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Unimodel's 1/72 Self-propelled Rail Car D-37 With D-38 Turret

By Kent Kirkpatrick

During World War II many countries implemented the use of armored trains and rail cars.  The Soviet Union was no stranger to these weapon systems.  UniModel (UM)
has forged a line of 1/72 Russian armored train / rail car subjects for their RailWar series (eight model kits).

The Kit

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You will find a four-page fully-illustrated instruction sheet, two sprues of green drab styrene parts, one sprue of photo-etched (PE) parts, three styrene 7.62mm MG gun barrels and one sheet of decals.  Initial review of the styrene sprues looks good.  Nicely molded with hardly any flash or sink marks.  The turret sprue references kit #303, Artillery tank D-38
from the UM line of tanks.  You will want to drill out the 76mm main gun barrel for added detail.  The hull sprue appears basic in detail with the road wheels, upper / lower hull
, railroad track base and other miscellaneous detail parts.  The PE sprues contains parts to further add detail to this armored rail car including brackets, armored vision ports, MG ball-mount rings and other miscellaneous
parts.  Most of the PE has nice relief detail. The print quality of the thin multi-colored decal sheet is very good.  Unfortunately, the instruction sheet does not mention any divisions / units associated with these markings.  Included are some generic Soviet red stars (some with sickles) with what appears to be other vehicle / unit markings.

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I'm not a model railroad expert (but I have stayed at a Holiday Inn).   The molded railroad ties have injection pin marks and lack the wood grain of real ties.  I have
seen enough 1:1 scale railroad beds to suggest something.  For added realism, use some scale wooden ties and ballast on a base.  This would enhance the
display value of your armored rail car model. For the front / rear lights I recommend drilling out the molded lights and replace them with MV lenses for further realism.

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Upon reviewing the instruction sheet this appears to be a simple kit to assemble.  It begins with the axles / road wheels attached to the lower hull with some external detailing.  The lower hull is then merged with the upper hull which also has external detailing.  Finally, the turret is assembled and merged to the finished hull.  Once the armored rail car is done you attach it to the section of rail road bed for display. You are done!

Once your assembly is complete the instruction sheet calls for a Humbrol paint offering olive drab as the main color for this armored rail car.  Use the colorful
boxart to assist in painting / marking you finished model.  As previously mentioned, there are no defined division / units for the decal markings only for the location of some.  Your may want to dig through some websites or books for further information
on the markings.

Conclusion

This is a kit of a unique weapon system from World War II.  I look forward to doing a build review of this kit soon.  It offers the scale AFV modeler a chance to crossover to model railroading.  I highly recommend this line of kits.  I would like to thank Scale Model Kits for the review kit.

UniModel 601 - Armored Self-propelled Railroad Car D-37 With D-38 Turret

Here are some other 1/72 scale armored railroad offerings from UniModel's RailWar series:

602 - Armored Self-propelled Railroad Car DT-45
603 - Armored Self-Propelled Railroad Car BD-41
604 - Armored SP Leningrad Railroad Car
607 - Railroad tracks
608 - OB.-3 Armored Railway Carriage / T-26 (1933) Turret
609 - OB-3 Armored Railway Carriage / T-26 (1937-1939) Turret
611 - Armored train OB - 3, "Railroad roader"
613 - Armored train OB - 3, No. 1 23D Battalion

 

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