Trumpeter 1/35 German Schwere Plattformwagen Type SSyms 80
By Eric Christianson
Background
During WWII, railroads were often used to bring military hardware and resupply closer to the front because of the vast distances involved. This mode of transportation was preferable to moving them by road which was more expensive and a lot harder on the equipment and men. The SSyms 80 Ton flatbed rail car was used to carry the German heavy tanks, such as the Panther and Tiger tanks, and accompanying resupply
This in-box review will soon be followed by a full build article of this kit.
The Kit
Trumpeter's latest addition to its catalog of 1/35 train stock comes in a large, (heavy!) sturdy box containing eleven separately bagged trees of light-tan plastic parts and a separate box holding an additional six sections of railroad bed and track. The parts are crisp and flash-free, and an effort has been made to restrict the many ejector pin marks to areas that are not visible from the outside. The plastic is soft and sands easily. There are three assemblies that come in the box: the flatbed rail car, a highly detailed roll-on loading ramp, and an extended railroad bed and track base.
The flatbed rail car can be configured to carry a vehicle with chocks, or piles of resupply secured to eight posts complete with separate tie-down rings. The car has four trucks consisting of three wheels each. Unlike many earlier offerings, Trumpeter has wisely worked to keep the parts count down unless the detail requires it – a welcome departure.
The roll-on ramp, like the main railcar, is fully detailed with several layers of plastic parts made to resemble the robust nature of the real thing – which would explain the surprising weight of the box. The ramp is articulated with a fulcrum/pivot design, and looks strong enough to support a lumbering JagdTiger.
As with previous Trumpeter offerings, there is considerable effort put into the railroad roadbed, railroad ties, track and base. These are manufactured in such a way as to be able to be added to other tracks for possible additional rolling stock - a real potential for diorama enthusiasts. This particular offering includes extended sections of track (35 ties vs. 26 in earlier kits), which will come in very handy – especially if the roll-on loading ramp is not used. The wood-texture of the ties is beautiful, and comes wrapped in a separate sheet of soft-foam packaging material. The ties themselves are ingeniously molded and connected in such a way that they are removed from the sprue and attached as a single piece. This aids considerably during assembly and painting – everything lines up tidy. The rails themselves are so delicately molded that they slide effortlessly into the tiny brackets molded into each tie along the entire length of the roadbed. The ejector pin marks run along the inside of each rail – out of view. Nice!
Also included is an excellent set of 34 decals and white stencils for a single version of the flat car. The 16-page instruction booklet is well illustrated and easy to follow. A separate glossy color Painting and Marking Guide is included and provides a color scheme of steel, wood and gray. Color callouts are listed for Gunze Mr. Hobby, Vallejo, Model Master, Tamiya and Humbrol paints.
Construction starts with the track and track bed which can be built as an attachment to another track section of with bookend sections provided. Next the main wheel trucks and end plates are assembled and, while these are highly detailed, they come with far fewer parts than I have worked with before – a welcome improvement for these train cars. These large sections are attached and the flat car is essentially complete. The loading ramp is assembled last and it looks as trouble-free as the flat car.
Conclusion
I think this kit will be a lot of fun to build – the main car and loading ramp are highly detailed yet made of fewer parts than they could have been, and the symmetrical nature of this particular train car allows for a quick and rewarding build. This is a good thing if you intend to build a line of these cars in a train diorama.
With a good finish this kit should build up into a nice and unique representation of the real thing.
I recommend this kit to anyone who likes to build and finish train cars and/or 1/35th diorama enthusiasts. I plan to place a large AFV on mine and add it to my already growing German armored train.
I would like to thank Stevens International for providing this kit for review, and to Internet Modeler for giving me the opportunity to build it – stay tuned for the full-build article to follow.