Introduction

Cyber-Hobby.com has released another kit in their armored train series. This is a re-release of the heavy railcar which mounted a Panzer III Ausf. N. turret with the 7.5cm KwK L/24 gun. These heavy armored rail cars were introduced in 1944 and saw extensive service in Russia and Yugoslavia. After the war Czechoslovakia used them until the mid 1950’s. These rail cars were self propelled and could run independently; however, they were designed to be operated in trains of 20 cars or more. In actuality, due to fuel shortages, they often ran alone or in small numbers. The armored rail cars were built for the Deutsche Reichbahn by Steyer starting in May 1944 and were operational from November 1944 to April 1945. They weighed around 18 tons and had 20mm armor plate. They were powered by an air cooled 76 hp Steyer motor which was sorely underpowered and resulted in terrible gas mileage.

Airfix’s 1/24 Mosquito is a large model, but is a little lacking in detail in places. One of these is the rather Spartan 0.303-inch Browning machine gun installation in the nose. Master Models has released a fine set of replacement parts for this area.

Each gun barrel is represented by 5 pre-formed brass pieces; the parts simply slot together and are secured with spots of superglue. Surgery is performed on the Airfix machine guns, with the whole of the plastic barrels being removed. The completed brass assembly is then glued to the plastic body of the gun. Simple!

The new barrels stand out head and shoulders above the plastic parts and when glued in place, they form a striking introduction to the aircraft. Highly recommended.

Master Models’ website is located at https://master-model.pl/ and they can be obtained from leading retailers. My thanks to Master Models for the review sample.

My apologies to Airfix for this kit having to take a back seat to life for a little while, but I am in the home stretch now.