FINISHED - BR-52 Steam Locomotive by CDW - Trumpeter - 1:35 Scale

[CDW]

This 1:35 Trumpeter BR-52 German WW2 Steam Locomotive has been sitting in my pile of projects for a very long time. At one time, I started assembling the chassis, but for reasons I do not recall, my attention got diverted to another project. It might have been my dislike for Trumpeter's rendering of a complicated set of steam piping with vinyl molded parts, but in any event, it's just going to be a matter of scratch building the piping rather than using the lame Trumpeter kit parts.

To enhance the model, I acquired the Eduard Big Ed photo etch set that includes all they do in photo etch for this model plus a set of paint masks.

So, here we go, let's see what we can do with this one. Should finish as a very large display piece as it pulls a huge Leopold Rail Gun behind the coal tender. Don't know when I'll get around to building the rail gun though, that's a whole different animal.

Edited February 14, 2021 by CDW

[lmagna]

Looks impressive.

Are you going to do the all black and steel like on the box top or the camo lightening bolts or the black and red version?

[CDW]

Probably the black and steel, but I do like that camo. Definitely not the red and black, don't care much for that at all.

[mtaylor]

If you're going to do the rail gun, the camo makes sense to me.

[Shotlocker]

Ah, the BR-52 and Leopold kits...built them both about ten years ago and I have to say they were two of the most enjoyable builds I've done. I hope you

will enjoy assembling the BR-52 as much and, if you get to it, the rail gun as well. I built them both straight out of the box and had them on display at

the Alliance Municipal Airport (Nebraska) for a few years, then, after a move to Red Wing, MN, I donated them to the military museum there. They do

take up a lot of room when complete!

[CDW]

To begin with a proper starting point for this build thread, it seems appropriate to show what's been done so far. Following along with the kit instructions, began by constructing all the various parts of the locomotive chassis in steps one through five.

 

After assembling the parts, gave everything a base coat of dark gray. It might be difficult to see in these photos, but the kit molded parts provide ample detail that will pop out once washes and dry brushing is done. In retrospect, photo etch for any of these component parts adds very little value as the kit parts are very good to my eye.

 

 

 

And this brings me to where I left off with this kit...assembling and painting the cab. As you can see in the instructions (step six), the cab assembly provides quite a lot of detail straight from the kit. The first thing that stood out was the fact there is too much detail just to assemble the whole thing then paint. It's my intention to paint the inner cab pieces first, then assemble, then touch up after assembly has been done.

 

[michael mott]

A great looking kit and a complex loco for sure. I remember as a kid putting together some of the airfix OO gauge plastic locos. I even motorized the Beyer Garratt for use on my little 6 foot long diorama type layout.

 

Michael

Edited October 28, 2019 by michael mott
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[popeye the sailor]

good to see another loco being built.......this is going to look awesome!    superb start so far  

 

really nice job on your loco Gene........looks good with the red undercarriage.  

[CDW]

On 10/30/2019 at 9:52 AM, popeye the sailor said:

good to see another loco being built.......this is going to look awesome!    superb start so far  

 

really nice job on your loco Gene........looks good with the red undercarriage.  

Thanks Denis.

 

Here we go with another installment on the BR-52 German Loco

 

Step 6 - the cab interior

 

I will do some minor shading and detailing of the cab interior, but there's not much sense in going too far because it all gets pretty well covered up once the cab is finished with the roof and rear cab panel. 

There is very little I know about locomotives, so if anyone cares to call out exactly what the various cab interior components are, please do. Unfortunately, the plans give no call-outs to identify the various (almost 800) parts except for a part number.

[lmagna]

I don't know much about steam locomotive's but I do know a little about steam power in general. I have to wonder how accurate the engineer's compartment is.

 

Two items that are certain are the two sight glasses. Why there would be two is unknown though. On the left side there are two handles that look like a throttle and either brake or reverse lever to me. They would normally be located on the right on all of the trains I have seen. I think the valves on the left side could possibly be feed water, lubrication and other possible fire/fuel/water controls for the engine boiler system that would be operated by the fireman. The upper center gauge looks about right for the boiler gauge and the smaller ones on the right as gauges the engineer would use for throttle and brake etc. The center lever would be about right for a steam throttle lever on older trains but they normally were not vertical nor did the operate side-to-side. The large wheel on the right could also possibly be a steam throttle type of control especially as the engineer station was normally on the right as far as I know. But then this train is German so possibly they did things differently there. I have no idea what the four foot pedals on the bottom are. 

 

Hopefully one of the guys who knows a lot more about trains will chime in and educate both of us. I certainly would like to know.   

[Richmond]

Those dials /gauges are a wonderful detail

[CDW]

In this installment, we complete steps 7 and 8, finishing construction of the cab minus the four little clear vent windows which I will install after the exterior paint (later during construction).

As I said yesterday, once the rear panel and roof are installed, it leaves a very small view of the cab interior details. After the coal tender is attached, even the small hole in the rear bulkhead will be sealed from view leaving only the windows to look inside.

The stock kit parts are very well detailed and those details should pop out well after paint, washes, and dry brushing. I am looking forward to getting some paint on the model. It's going to be painted in the camo pattern seen in the first post, Field Gray and Middlestone.

In my next installment, I will be covering multiple steps that finish up most of the boiler and firebox with these assemblies being mated to the cab. 

 

[Roger Pellett]

In the days before automated feedwater control, the throttle and feedwater control valve had to be used in conjunction with each other to maintain an acceptable water level in the boiler.  Opening the throttle required a corresponding increase in feedwater to avoid uncovering tubes in the boiler.  Likewise, closing the throttle required decreasing feedwater to prevent water from carrying over into the engine cylinders.  To do this, the engineer had to monitor his sight glasses while adjusting the feedwater control valve.  For this reason, I believe that the large handwheel on the right hand side operates the feedwater control valve.

 

Roger

[amateur]

Can't remember where I read it, but a German guy was complaining that Trumpeter just made stuff up: it looked OK, but it was in no way a 'model' of the original cabin: levers missing, placed on the wrong side etc.

The result looking good, though

 

Jan

[amateur]

 

Other type of br52, but you get some idea of how Br52 looks on the inside

 

Jan

 

Edited November 2, 2019 by amateur

[CDW]

I see some vague similarities between the model and the cabin in the video, but certainly not exact. Trumpeter is well known for errors in their models, errors that drive some modelers nuts. Fortunately for me, I am not one of those modelers easily discouraged by details that are not exactly precise. Now if I was very familiar with a particular subject, it would probably bother me much more.  

[lmagna]

Thanks amateur

I was hoping that someone with more knowledge would make a more educated comment. Your film clip filled the bill nicely. I am frankly a little surprised at just how closely the model follows the real thing. 

 

I kind of also like the more colorful red and brass rendition Craig has used rather than the more traditional black on black of the real thing.

[lmagna]

This footage shows some pretty nice external details.

 

[CDW]

In tonight's review of my build sequence, we will cover steps 9, 10, 11, and 12. 

 

These are some photographs of the steps that were completed today. The last photo shows my H&S airbrush along side the Br-52, just to give some idea of the scale of this model. It's really huge at 1:35 scale, and this is without the coal tender or rail gun attached! A model like this will require a lot of space to display it, that's for sure.

Very soon, I will begin painting the loco in the field gray and middlestone camouflage pattern.

 

As a side note regarding construction/fit, the upright supports upon which the boiler rests upon the chassis supports were approximately 1 mm too short. Apparently, this is a manufacturing/engineering defect as others building this model have said the same thing. It's easily corrected by adding some strip stock as shims on the upright supports. If you look closely, you will see the white strip stock that was added in contrast to the light gray plastic of which the model is molded. 

 

[CDW]

Thanks for sharing these awesome videos, guys. This locomotive is a beast. Would love to ride this train...better start saving for that trip.

The good thing, this train leaves such a very small and minuscule carbon footprint. 😄😮

[Old Collingwood]

There is still some amazing steam journeys  and experience trips over here in the UK, I have been on a couple   and they are great.

 

OC.

[CDW]

Tonight's review is my humble beginning on the Br-52 camouflage paint job. Colors are Tamiya field grey reduced with Mr. Color leveling reducer, and Vallejo Model Air middlestone shot straight from the bottle.

Trust me, there was a ton of masking to do this little bit. Because of the details that later get added to the loco, it was essential to start the paint job now, as once the details start piling up it will be virtually impossible to mask it off for the camouflage. Most parts added later will need to be assembled in sub assemblies, then painted and installed.

 

[Old Collingwood]

Looking smart  that paint finish is spot on.

 

OC.

[CDW]

4 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said:

Looking smart  that paint finish is spot on.

 

OC.

Thanks OC.

In retrospect, I should have painted the camouflage once I finished each sub assembly, then assembled everything after the paint was dry and masking removed. Would have made it a much easier process rather than the way I did it. Live and learn but model on. 🙂

[amateur]

Maybe, but this one looks fabulous.

Something different from the "steamloco's are black or green"-standard. (Did you intentionally leave out the camo-stripe on the left side of the driver-cabin?)

 

btw: I am still guessing for the size of this machine. How long is the model?

 

Jan

Edited November 4, 2019 by amateur

[CDW]

7 minutes ago, amateur said:

Maybe, but this one looks fabulous.

Something different from the "steamloco's are black or green"-standard.

 

btw: I am still guessing for the size of this machine. How long is the model?

 

Jan

Thanks for the kind words Jan.

Right now, she's 41cm in length. With the coal tender, she should measure approximately 65cm total length.

[amateur]

Larger than I thought. ..

Jan

[CDW]

The focus today was on steps 13 and 14.

 

The loco was given a wash, then the various parts in steps 13 and 14 were added. 

 

[popeye the sailor]

the loco is coming along nicely!   the General was fun for me,  but seeing your with a 'military spin' as the subject is really neat........much more fun too   the freedom must be a lot more liberating as well    great job thus far.......lots of nice detail !

[CDW]

Just now, popeye the sailor said:

the loco is coming along nicely!   the General was fun for me,  but seeing your with a 'military spin' as the subject is really neat........much more fun too   the freedom must be a lot more liberating as well    great job thus far.......lots of nice detail !

Thanks Denis. 

To be totally honest, the money spent for the Eduard photo etch set was a waste as the kit itself has more than sufficient detail. It was aggravating that neither the kit nor the Eduard set contained the instrument dial faces for the cab interior. Made me wonder how the heck they could have missed that detail? 95% of the photo etch is redundant and does not enhance the model to a sufficient degree to make it worth the time and effort to put it on. Even their paint masks are rather useless for me as they were made to create the two-tone paint work for the red/black version wheels. Didn't even include masks for the windows. 😕