Trumpeter 1/35 scale Baureihe 52 Mit Steifrahmentender

Kit: No. 00210
Scale: 1/35
Manufacturer: Trumpeter from Stevens International, 856-435-1555, www.stevenshobby.com
Price: $159.99
Comments: Injection molded, 713 parts (6 photoetched, five vinyl), decals
Pros: Fantastic detail, great subject, road bed included
Cons: Some small parts are fragile, ejector-pin marks in hard-to-clean-up locations, poor fit of boiler to chassis, complex construction

For those waiting for an engine to pull their 1/35 scale railroad gun or other rolling stock, the wait is over. Trumpeter's BR 52 locomotive features a multi-piece roadbed base with rails, fully detailed locomotive and tender, clear parts, vinyl sand hose parts, and photoetched rain guards. Markings are supplied for two engines.

Building the road bed from 30 pieces had its challenges. I reinforced the seams with plastic card stock to prevent them from breaking open with handling. After installing the ties, I glued pieces of square channel between joints to help stiffen this long base. The road bed ballast is molded too high in several places, and needs to be sanded down clear of the rails.

The 25-piece locomotive base chassis was a task. To keep it square and level, I assembled it while the parts rested on graph paper. Brace A24 needed sanding in order for it to fit. After step five, I painted the frame Gunze German field gray 1. It would have been much harder to paint the chassis after the boiler was placed.

The boiler assembly did not want to sit down on its supports. Inspection showed the cylinder assemblies sit too high and interfere with the fit. Careful sanding and filling took care of this. There were a lot of parts involved with the cylinder linkages to the drive wheels, and all the plumbing; steam locomotives were complex machines! It's amazing with all the parts and the complex assembly that nearly everything fit together pretty well.

Any rail fan would be impressed with the detail in the cab; all those levers, wheels, seats, and gauges make the engineer's office complete. I needed to sand down the front and back windows (P4, P3) to get them to fit properly.

The overall paint scheme was German field gray 1 and middlestone. Decals provided in my kit came with the tiny swastikas within the eagle motif poorly painted out, so I used my Waldron punch and cut out the center blob of paint to make it look better. The decals went down over the paint without any solvent. I flat coated the entire model with Testors Dullcote.

This kit took me 75 hours to finish. The finished model is looong at 26" (341/2" roadbed), so clear off the rest of the mantel space next to your Leopold rail gun!

- Tom Foti