This weekend I went to Hobby Day Friday and Saturday determined to get a lot more done on my two Russian armored trains among other models. I made some pretty good progress, especially on the trains. I also took Dora to get any repairs done on her that happened on the trip back home from Columbus.
First off, I decided to pull out all the flatcars and get the beds of them completed. Here's all the ones I was able to get done so far:
While those were drying, I pulled out the OB-3 train and assembled the engine and tender since I had already assembled both armored railcars that go with this train:
This is what was in the model box for this train. It is still not complete as it is supposed to have a couple flatcars on the front and back:
Later on, I pulled out all the flatcars and tried to get them all assembled to the P/E stage. I got about half of them done, due to extensive ejector pin marks that needed filling; and some missing parts that were most likely left at home. Here's as far as I got:
Next, I decided to start assembling a couple of the payloads for two of these flatcars. One flatcar is carrying an artillery piece and a truck that mounts a quad Maxim in the truck bed. I started on that truck and got as far as the chassis before I needed to move on:
After that, I started the second payload: a BT-5 light tank. I assembled the turret and hull first:
Next I added the roadwheels to be sure the suspension was sitting right:
This one will be finished with the tracks sitting on top of the fenders like the Russians did when transporting these tanks by rail. Here is how it will look:
Now these two trains are starting to take shape. The first one; the OB-3, will have the two short flatcars on the front and back of it. Only one is shown here as the other short flatcar wasn't completed yet:
The second train, the "Fascism Fighter", will have the long flatcar carrying the artillery piece and truck in the very front; followed by a long flatcar with an "AA tower". In back, it will have another long flatcar with an "AA tower". I'll possibly tack the flatcar with the BT-5 at the end of this train. Here it is with two of the long flatcars that will have the "AA towers" on them:
Okay, that's all I have for now. This coming week I may be too busy to get much done but I'll keep you posted once I do have some progress to show. Meanwhile, thanks for looking in, comments are welcome.