Following their initial release of the FlaK38 barrel (set #35L03) ABER have now released a set of four barrels for the 2cm Flakvierling 38 which is basically four barrels from set #35L03 in this new set designed for either the Tamiya Sd.Kfz.7/1 (kit #35050) or 2cm Flakvierling 38 (kit #35091).

Included are the four turned barrels and small etched fret with the flash suppressor collar and suppressor cone plus two smaller barrel fittings. You are provided with five frets to give a couple of spare parts as you have to bend the collar and cone to get the required result.

Looking at the brass barrels there is the main body and the barrel proper with the body being the correct length but unfortunately the barrel is 1.5mm too long when compared the actual barrel data and available plans in the references shown below.
The exposed length of the barrel including the flash suppressor in 1:35 should be 28.5mm with the ABER barrel being 30mm in length.

Image showing the ABER barrel and assembled barrel after shortening to the correct length
and the Tamiya kit guns for a comparison

This is fairly easy to remedy by cutting off about 1mm from the barrel tip and attaching the flash suppressor collar the correct length from the body collar (22.5mm), but you have to do this four times.

The flash suppressor collar has five large holes and one smaller hole while the suppressor cone has three rows of six small holes which matches available data that indicates there were various configurations of the holes in the collar and cone.

Before bending the etched collar and suppressor cone it is best to anneal these by running through a candle flame to make bending that much easier.

The collar is quite fragile and I found the best results were achieved by selecting an appropriate sized drill bit matching the barrel diameter and bending the collar around this and I also used the soft rolling pad on the BrassAssit Roller Set to form the collar tightly around the drill bit.

To form the cone I used the tapered tip of a scriber which allowing the cone shape to be formed without too much trouble but obviously care is needed in the bending process which is the reason ABER give you a couple of spares in case of disaster.

The two parts of the flash suppressor fitted together neatly if the bending process went okay and soldering would be the best option to join the parts for a more robust assembly but using cyanoacrylate will also do the job providing the joins match well.

The finished flash suppressor does look very good providing care is taken with the well defined collar holes and the even sides to the suppressor cone.

Fitting the barrels to the Tamiya kit guns is very straightforward with the plastic barrels cut off but watch as this is not a straight cut with part of the gun housings overlapping the barrel body and careful trimming is required here.

A small hole is drilled in the gun housing to take the pin on the back of the barrel and you are ready to go.

The above process is repeated four times and using the drill bit and scriber tip will ensure all four flash suppressor collar and cones are bent to the same diameter for a uniform look after final assembly.

Despite the minor barrel length discrepancy and the extra work needed to form the flash suppressor over some other 2cm FlaK38 barrels available this set will assembly into nice looking Flak barrels that will certainly enhance the Tamiya Flakvierling kits.

Highly recommended for modellers with experience in working with etched and metal parts as there is scope for a disaster if not careful during the assembly process.

Highly recommended 8.0/10.

See a full comparison of available FlaK38 barrels which has been updated to include this barrel set.

2cm FlaK38 Muzzle Reference images

German 20mm FlaK in WWII 1395-1945 By Werner Müller Schiffer Military History ISBN: 0-88740-758-7 Soft cover 47 pages

Leichter Zugkraftwagen 1t (Sd.kfz.10) Ausf.A and B and Variants development and production from 1935 to 1945 Panzer Tracts No.22-1 ISBN 0-9815382-5-8 Thomas L. Jentz and Hilary Louis Doyle Includes accurate 1:35 plans of the 2cm Flak 30 and 2cm Flak 38 early and late.

Tamiya Photo Album 4 Tamiya Plastic Model Co. Krupp Protze Flak30, Flak38

2cm FlaK 30/38 Sfl Sd.Kfz.10/4 Wydawnictwo Militaria 172

Thanks to ABER for the review barrel sets.
carry the full range of ABER update sets and barrels.