. Only the staircase was constructed from balsa wood I bought in the local shop. The roof is a wooden tile roof, as often seen in that period.
Here is a picture from a Siberian example :
The tower in Kiev during WW2 :
Construction of the tower
Overview of the tower. The top is removable for easy storage or transport, as well are the ladders and staircase
Middle ladder
Upper tower view
Rear of the shed
Side view of the shed with nails sticking out
Window frames made form carbon. I tried so simulate flacked off paint, but need to give it another try
Corrugated sheet made from carbon packaging
Rear view
The staircase from balsa wood . ;still wet and in need for some more treatments
The roof, painted and with pastels
800 wooden roof tiles were cut from a wooden box, sanded to obtain the correct thickness and glued on an under roof made from carbon.
An example of a real wooden tile roof
The under roof
Roof tiles
The roof prior sanding it
Painted roof:
The window frames on top of the construction were made from 1 mm carbon. The chimney (air intake I guess) from a straw. Some lead was used for the roof and the metal door at ground level.
Two Verlinden poster decorate the interior of the shed, an old rusted BA20 engine, wheel cover, flat tire and radiator can be seen, including a pile of old wood.
Flat tire, rusted
Engine, posters
The steel door
This Russian soldier dates from later (has shoulder boards) and is just here for display purposes
I wanted to display a badly rusted armoured BA20, standing in a shed for the last years. A sort of experiment really. Here are some pictures. I still need to work on the front lights. The kit is RPM. I sanded the front bumper to half the thickness it was supplied in the kit, and also made new 'windows' on the turret and re-made the 'arms' of the two front window shields. If anyone has more tips how to improve this kit, then that would be great, as my other railway BA20 is also from RPM.
Hope you like it so far and I'm looking forward for all suggestions for improving this
Best wishes
Johan Somers
