My new armored train for WWII

[maxxon]

I finished painting my armored train last weekend. It's the Flames of War train, so nothing really new there. It came into my possession almost by accident. Someone had bought the set but decided for whatever reason not do it after all. Since they were selling a nearly pristine kit for about half price, I thought the deal was too good pass and bought it...

...which naturally led to the boxes sitting on shelf for quite a while. But I finally got around to painting it, partly to get it out of the way and partly to test my new Vallejo colored primers.






The experiment was semi-successful. I think the Vallejo dunkelgelb primer is a bit too dark for this scale. I think next time I will lighten it a little bit.

Also, I can't do freehand camo with an airbrush. Not in this scale anyway. Next time I'll use blu-tac stencils or something.

The Battlefront kit is pretty good. I just wish they had regular boxcars and flatbed cars to go with it.

I magnetized the guns so I can switch in the optional 37mm FLAK as needed. And my kit was missing the aerial for the troop car, but quite frankly I might have skipped such an irritating fiddly bit anyways. Should have filled the holes, though.

[von Lucky]

Nice painting, but I agree - looks a little dark (or is it a coating of Russian dust?).

[maxxon]

Nice painting, but I agree - looks a little dark (or is it a coating of Russian dust?).

I think the Vallejo dunkelgelb primer is really intented for 1/35 models. Putting it on a 1/100 model with a sepia wash on top makes it very dark.

Not really a big problem if all you want is plain dunkel, but the the camo colors are all dark as well. It's very hard to see the dark brown camo patches on this base (the feathered edge due to freehanding them isn't helping either).

[Michi]

I just wish they had regular boxcars and flatbed cars to go with it.

What scale is it? 1/100th? Take it to a railway model shop and compare it with H0 or TT scale Reichsbahn wagons. There are plenty in those scales.

Your train looks very good to me. I don´t find it too dark or see a flaw in that sort of camo.

[maxxon]

What scale is it? 1/100th? Take it to a railway model shop and compare it with H0 or TT scale Reichsbahn wagons. There are plenty in those scales.

I think it's nominally 1/100, but I'm not sure how accurate that is.

The bigger problem is that it's designed to sit on Battlefront's own tracks (which is very narrow gauge and not a real running track).

I actually have a toy train set that is roughly 15mm scale. Let's see if I can find a pic...



I haven't compared that to the BF train yet. That one's a real runner, but it needs a ton of detailing after peeling off those stupid stickers.

[Michi]

The bigger problem is that it's designed to sit on Battlefront's own tracks (which is very narrow gauge and not a real running track).

What gauge is that? 16.5mm? 12mm? 9mm? If so you could get replacement tracks and rolling stock easily.

[maxxon]

What gauge is that? 16.5mm? 12mm? 9mm? If so you could get replacement tracks and rolling stock easily.

Have to check. Off hand I'd say 9mm maybe.

[Michi]

Have to check. Off hand I'd say 9mm maybe.

If that would be the case you could use N scale tracks or H0e (750mm narrow gauge in 1/87). H0e rolling stock would look like 1/100 standard gauge size wise.

[maxxon]

Hmmm... it guess the wheels looked narrower than they really were...

I measured the track and the inside width is 12.5mm.

 
TT Scale might work? Just need to find someone who actually sells it...

[Michi]

I measured the track and the inside width is 12.5mm.
TT Scale might work? Just need to find someone who actually sells it...

Yes TT is actually 1/120th scale on 12mm gauge tracks. For German rolling stock have a look at
Tillig: http://www.tillig.com/Gueterwagen_2_achsig.html (15 pages of good wagons with 2 axles...)
Watch out for those labelled "DRG" (Deutsche Reich Gesellschaft"

[maxxon]

Thanks, I'll give it a shot.

Though I gotta say I don't understand their pricing policies. Many wagons look identical to me yet some of them are double or triple price...