German 105mm LeFH 18M/2 L/28 Barrel
(Wespe Sd.Kfz.124)
#35 L-11
Review by Terry Ashley

Unassembled parts

The barrel has the breech collar already fitted in place and the remaining assembly is straightforward but the rear muzzle brake brass collar and etched collar ring may need enlarging slightly with a fine needle point file to fit the barrel and it is best to file the etched parts while still attached to the fret for easy handling with test fitting often to get a good fit.

The inner muzzle brake grommet may also need some minor filing to fit inside the one piece muzzle brake but this varies between sets with the part in this set required a bit of reduction and there are two finely etched rings to be attached before fitting the grommet, you should take extreme care when handling these as they are very fine and easily distorted due the indentations around them but fit easily in place on the grommet with a small dab of cyanoacrylate.

The muzzle end cap fits precisely to the muzzle brake and there are two additional etched detail rings to be added ensuring the notches on each line up with one another.

On the top of the muzzle brake is the small securing fittings with three very small etched parts and care is needed when fitting these and some minor filling of part 4 to fit into the indentation in the muzzle brake may be required but test fitting will determine this.

Assembly is a little fiddly but quite straightforward overall and there are some minor alterations required to the target kits when fitting the barrel but again nothing out of reach of the average modeller (see below) and adds considerable more detail to the kits.

Image showing barrel rifling and assembled muzzle brake

Assembled barrel

Instructions excerpt

Fitting the barrel to the AFV Club and Tamiya kits;
The AFV Club kit (#AF35S24) already comes with a metal barrel but the muzzle brake in this set is far more detailed than the plain plastic item in the kit which could warrant the use of the ABER barrel while the Tamiya kit has full plastic barrel with the muzzle brake included and alterations to both kits is basically the same to take the ABER barrel.

On the breech block halves (AFV Club parts A28, A29 and Tamiya parts B32, B33) cut the barrel collar off level with the breech block leaving the resulting hole in the breech to accept the ABER barrel. It is a good idea to glue the breech parts together and allow the glue to dry completely before making the alterations to ensure an even cut.

Target kit alterations required and views of the three muzzle brakes

Strangely although the barrel is designed for the Tamiya kit (#35200) the resulting hole in the Tamiya breech has to be enlarged somewhat to accept the ABER barrel while the fit to the AFV Club breech is all but perfect. There is also a small post on the bottom of the Tamiya barrel that will have to be carefully removed and fitted to the lower barrel support (part B10) but that is all the alterations required with the only other thing to watch is the orientation of the muzzle brake to the breech when fitting the barrel.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Michael from Airconnection for the sample barrel.
carry the full range of ABER update sets and barrels.

Page Created 1 May 2005