PART TWO - THE FLAT CAR AND BASE
Dragon 1:35 Panther A Late Premium • Kit No. 6358
Sabre Model 1:35 German Railway Schwerer Plattformwagen Type SSys • Kit No. 35A02
Just for change for a moment from tank builds, I started by the Sabre’s kit Schwerer Plattformwagen Type Ssys. The kit is… well… a standalone kit. I mean… Sabre didn’t find it necessary to supply even a tiny bit of PE part and there is no dedicated aftermarket PE set (at least I haven’t found any). It is not my habit at all but I decided to keep it a simple 100% plastic OOB build.
The first step was to assemble the four parts deck. This is where I realised that the deck had the thin metal frame around and that and that the sides were attached directly to the deck. Few years back I committed a Trumpeter SSYMS rail car where the deck was stand-alone part. This way it was quite easier to paint and weather it. The “one block” solution from Saber is less practical in my opinion.
After adding the sides, I switched to wheel and bogies. They are fairly simple but brakes construction is a little bit tricky and special care is required. I decided to not to glue together the main part / deck and bogies with wheels to make the painting easier. At the end I pre-assembled the railway track supplied with the kit without gluing it. And that was it for building the rail car.
The build starts with the deck.
Side structure.