PMMS
Alan
8.8cm PaK 43
Alan Hobby 1:35 kit No. 020
Review by Terry Ashley

Alan
This new kit from Alan Ltd is of the 8.8cm Panzerjägerkanone PaK 43 which was a purpose built anti-tank gun using the 8.8cm L71 gun as used in the Jadgpanther, Nashorn and Tiger II and was initially built on a cruciform base that required the gun to be dismounted to fire but was later fitted to a simpler carriage with four small outrigger support arms allowing it to be fired from the carriage if required. This carriage appears to have been a single example as there is no documentation or photo evidence it was put into service and the main disadvantage of the gun was its travelling weight of 5,000kg which made it very unwieldy to move but it had a low silhouette due to the well slopped shield.

The kit represents the later type with the four small outrigger arms on the four wheeled trailer and has 148 parts in light grey plastic plus a small decal sheet and the instructions.

Quality of moulding is very average with quite a few pin marks and sink marks on the parts to contend with the worst being the gun breech which is badly affected by sink parks and overall the detail is fairly basic being rather soft and heavy in appearance but some of the smaller parts have much finer detail.

The barrel has the three part breech which as mentioned is badly pitted with sunk marks plus the separate breech block with the two part body and two part barrel with muzzle brake included plus other smaller parts but some of the detail as well as being soft in appearance is also incorrect with the lower elevation gear having the cut-out the wrong shape from that on the actual gun.

The two main gun trunnions again have sink marks to contend with and these trap the barrel between them allowing elevation with additional parts for the sights, elevation and traverse gear plus the gunner’s seat. The hand wheels are the later type with a single cross member and are moulded quite thin with some of the gun accessories have a better appearance than the larger parts.

Added to the gun is the large one piece main shield with smaller central shield with the larger shield having the double skin represented with a raised panel on the inside but there is no actual gap between the shields and there are also four pin marks on the inside to be removed. The shield is a bit thick but the edges are bevelled to give a thinner appearance while the central shield is again a little on the thick side.

The main carriage base is in one piece with the four outrigger legs made up of four parts each and these can be positioned in the raised travel position or lowered firing position as required and the four lifting hooks are added to the base with the detail on all these parts being adequate at best.

For the two wheeled bogies there is the central frame with separate fenders, axles, leaf springs and two part wheel hubs plus smaller fittings and again the detail is rather soft in appearance and lacking in any real definition.

The wheels are in two halves with basic tread pattern and heavy embossing on the sidewalls with open spoke wheel rims, there are a few different designs of wheel rims used on the Pak43 and other German guns but I couldn’t find a photos depicting the type included in the kit, which is not to say that type didn’t exist.

Fit of parts throughout was very hit and miss with some fitting okay and others not, such as the wheel halves that needed a fair bit of trimming for a good fit, you may also have to clean up the mating surfaces on some parts for a better fit.

The instructions are in the form of CAD drawings and are a little confusing in parts as the illustrations make identifying some parts a little difficult but as there are a not of parts it’s fairly easy to work out what goes where.

Decals:
A small decal sheet is included which is nicely printed with thin carrier film and has generic markings for a two guns from 96 Infantry Division and 205 Infantry Division.

Conclusion:
At best this can be described as a basic kit of the Pak 43 with all the basic structures included but not with the standard cruciform base seen in most photos of the Pak 43.
Considerable work will be required both to deal with the pin and sink marks and to improve the level of detail to make a standout model, but is considerable cheaper than the alternative resin models if you don’t mind a bit of work.

Recommended

Alan
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Thanks to my Credit Card and NKR Models for the review kit.



Page Created October 29, 2006

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