Andras Donaszi takes a look at two 1/35th scale rail track products from MiniArt in 1/35th scale.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

The reviewer mentioned that this kit can be used to depict track in central and western Europe, but not on the Eastern front.

I'm looking for a track set that represents German-built track on the Eastern front (during the first few years of the war). Is this kit an option for that? If not, what might be my best option? I'm having a heck of a time finding any information about the subject.

To be specific I'd like to duplicate the tie plates and rail in resin for a scratch-built base for my 1/35 Dora gun as well as Trumpeter's Karl on railway transport; the track in both of these kits is unsatisfactory to say the least.

Andras, any idea how MiniArt's track widths match up with Trumpeter or Dragon rail cars?
Nice review BTW. Thanks !
Tom

It very nearly matches the dimensions of revised trumpeter tracks (i.e. Karl on railway transport), but its notably narrower than Trumpeter's K5 kit track. I could give exact measurements later today.

Standard gauge, as used in Europe, is 1435mm; Russian wide gauge is 1520mm. A correct 1/35 track gauge would be 41mm; however, one of the shortcuts that is sometimes taken is to use a 45mm track gauge, because this matches the track for 1 Gauge model railroads, allowing the use of commercially available 1 Gauge track.

On the Eastern front, the Germans would either lay entirely new track, which would look the same as track laid in Germany, re-gauge the Russian 1520mm track by unspiking one rail and moving it inward (Frederick Boucher has reviewed Armor35's products for this), or, if it was necessary to use German rolling stock on Russian rail instead of transferring the load to Russian rolling stock, would replace the trucks on the cars with 1520mm trucks. Re-gauging track to 1435mm also had the benefit of making the track unusable if recaptured by the Russians until they reverse the regauging.

Thank you for the thorough response Sean! That basically answers all of my questions. I think I will scratch build and duplicate components for a re-gauged russian railway for my Karl build. Before I start building for my Dora I'll probably search through my collection of photos to see if I can figure out exactly what was used.

Does anyone know of a US vendor for Armor35 products? I can't seem to find one.

Here are my best attempts at measuring old trumpeter (k5 gun track), new Trumpeter (Karl railway), Dragon and MiniArt (european rail).

Note that as none of these have been glued there was a little play. Excuse my 1/35 measurements in inches.

1) Old trumpeter (from K5 gun kit): 1.750" = 1556 mm (even larger than Russian gauge, which would be 1520 mm)

2) New trumpeter (from Karl on railway transport): 1.630" = 1449 mm (Stabdard European is 1435)

3) Dragon (from schwerer panzerspähwagen kit): 1.635" = 1454 mm

4) MiniArt (european rail): 1.615" = 1436 mm (basically exact for European gauge, but small enough to likely be incompatible with all Dragon and Trumpeter kits without modification)

Thanks Ryan for the info. I'll have to figure something out to make it work.

And here I was thinking "Oh look, more track for a dio..." and then I learn so much more from all of your comments. Thanks!

Trumpeters BR 52 tracks are 41mmm wide = 1435mm, and as such compatible with Miniart and ICM, just measured their tracks at 41mm also. Mind that many tracks were mainly redone entirely due to the bad groundwork and requirements to hold/carry heavier trains (min 16tons/axle, whereas the Russians only needed to support only around 12tons/axle if I am not mistaken, it was less either way)...