Hello all! First time on the forums, however, been reading them now for a short while and Quickly realized they are a treasure trove of knowledge!

So I'm hoping someone out here can point me in the right direction.

First off, I haven't touched a kit in over 6 years and I just recently switched jobs which will hopefully give me more time to get back into the hobby. So what do I do to get back into the swing of things? I go and blow my first new paycheck on "tank stuff"

I'm planning on building a very large scale German rail diorama using a multitude of kits, one of which is TWS's SSyms 80t plattformwagen. And on this I want to put a Jagdtiger (thinking a DML).

However, I want another armored vehicle to keep the jagdtiger company but really don't want two of the same vehicle.

So my question is, what would (could) be transported with the Jagd? Large or small. I don't have another plattformwagen and was going to wait to get something based on what it was going to carry.

I know the Jagdtiger saw service with the StuG iii but would they have been transported together?

I have a StuH 42 I'm still working on (from 6 years ago ) but again, don't know if the time period is correct or even if they would be transported together.

Any help/suggestions are greatly appreciated!

I have plenty of questions about this diorama, which I'll post later once I actually figure out what I want to do.

Thanks in advance!

(by the way, I know the Jagd was a HEAVY guy at 70 some tons, but I also know it was transported by rail and that the SSyms was rated for 80t. So in theory, it should be a feasible set up, but again, not sure. I haven't been able to find pictures of the Jagdtiger on a rail car but I have seen pics of King tigers on the SSyms using transport tracks and the schurzen removed due to transport contraints)

Hi Devin,

&:) Why not try an SdKfz 251 or 250 halftrack? All units had command and supply vehicles that were transported with the fighting vehicles.

DML is going to release a King Tiger with transport tracks. It might be worth buying that kit and swapping tracks...I'm not sure if they ( Jagdtiger / Koenigs Tiger) used the same ones.

To tell you the truth I don't know how many of the Jagdtigers were transported by rail since most of the fighting was in/ near Germany when the Jagdtiger was in production.

It's a neat idea...The Jagdtiger is a Monster...even in 1/35 scale. Good luck with the dio...

Jeff

-Jeff

Thanks for the input. I've already got a few soft skinned vehicles slated to be in the dio but a halftrack might be nice addition

[quote]Hi Devin,

To tell you the truth I don't know how many of the Jagdtigers were transported by rail since most of the fighting was in/ near Germany when the Jagdtiger was in production.

Jeff [/quote
The 653rd Schwere Panzerjager Abtelung was in transit by rail for the Battle of The Bulge, (Watch on the Rhine) and did not make it due to heavy damage to the railroad.

Another idea might be an Opel Blitz with a light crane, used for maintenance. Pulling engines, transmissions,,loading & unloading tracks. Since the JT and KT had the same width the JTs would have had "transport" tracks on and their normal tracks would have been rolled up.

-Jim

I had read that about the Jagdtiger's on transport to the Battle of the Bulge and is where I kind of got the idea. The bit about the transport tracks being needed is also why I wanted to have the Jagdtiger on a rail car: so I could have the schurzen removed and full width track rolled up. I already have an opel blitz slated to be in the dio, doesn't mean I can't have two though . thanks for the idea.

One question in regards to the transport tracks though: were the outer road wheels removed like they were on the tiger 1? Or is the dependent on suspension type? I found a few pictures of King tigers on rail transport but I couldn't quite tell if any road wheels were removed.

To give everyone an idea what I have slated to build in this massive dio, here is a kit list:
BR-52 kreigslocomotive, possibly pushing a flat car with "88"
the BR 52 will be pulling a gondola with two flakvierling 38's, next car is a box car, and if I can get my dirty hands on one, I want the last car to be a tank car (think Baluard)
All this will be on one track, however, there will be a parallel track where the jagdtiger will be on a SSyms flat car and where the second flat car and vehicle will be as well. A third rail car will be a short side gondola with a opel blitz loaded on it and a civilian car loaded on the opel blitz (got this idea from a picture on the inter webs) I also plan on adding some buildings to keep it interesting.