anyone have a good source of quality WWII rolling stock and vehicles?
Gary
gdelmoro anyone have a good source of quality WWII rolling stock and vehicles?
By saying "WWII" instead of "early forties", it sounds like you're after military stuff.
Yes? No?
Also, at least in HO, there doesn't appear to be only one source of much of anything. At least, if ya go in kinda deeply.
Ed
Yes. I want to add some military rolling stock. Found one cannon from life like but it doesn't look like it's good quality like an Atlas, BLI or Atheran
While surfing the web one day, I came across a few ''war game'' sites. Can't recall the names, but they had all kinds of military stuff. I recall some 1/87, 1/100 and 1/7?
My point, you may have to go outside the railroad sites
Roco makes very nice models of military vehicles. They make tanks and jeeps etc. They can be found online and in some local hobby shops. I think they are now owned by Herpa.
Here is a link to Walthers:
https://www.walthers.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=roco
If you're talking about military rolling stock that was used in the US, here it is for July 1945:
US Navy had
about 80 helium tank cars, 8 regular tank cars, 78 depressed center flats, 107 hoppers, 1400 boxcars
War Department had
4000 tank cars, 16 calcium carbide cars
The above were freight cars. There were also 100 hospital cars, 800 troop kitchens, 40 hospital kitchen and 2400 troop sleepers owned by the War Department but operated by Pullman.
If you're thinking of doing military trains in the US, all the Army equipment was transported on railroad-owned cars. Personnel were transported in the above cars plus other cars leased from Pullman.
For military equipment, I'd start looking with Roco. There might be others, but no names come to mind. And don't forget to take the machine guns off the top of the tanks and trucks during transport.
This site which I will link to...lists on the left margin just about every manufacturer of Military vehicles of WWII, in 1/87th and others. Just click on anyone of them and look at their offerings:
http://www.reynaulds.com/rei.aspx
Take Care!
Frank
Think I saw a few CMW military vehicles available at Modeltrainstuff. Their standard vehicles decorated for military.
I have a couple of the afore mentioned Roco, waiting to be freed onto the layout.
Good luck,
Richard
When I see the term "rolling stock" on a RR oriented forum, I think of railroad cars. Others have interpreted this as meaning highway vehicles. Maybe the OP needs to clarify.
Tom
Railroad cars. Flats with tanks, military marked box cars Etc
Jordan Highway Minatures made a 1940 Ford sedan kit that was a common staff car, unfortunately, they have closed following the death of the owner. They may be available from various shops online.
CMW had a run of 1941 Ford stake trucks and tank trucks lettered for US Army and Navy. They are sold out at Walthers, but could be avaiable form other sources.
Sylvan Scale has a number of resin kit cars and trucks from the 1940s, have a look through their site.http://www.sylvanscalemodels.com/
There are a number of manufactures who include WWII vehicles in their product line. Perhaps the easiest way to search for them is to get a 2017 Walthers catalog. They are mixed in with the other vehicles; you have to read the fine print because WWII is shown along with Cold War era and modern vehicles and fighting machines.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
gdelmoro Railroad cars. Flats with tanks, military marked box cars Etc
There was a thread a few months ago about Sherman tanks on Flatcars:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/258871.aspx
SmallScaleHobbies.com has been a excellent source for me for WWII vehicles and they also have excellent HO scale decals for them as well. (note - even in HO scale tanks reading the directions is important...you dont want to glue the tracks on one backwards...
Clickable link from Gary's post.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
hon30critter http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/258871.aspx Clickable link from Gary's post. Dave
Thanks. For some reason, I can't get clickable links to work on this computer.
garya For some reason, I can't get clickable links to work on this computer.
Gary, I'm not sure if you know this, but you have to modify the link after you copy it into your thread to make it clickable. Put a square bracket '[' followed by the letters 'url' followed by ']' at the beginning of the link (no spaces and no quotation marks), and put '[', '/', 'url', ']' at the end, (again no spaces or quotation marks). The link will not highlight until you submit the post.
hon30critter garya For some reason, I can't get clickable links to work on this computer. Gary, I'm not sure if you know this, but you have to modify the link after you copy it into your thread to make it clickable. Put a square bracket '[' followed by the letters 'url' followed by ']' at the beginning of the link (no spaces and no quotation marks), and put '[', '/', 'url', ']' at the end, (again no spaces or quotation marks). The link will not highlight until you submit the post. Dave
I'm using the "Insert/Edit Link" feature in the toolbar. I suppose I could go old school and use html codes, though, like I do for pictures...
BTW, just to emphasize what Ed said earlier...trains carrying troops or equipment during WW2 would not normally include any freight or passenger cars owned by the military. The freight cars would be regular railroad-owed cars, and the passsenger cars would be Pullmans.
I seem to vaguely remember something about the military trying to put large cannons on the rails, to be spotted near the coast and be able to be moved around as needed. Not sure if that was WW1 or WW2, but I don't think it really worked. Certainly, seeing rail-mounted howitzers like the Germans had in Europe would be incredibly rare in the USA.
Railcar mounted guns go way back here in the US. They were invented here.
Here's what I think of as the "classic" from our 1861 war (see cover of Abdill's "Civil War Railroads"):
And here's one that's less well-known:
More recently, there's a book by Charles S. Small titled "California's Railway Guns".
He writes of the general topic, also. The United States built several railway guns for WWI. But none were deployed in the continental United States.
Between the wars, the US built and deployed several big (14") railway guns in the US. The last firing (practice) of one of them was near Los Angeles in August 1941 (NOTE: PRE-war).
As far as WWII itself:
"The Baldwin Locomotive Works built 22 railway carriages (BLW C/N 62367-86) during 4-1940. They then built 20 more (BLW C/N 64367-86 and finally an additional 6 (BLW C/N 67553-58) during 1943. Baldwin's records are not clear as to the guns mounted A 1941 photo shows what appears to be a 4 inch gun and the car has four wheel trucks. A 1942 photo shows a six wheel truck car and the long barrl Navy Mark 6 8 inch gun The barbette carriage was an Army desing of the first World War which had been adapted to the Navy gun.
Six units went to the West Coast."
This is a fascinating book, and I recommend it highly.
It should be said that UN-mounted guns were shipped around the country. PRR and Milwaukee had several 30' flat cars designed for that use. You can get kits to build such a setup.
PS. I looked through a list of Balwin negatives that I have. These are from 1940-1945:
14505 U.S. GOVT-RWY GUN
12188 U.S. GOVT-R.R. GUN
12273 U.S. GOVT-R.R. GUN
Getting prints of those negatives will take time and money.
wjstixCertainly, seeing rail-mounted howitzers like the Germans had in Europe would be incredibly rare in the USA.
Rare, yes. But it did happen.
Doughboys attend to a 12" coastal gun in transit at Altoona, Pa. December, 1918.
PRR Photo, collection gmpullman.
Have Fun! Ed
With Philadelphia Navy Yard being a significant constructor of warships, and Washington, D.C., being the location of the Navy's large caliber guns, the PRR was occupied with carrying gun barrels between D.C. and Philly during the war.
There was an article in The Keystone Modeler a number of years ago about building the load and flatcars involved in transporting a 14" gun barrel.
Eric
And, for those of you who believe TOO MUCH IS NEVER ENOUGH:
Hey! Isn't that Indiana Jones lurking over on the left?
Eric WhitePRR was occupied with carrying gun barrels between D.C. and Philly during the war.
Many of the guns were transported to Watervilet Arsenal near Troy, NY, for relining and inspection, too.
https://militarybases.com/watervilet-arsenal-army-base-in-watervilet-ny/
This photo shows a 16" Navy Gun loaded on the PRR F22 Gun flats you mentioned. American Model Builders, Laserkits, makes a resin gun barrel kit.
A pair of these guns were used where I worked as pressure vessels for powdered metalurgy pressing. Many, if not all, were made at Bethlehem steel in Bethlehem, Pa.
Interesting...
Now THATS what I'm talking about LOL
gmpullman wjstix Certainly, seeing rail-mounted howitzers like the Germans had in Europe would be incredibly rare in the USA. Rare, yes. But it did happen. Doughboys attend to a 12" coastal gun in transit at Altoona, Pa. December, 1918. PRR Photo, collection gmpullman. Have Fun! Ed
wjstix Certainly, seeing rail-mounted howitzers like the Germans had in Europe would be incredibly rare in the USA.
OT, but the US Navy used railway guns in France during the First World War:
Built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia and shipped over there.
https://www.navalhistory.org/2015/10/15/navy-on-the-western-front-the-14-railway-guns-in-wwi
gmpullmanAmerican Model Builders, Laserkits, makes a resin gun barrel kit.
http://www.rgspemkt.com/215-P1.html
I just wanted to add that Trident also makes nice HO scale WW2 vehicles. And Preiser makes the best soliders.
It helps to know a bit more about what you might want. The whole US economy was involved in WW2, so wartime shipments included all kinds of material. As mentioned before; there was rolling stock owned by the US Army and the US Navy, but the greatest amount of shipments were in regular commercial railroad cars. Depending on the place and time you want you can show big naval guns travelling to shipyards, tanks going to maneuvers/training, fresh tanks going to overseas shipments, trainlaods of sailors, airmen, Marines, or soldiers.
Tanks , trucks and other vehicles that were in units undergoing training often look more used, had unit markings, and had some of the unit's personnel traveling on the train to protect them. Tanks or other equipment leaving the factory were new. Tanks moved from factories to Army depots where they were prepped for their ocean voyage (every US tank had to cross an ocean before getting to battle). Markings would be minimal or nonexistant, but there were shipping info and destination codes applied on the sides of tanks. Examples of the shipping codes can be seen on Archer Fine Details dry transfer sets (although I don't think they make anything under 1/72nd scale). US tanks and trucks were usually shipped in olive drab, even if the shipment was intended for an Allied nation. The end user had to paint their own camouflage and markings on. Many tanks had a black "mastic" waterproofing compound applied to the tracks and around turrets and hatch openings to seal the tank for shipment. New tanks usually had a couple large crates on the rear that contained loose items (tools, tarps, accessory parts, etc., etc)
At one point Chooch made tanks and artillery that were under canvas tarps (VERY common in WW2 factory shipments).
By the way, remember that the external machine guns and such were almost always removed and stowed before shipment. Anything that could be stolen would be stowed inside.
If you have an aircraft factory near your layout's setting, then there were special parts cars to haul pieces of airplanes.
Minitanks (now Herpa, previously Roco) have a number of WW2 vehicles, many of which are quite nice. Heiser/Lakewood make some really nice resin tanks and equipment. Trident has a few WW2 era items.
Yes, captured equipment was moved by rail, but they weren't ommon, so you are best to omit the German tanks that show up on so many modeler's layouts.
Remember, there were security restrictions in WW2 and railyards were important national defense installations. You might want to show some military police or private security guards patrolling your main yards (or arresting railfans)
I don't know about rolling stock or vehicles but for a locomotive there's this beauty! Roco just released a fantastic model of the USArmy S-160 2-8-0. They built 2,220 of these for use in Europe and the US during WWII. This model is pretty amazing. I just got the sound version and it's impressive. The detail is great and the paint/lettering is superb. It's available as US/UK, Austrian & Italian versions with or without sound. A little pricey at $428 from Euro Hobbies but well worth it. I have several of the pewter/brass kits by Model Loco (DJH) and they are also great kits.
http://www.eurotrainhobby.com/steam-locomotives-ho/c17
http://www.djhmodelloco.co.uk/prodpage.asp?productid=3073
Roger Huber
Deer Creek Locomotive Works
oldline1 I don't know about rolling stock or vehicles but for a locomotive there's this beauty! Roco just released a fantastic model of the USArmy S-160 2-8-0. They built 2,220 of these for use in Europe and the US during WWII. This model is pretty amazing. I just got the sound version and it's impressive. The detail is great and the paint/lettering is superb. It's available as US/UK, Austrian & Italian versions with or without sound. A little pricey at $428 from Euro Hobbies but well worth it. I have several of the pewter/brass kits by Model Loco (DJH) and they are also great kits. http://www.eurotrainhobby.com/steam-locomotives-ho/c17 http://www.djhmodelloco.co.uk/prodpage.asp?productid=3073 Roger Huber Deer Creek Locomotive Works
Wow. Sure is tempting. I saw these running at Fort Eustis.