Miniart 1,5 Ton Railroad Truck AA Type and the history of WW2 German rail armor.
I've bought my first model kit from Ukrainian manufacturer Miniart, and it is the 1,5 Ton Railroad Truck AA type in 1/35 scale. As modelers we are gifted with a wealth of kit manufacturers and brands today, more than ever before, and added to that is the bewildering amount of aftermarket additions. This is very different to when I was a kid in the 1970s growing up in the United Kingdom when I only knew of Airfix, Corgi and Revell, and when I was about 13 years old I got to hear of Tamiya and Hasegawa to add to my list. I have very fond memories of my building kits and displaying them behind my front window where passers-by could see them - if they looked hard through the lace curtains.
Miniart is not an obscure manufacturer today, in terms of output and quality it is, from what I've read, rated highly. The parts for the railroad truck look well moulded, the instructions are clear and there are six options. I believe that the AA truck is Soviet made, manufactured by Gaz, but all six options are German. This suggests that the Germans captured several of them and used them themselves. A couple of the choices are dated between 1941 and 1945, so in World War 2 terms that was quite longevity. The AA truck was of course an ordinary truck made to go on roads but those that went on railroads had been adapted for this role.
My only criticism for this kit is that it comes without any history of the subject. This is the first ever kit I've bought that doesn't include any history about it on the instruction sheet. There's nothing on the box either. I have searched the Internet for information on railroad trucks or for references to books on them but found nothing. I have found a couple of period photographs of this truck but with little or no captions. I wonder does anybody know some history of the AA truck on the railroads? I will not confine my interest to this particular type of truck only but would also be interested in other WW2 German rail armor such as the Panhard and Autoblinda armored cars. These subjects are available as 1/35 scale models.