It's a bloody battleship on rails, is what it is!

Before you head for just plain ol' Russian green... I would look around at pics of Sov armored train stuff - I am fairly sure that a lot of it underwent various camo schemes (not that camo likely much works when its sitting on the tracks...) over the course of the war, and it could be that these mutha's had other schemes than plain green, too.

Just a thought!

Bob

I’m jealous I’m going to be watching this one vigilantly, I’m very interested in armored trains and railcars.

Why not take mini arts railcar and put the maxim quad on it for air defense ?

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It's a bloody battleship on rails, is what it is!

Before you head for just plain ol' Russian green... I would look around at pics of Sov armored train stuff - I am fairly sure that a lot of it underwent various camo schemes (not that camo likely much works when its sitting on the tracks...) over the course of the war, and it could be that these mutha's had other schemes than plain green, too.

Just a thought!

Bob

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Hobby Boss also has a 'late' version I think. And the markings for that show a winter white wash or the railroad tie camo (which isn't fully correct since they're missing the rails in the camo scheme). I'm just not sure if this early version was ever painted up like that. Think the only real difference between the two are the guns mounted in the turrets, so I could probably get away with it without most people noticing. It's certainly food for thought.

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I’m jealous I’m going to be watching this one vigilantly, I’m very interested in armored trains and railcars.

Why not take mini arts railcar and put the maxim quad on it for air defense ?

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That's a possibility. I do have blueprints for a quad maxim rail car. As far as I know I think they went on 20t flatcars. They have these special armored housings that were mounted to the car, pretty cool looking. I'll have to see how detailed this kits maxim is too.

But, boy it look just SPECTACULAR!

We're all modelers here, right? And occasional tedious and slow tasks are, I think, part and parcel of the hobby - indy-link tracks, zillions of road wheels on tracked stuff, cleaning mold-seams off every little part... and complex, detailed camo schemes!

Were I in your town, I would gladly offer my help in painting that scheme!

Hope you decide to do it!

You do got to wonder, though, whether any German fly-boy was ever even remotely confused by seeing a huge, striped bump cruising down the tracks!

Bob

Finished building the flatcar.




It's a well detailed kit, but I feel MiniArt upped the part count just for the sake of it. Mainly the steel beams. They're made with two parts, one that has 3 sides, and the other is a flat face with beveled edges to mate up to the 3 sided piece. There are no undercuts that I noticed, so I don't know why this wasn't a single piece with a seam down the middle. Speaking of, mold seams were pretty large in some spots, but that's easy to fix. Other than that, it's a fine kit and builds up nicely.

Next I'll build up the two sections of track included with the railcar kit, and mate it to the existing track section. Scratchbuilding materials are also on the way and should arrive in a few days. The design is done for all the parts needed, so once it comes in I can dive into building the enclosure.

This looks like a great kit, do you happen to know if the Germans used these type of flat cars in there railway inventory ?

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This looks like a great kit, do you happen to know if the Germans used these type of flat cars in there railway inventory ?

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Can't say for certain if they did. But I know they did put captured Soviet armored trains to use as well as the 60t flat car, so it would not be a stretch for the Germans to use this. The kit supplies 6 marking schemes but all are listed as USSR or 'Unknown Operator'.

I think i May have to grab one of these for a build I’m doing. It looks like a great lot and it looks as if it goes together with no issues.

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I think i May have to grab one of these for a build I’m doing. It looks like a great lot and it looks as if it goes together with no issues.

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Railway diorama? Also, the kit has options two fit both Russian and European gauge track, which furthers the case for captured ones being pressed into service.

Yes I’m doing a railway diorama, so far i have a PL-37 that is going to be captured and attached to it will be an abstoswagen that has a Somua S-35 on it that is beginning to dismount. I thinking maybe another track with one of the Soviet wagons on it would fit in just fine.

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Yes I’m doing a railway diorama, so far i have a PL-37 that is going to be captured and attached to it will be an abstoswagen that has a Somua S-35 on it that is beginning to dismount. I thinking maybe another track with one of the Soviet wagons on it would fit in just fine.

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Sounds neat. You should make a build log for it. Have yet to a single build log of the PL-37 even though it's been out for years now.

Unfortunately i built it last year and actually just repainted it with my new airbrush. If i can ever figure out how to post pictures on here I’ll post it. It was a simple build fortunately and it seems like a lot of the heavy armored trains are. It’d be nice onget a full interior kit one of these days

That Miniart flatcar looks nice. I plan to get one myself, someday. Sorry to hear the parts count is high. I believe it has to do with their specific manufacturing process and making such large, long styrene pieces without short shots or depressions. Annoying, but older tech means more parts.

I'm back. Getting into the swing of things again

Spent a lot of time on the railbed. I taped off the base and spread some spackle on top and then pressed the track into place. Once dry I did multiple layers of glue then ballast to build it up, with a final coat of glue to set it all in place. Primed it all in black, then airbrushed a basecoat of gray, then painted all the ties and rails by hand. Followed this with a dark wash. Gave that a day to dry and started going heavy with some pigments.

That's a little section I've got done. The gray basecoat is kind of bluish, so I'm really going at it with the pigments to blend everything together and get a dusty look.

Also painted up the flat car. Used the hairspray chipping technique on it

Might be a little overdone, but weathering will mute it down a little bit. I used Vallejo paints, which as some of you know, aren't great for this technique since they dry kinda rubbery and come off in large chunks. But I think it came out alright. Got some touch up painting to do, then a coat of clear gloss to seal it in and on to decals and weathering.