Hello

this is my latest started build

Its UM kit No. 257 'Light Reconnaissance car Le.Sp WIP'

Not many photos of these things exist, they were made later in the war, the first being issued to troops in Spring 1944, and not a large number were produced, appears around 40 in total.

Four trains were made up, each consisting of 10 of these cars, the trains were numbered 301-304. Each car was self propelled with a Steyr 76 H.P. engine, the cars could operate together as a complete train, or singly, or in small groups.

These were light cars, made specifically for anti partisan and security on light railways in the Balkans, in Serbia Macedonia and Greece. Each car was armed with 4 machineguns and 6 troops.

Above information was from 'German Armored Trains Vol II by Wolfgang Sawodny, published by Schiffer.

The kit pieces are well cast, except for a few light sink marks which should be easy to fill.

Looking at pictures of the real cars, there should be rivets on the lower edge of the car, none are cast on the kit, so first job was to measure and mark where rivets need to go and drill some holes

pictures are below, I'll update this post as I progress

cheers
Neil

A scouting railroad car is something only german engineers would think to invent!

Looking forward to seeing this.

P.A.

Not my cup of tea but it's interesting to see someone "committed" to collecting these rather unique and unusual pieces. I saw that the LHS had two with the single Panzer turret but shied away from it based on your and someone else's comments about the moulding being so poor. These kits at first appear simple but obviously are not from all the extra work you put into them to make them respectable. Thanks for sharing.

Regards,
AJ

Dang nlyall, again you got these new kits started before me..! I´ve been watching this kit on Jadar-Hobby but decided to build some other kits first. Nice to know, that moulding is better than in their previous german armored train kit, the which you also built. I think UM should use this light-grey plastic on their kits for now on, rather than that dark green. Seems I have to buy this kit someday. I´ll be following this built..

Hi Alexander

Partisans created the need for railcars, as railways are easy targets for partisan activity.
The germans used railways as much as possible to transport troops, hardware, and supplies, so safe railways were essential for logistical reasons.

Hi AJ

I'm glad you are interested enough to take a look. This kit has no moulding flaws, but like almost every kit, can be improved on with a little extra work.

Hi Kimmo

I really like these railway things, so I just had to buy one, and I like the grey plastic better too. I'm looking forward to the next release to see what it will be.

Anyway here is an update on the build;

I've added rivets to the sides back and front, as close as I can position them to photos of the actual car. They are a little overscale but the base is only about 2 mm wide, the rivets are about 0.3 of a millimetre, I couldnt deal with anything smaller. They won't much be noticed anyway once painted and weathered.

At first I attached all the observation plates closed, as they are not made to be opened. They are cast way too thick and didnt look good. I took them off and sanded them all to about 25% of their original thickness. I decided to cut some view ports into the hull so I could fix some of these open, or partially open. This helps to make the vehicle look a bit more interesting.

I cut off the 'box' on each side of the lower hull that represented the step, as it looked wrong, and made a rung out of wire, same as photos of these vehicles. I also replaced the door handle each side with wire, and the handles on the roof were replaced with wire also.

The real thing has two round metal 'portholes' at each end, which had hinges. Possibly these covered headlights. The kit doesnt come with any, just a square lug where these should be. I cut off the lugs and searched my spares box. The OB-3 railcar has a sprue that also comes with the DT-37 and DT-45 railcar, which has 4 small round wheels, each with a peg. These are not used on the OB-3 so I sanded these flat to represent the round metal hatches, they are the right size and the peg looks like a hinge.

The bed frame aerial on the roof is a tiny bit too thick, judging by photos. I didnt feel like scratch building a new aerial for very little improvement, so left it as is, just added a connecting cable from the frame to the roof aerial mount.

I used a tiny bit of filler on a slight dimple at one end, and a couple of tiny smidges of filler where I had trimmed the hull a bit too closely. A couple of hair line join cracks were sealed with a brush of super glue

it looks a bit rough at the moment, still needs a bit of a tidy up.

next weekend I'll give it an undercoat, which will reveal any other imperfections that need sanding or filling, and post more pictures then

cheers
Neil

Your additions indeed made it more interesting.Are you going to show the MG hatches closed?

Hi Alexander

I think the vehicle would look better with open MG hatches, but they come moulded as one piece, shut.

I did consider cutting them off, and making some from card, so I could place them open, but a lack of photos of open MG hatches on photos of the real thing was one reason I didn't try.

Here are some painting in progress pictures

First are the "red primer" undercoat, to show what needs sanding or filling, did that, I I then tried pre shading some areas, then applied the top coat

I'll post more pics when I get more done

cheers
Neil

Hello Neil,

I dont use preshading on my models, but your build gives me the idea to try it.
Thanks for sharing.

P.A.