WWII German Army Gondola Railcar (Low Sides)

I just completed Trumpeter's Deutch Reichsbahn low side gondola kit. The entire kit was completely free of both flash and mold lines.The sprues are not so tight packed that it is difficult to remove parts. The instructions are well illustrated and easy to follow. There are very few small parts and this builds into a fairly large rail car 3 1/2 x 11. This would be a fairly easy model for a beginner modeler to assemble but The car does not lend itself to being a stand alone model. It really needs a diorama scene. In my case, I decided to do a complete armored train to include the siege gun Karl on its rail carrier, the commandowagen and panzertreibwagen 51 with the BR 52 Kriegslok. While the low side gondola was a nice, fairly easy kit to build, I do have a few negative comments and that is why the kit did not get 5 stars. 1. The decals do not have the actual Reichsbahn swastika nor does the BR 52. For historical accuracy, you will have to get your Reichsbahn decals from another source (Peddinghaus, Archer Fine Transfers or Alliance Model Works) 2. I do not like the display base which comes with the kit and all of the kits in this series. It is nowhere close to being historically accurate. I chose to make my own roadbed which will also serve as the diorama base. 3. The car comes with no accessories, crates, barrels and not the Flak 38 shown in the box art. I mounted the Bronco Flakzwilling 38 and used the Trumpeter Kit # 00432 Anti-aircraft gun crew. I painted the car overall panzer gray but used a mix of Pollyscale rust, Floquil Railroad tie brown and several Deco Art, Folk Art and Apple Barrel acrylics to both weather the car and give it a camouflage scheme. I often use these paints as they are much cheaper and easier to use for brush painting than most of the model paints. My project is quite ambitious, but since I'm 70 years old, It will keep me going for awhile. A very nice diorama scene could be achieved by doing a loading dock or freight house or maybe a siding offloading supplies to a waiting panzer or supply trucks.

the model is clean with little flash on the sprues and parts. It goes together well. Remember that at 1/35, it still takes a lot of room. they delivered a lot of material with these cars and used them variously. my chief complaint is the ballast for the RR track. I use the track and the cross ties omitting the product ballast and will use the rail on the ties and find my own ballast system which can be found in RR things. All said and done, I wish I had more room.