In this article an historical review of the german BR86 locomotive is exposed, covering those aspects of interest for modellers as color schemes and original and Hobbyboss 82914 kit differences for pre-war, war and post-war secenarios.
Opposite to the Class 52, the Deutsche Reichsbahn Class 86 model is not considered a pure krieglokomotive (war locomotive) but a standard dampflokomotive (steam locomotive). The reason is that its building started before war, specifically in 1928, and continued until 1943, the last unit being retired during the 1970 decade.
That fact means that the Class 86 locomotive can be adscribed to three different periods:
- The pre-war period (1928 to 1939) with a specific Deutsche Reichsbahn RAL color scheme valid until 1945
- The war period (1939 to 1945) with specific painting war regulations
- The post-war period (1945 to 1970s) with a specific Deutsche Reichsbahn RAL color scheme from 1945 to 1972
Apart from the colors, some locomotive elements also depends on the period, as for instance the front lights. Therefore, it is critical to determine the period the model belongs to in order to avoid mistakes.
The HobbyBoss BR86 model kit
Color schemes and decals
The HobbyBoss kit includes decals and color schemes for two units: the 86-271 war unit and the 86-245 post-war unit.
The 86-245 unit, that was built by Schichau in March 1936, renamed to 86 1245-9 in 1970 and finally retired in 1978. This locomotive is proposed to be painted using the post-1945 Deutsche Reichsbahn RAL color scheme (RAL 3001 "Signalrot" for lower parts, RAL 9011 "Graphitschwarz" for the rest). Its decals identify the unit as property of the "Deutsche Reichsbahn", therefore that unit would match a period between 1945 and 1970. Note however that it could also be painted with the pre-1945 Deutsche Reichsbahn RAL color scheme (RAL 9005 "Tiefschwarz" for all the locomotive body parts) if some body changes are performed (read on).
The 86-271 unit, built by Schichau in January 1937, renamed to 086 271-4 in January 1968 and finally retired by the end of that year. This locomotive is proposed to be painted using war colors, however there's no evidence of that unit being repainted from its suposely pre-1945 Deutsche Reichsbahn RAL color scheme (RAL 9005 "Tiefschwarz" for all the locomotive body parts). Even being repainted, and according to this forum, its colour could be RAL 7011 (before November 1942) or RAL 7021 (after November 1942). Therefore, and not being able to determine by the checked information if this unit was repainted, all three colors (RAL 9005, RAL 7011 or RAL 7021) would be valid.
Body
Regarding the model body, it seems that, opposite to similar models as Trumpeter 00217 or CMK 129-RA022 kits, both in 1/35 scale, the HobbyBoss kit is clearly addressed to represent a post-1945 locomotive, since the front light rims (see examples 1, 2 and 3) are replaced by two poles in this kit and there's no possibility of using war blind lights. These errors should be corrected if pre-war or war model is being built.
Also note that most of the units built by Schichau from the model series (series 234-247 and 260-281) have a different smoke box door than the HobbyBoss model.
Finally, and regarding war units, replacing front lights by blind lights and removing the head light and bell (see examples 1, 2) are options to be taken into consideration. Though they seem more addressed to be applied to locomotives build during the war period and hence under the war specifications, at least the blind lights should be added to the HobbyBoss model.
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