LANDJUT 2017 - Terrain WIP (1)

With the start of the Cold War Commanders 2017 Landjut Campaign four months away I thought I better get started on some of the new terrain pieces that will be needed for next years games. The Landjut Campaign is set in 1989 and will see Soviet, East German and Polish forces try and secure Denmark and Schleswig Holstein defended by a rag tag force including Danes, British, US, Belgians, Dutch, Canadians and West Germans. The first shots will be fired in March 2017 as the campaign kicks off at a weekend event in Slimbridge and the results from this weekend will set the scene for further games throughout the year culminating in the final games held at an event in Grimsby in September 2017.

So first up will be a large railway bridge which will span the Kiel Canal one of the first objectives of the Warsaw Pact forces.

The railway bridge towers and end sections are from Leven Miniatures and can be found in their Bridge range. The actual bridge structure is from Marklin Ref. 8975. Mick at Leven Miniatures designed the towers to suit this bridge and originally it was planned to have a Remagen Bridge feel to it.

I have added a plasticard strip down the centre of the bridge which will take the railway.

Marklin reference for the Bridge (8975)

Railway line added to the bridge and end sections. The railway line is Hornby Track Planner which works great at 1/300th scale.

The Bridge starting to take shape.

The 09.24 service to Kiel will be delayed due to VDV on the line!

The train is a Furata model from eBay which I think originally came from Japan and was a toy in a Kinder Egg or something similar. Unfortunately the supplier can no longer get them and any that appear on eBay are really expensive. I have five and they are perfect for 1/300th scale and fit the track.

Another view of the Furata train.

I had originally planned to do slopes at each end for the railway line but I have always wanted to do a long embankment after seeing one in a 1/300th WWII game a few years ago so I thought I would make one to suit the bridge. Not sure whether they had them in Schleswig Holstein or Denmark but it makes for an interesting terrain piece and so it's fine.

The railway will eventually be 6ft long after I have completed all the embankment sections.

As always thanks for looking and I hope to update everyone shortly on the progress with the embankments.

Cheers

Richard P