This barrel set from armorscale is for the FlaK36/37 barrel as used with the Tamiya kits Sd.Kfz.7/2 (kit #35144) and 3.7cm FlaK37 AA Gun (kit #35145) and consists of a single aluminium barrel with separate machined brass flash suppressor and collar ring applicable to the FlaK36/37 or can be used for the Flak18 without the collar.

The FlaK18/36/37 was the intitial 3.7cm Flak used as stand alone AA gun or vehicle mounted and was supplimented with the later 3.7cm FlaK43 used with the "Ostwind" and other later AA mounts which had a higher rate of fire with a slimmer barrel as well as other minor changes to the gun.

This FlaK36/37 barrel from armorscale has parts designed very similar to and is dimensionally the same as the ABER 37mm Flak37 barrel in set #35 L-12 with the only difference being the open holes in the flash suppressor neck are fractionally smaller on the armorscale part.

Unassembled parts

The flash suppressor is the standout part as it is fully hollowed out back past the collar gas holes with cleanly drilled holes in the flash suppressor. There is some excess brass burs inside the larger collar holes which can be cleaned easily with a sharp blade poked into the holes and the burs just falls away leaving perfectly clean holes.

Image showing flash suppressor with open holes and brass collar

The fit of the flash suppressor to the barrel is very good but you may need to lightly file the inside on the flash suppressor neck for the optimum fit but test fitting will determine if this is required?

Dimensionally the barrel length matches the 1:35 plans in Panzer Tracks No.12 Flak Selbstfahrlafetten and Flakpanzer book perfectly while the flash suppressor size also matches apart from being just over 1mm longer than indicated.

All that is required to fit the metal barrel to either of the Tamiya kits is to carefully cut off the plastic barrel level with the collar before the barrel proper, then drill an appropriate sized hole for the pin on the metal barrel and simply glue in place. If using the collar carefully cut away the plastic collar rings and fit the brass collar.

Fitting the barrel to the Tamiya Flak 37

Assembled barrel on Flak37 from the Tamiya Sd.Kfz.7/2

Comparison of available Flak37 barrels, the white lines
indicate the dimensions as per the 1:35 plans in the
Panzer Tracks No.12 Flak Selbstfahrlafetten and Flakpanzer book.
Another nicely detailed barrel with the flash suppressor being the standout feature not withstanding the minor dimensional issue and is a simple update to add that extra detail to any available Flak37 kit.

Highly Recommended

Thanks to me Credit Card for the review set.