Reichsbahn

[Anonymous]

hey all,

i'm attempting to create a diorama of the German State Railway (Reichsbahn) durring WWII. i'm an armor modeler and i'd like a little change.

i'd like to know of a good place in the US to order the Revell static model kits of German steam locomotives, and some box cars in 1/87. the model will be static so i don't need motorized kits. i'd also like to know if anyone makes figures of WWII german soldiers and period building kits in 1/87 as well.

thank you so much for your help

best regards,

joe

[M636C]

Joe,

Have you checked Walthers? That was my first thought, anyway. Do Revell have a website?

Not all of the Revell models are suitable for a World War II diorama, since many of them represent locomotives as modified by the (West German) Bundesbahn during the 1950s and 1960s. In general, only the later class 52 and class 42 2-10-0s had the distinctive small "Witte" smoke deflectors during WWII. Most locomotives either had the large "Wagner" smoke deflectors (or some early wartime locomotives, particularly class 50 2-10-0s had none in an effort to save steel).

You would be best checking contemporary photographs for painting and lettering. Ron Ziel's "Steel Rails to Victory" is quite good. (It was called "Raeder Muessen Rollen" in the German edition!)

Peter

[DSchmitt]

Revell Germany site

http://www.revell.de/de/index.html

I clicked on "english" to get the English verson of site then did a search for "locomotive" found five 4German[:D], 1 American[:)].

[M636C]

Having checked the site, the class 43 2-10-0 looks like the best locomotive for your purposes, with the class 02 4-6-2 also suitable for the period. (the 02 locomotives were rebuilt as class 01about this (WW II) time but the classes were very similar, and the 02 seems to have all of the original 1920's era features).

The class 41 has the post war smoke deflectors, and the class 50 has a tender with a brakeman's cabin, both not correct for your period.

Many of the "older period" buildings from European suppliers would be suitable for your diorama. Contacting a hobby shop specialising in European models, or looking at a copy of the English magazine "Continental Modeller" would probably help. Kalmbach are apparently distributing that magazine now, so your LHS might be able to get it.

Peter

[DSchmitt]

I just remembered a kit I bought 15-20 years ago at a hobby shop in Reno (now long gone). I found it in a closet. Its a Revell "Orient Express" consisting of a BR 18 locomotive 4-6-2, a CIWL Pullman, and a CIWL restaurant car. I started painting the parts, but thats as far as I got. I really should build it.


Check out the military section of this site for HO scale military models, Artitec has some figures and some rail equip in their line that appear to be reasonably priced. Some of the other brands listed are very expensive.

http://www.reynaulds.com/

[philnrunt]

Definitely check out the Walthers HO Big Book, they have a decent amount of Whermacht equipment, and just about anything you would need to re-create the Reichsbahn.

[Anonymous]

it would be interesting to see if someone could accuratly model and operate a layout of of the german railways during the war except for the unpleasent fact that a lot of the rail traffic was bound for concentration camps. aside from that it would make for an interesting operating session

[Anonymous]

I've seen a narrow-gauge freelance line set in Normandy during early 1944 modelled - was featured in Continental Modeller magazine recently. The model was 4mm-1ft scale using 9mm track, and they also had a 1:72 R/C Tiger Tank trundling around, interestingly different!

[Anonymous]

hey all,

thanks so much for the great info. i purchased a revell locomotive, now i'd like some help with the box cars (wagons) i've cheked with walthers, but i can't find any. i'm looking for 3 or so cars, inexpensive but nicely detailed. any help here would be great.

best regards, and thanks,

joe

[M636C]

Joe,

I have some "Liliput" box cars which are from the right period (wooden, four wheeled lettered for DR). Liliput is made by Bachmann now. Again I'm sure they have a website. During that period, the freight cars in Germany were known by town names for identification, such as "Linz" (but that might be an open wagon and not a box car!) and that is how Liliput describe them. These were quite reasonable in price (by European standards). Check for a website first, which should have illustrations.

Otherwise, "Lima" made suitable cars, which may be cheaper, but were not as well detailed. Lima, are I think, not currently in production, but some stores may have them. I think "Train World" in Brooklyn used to carry Liliput, and may even have the old Austrian built cars. They certainly had some locomotives fairly recently.

Peter