The Kit
UM's colorful box art gives you an idea of how to paint your OB-3 Armored Railcar. It may even assist in part assembly or further detailing if needed.This box art is of an unmarked OB-3 Armored Railcar.
When you open the box you will see a sealed bag containing three part sprues molded in UM's trademark green drab styrene, two length of rail / tiesections in black styrene, Closer examination shows no sink marks or flash and the injector pin marks are on the inside surface. Parts detail is very crisp and to scale. There are less than 100 parts in this kit, so assembly should not take long.
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You will also find one sprue of photo-etch (PE) containing 52 parts and one bag with decals with one loose MG barrel.
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As the norm, you have a multi-lingual (Ukraine, English and German) instruction sheet. You will find it is very well illustrated. To assist in assembly is a symbol legend for gluing, painting, drilling, etc. and another which contains a numbered parts location diagram. The eight-step assembly of the OB-3 Armored Railcar begins with the spoke road wheels and lower hull detail (steps 1-3). You will add PE hull armor which are long, very thin and have nice rivet detail lower hull sides. Next up is the upper hull detailing with PE hatches, grab handles and plating as well as adding the two coaxial MG mounts (step 4). Here, I suggest replacing the headlight (part 3A) with an MV lens. Also, in step 4 you mate the complete upper and lower hulls. Steps 6 are where the two identical turrets are assembled. Assembly is straight forward and simple involving 6 parts. I wonder why UM didn't make the turret top photo-etch as well. Don't forget to drill out both 37mm main gun barrels. Final assembly, mates both T-26 turrets to the complete hull while adding coaxial MGs to each turret then setting the completed OB-3 onto the sectioned track. If you have model railroader skills you would be inclined to improve this effect as there is not ballast on the track. You may want to stop by the local hobby stop's railroader section and do an entirely different base. When you get to paint, there is a color plate of a OB-3 Armored Railcar with a Humbrol paint reference calling for 155, matt olive drab, as the primary color. With all the nice rivet detail this kit begs to be dry-brushed to bring them out. Rusting around some of the rivets would be authentic. Decal markings include numbers, red stars and one slogan (Russian) but they are thin and well-printed.
Conclusion
I have seen other Armored Railcar kits from UM in 1/72 scale. You will not be disappointed with the OB-3. It should be a quick and simple build. This unique weapon system would make a welcome addition to your collection and is highly recommended. I would like to thank Scale Model Kits for the review kit.