Changed the thread topic because I foresee my list of questions growing beyond markings…
(I’m also interested in Soviet railways during the Great Patriotic War, perhaps I’ll start a thread on that too?)
I’m looking for a reference source on this. I’ve found a promising looking book in German ( Die Deutsche Reichsbahn 1939-1945: Zwischen Ostfront und Atlantikwall) but I have no idea if there is anything like a marking guide in it. I’m building a Mini-art Gondola for the Inaugural Railway Campaign and looking through the mini-art catalog at Soviet and German rolling stock I’m a little confused:
looks like both used some kind of brick red color
looks like both used a white horizontal stripe down the side
sometimes there is a marking that says “Wehrmacht”
sometimes there is a marking that says “DR-Ost”
Is there any system to it?
And, FWIW, I’d be just as, perhaps even more, interested in a reference for railway markings in the Soviet Union at this time.
I haven’t got anythink specific for the Russian front, but I do have some (German written) references for goods wagons, engines and coaches. PM me with your e-mail if you’re interested…
I’m building a gondola, and eyeing a boxcar now. So, the couplers were magnetic I take it? I’m thinking about simulating those by embedding rare earth magnets in mine. Is that a crazy idea? (It might be - I’d like to push them together and have them stick - but I also want to be able to pull them apart without breaking plastic parts). Has anyone done anything like this? Or thought about it? With tips about how to go about it?
Never mind this. I see the couples are chain and buffer. I thought the buffer was some magnetic thing. I’m not sure how easily to make two of those cars connect and disconnect easily…
If buffers would be magnetic, then it would be quite some magnets!!! Considdering the weight!
I made the chains movable so I can hook them up. Not intended to do this frequently, since it will be quite fidelly…
There indeed is no chain in the box. Actually, I left this off, as the rolling stock on both sides have no attachment points. I actually meant that I made the couplers articulate… Those ought to be enought to keep everything nice and tidy…
So mini-art uses the same kit for both German and Soviet gondolas, and a different same kit for both German and Soviet boxcars, the difference in the two being the wheels for different gauge track and the markings. So were these all manufactured in Germany, or in the Soviet Union or were they designs licensed for manufacture between the two countries?
Mini-Art may have used post war examples for their rolling stock, which might explain why they are exactly the same as the German ones. As part of war reparations the Soviet Union bogarted thousands of locomotives and pieces of rolling stock, making them practically identical, save the width of the trucks.
Yeah. In my book on the Deutsche Reichsbahn (which I can’t read) there are lots of pictures of Soviet gear running on the DR (and French gear too, for that matter). So I guess it moved as well as rolled. :-0
In a local train shop today, I noticed the Dragon German gondola kit sitting on a forgotten shelf. I almost bought it and may go back. But a couple of questions:
has anyone built both this and a miniart kit and will they fit on the same track? I could buy miniart wheels, but then the price goes up…
the instructions on scalemates don’t seem to indicate track comes with it, but thought I’d ask…