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Dragon
3cm Flak 38/103 Jaboschreck
w/Trailer

Dragon 1:35th ScaleKit No. 6353

Review by Terry Ashley

Introduction:

Dragon have followed their 2cm FlaK 38 kit (#6288) and Flakpanzer I (kit #6220) with this kit of the 3cm FlaK 38/103 Jaboschreck mounted on the late FlaK 38 platform with only minor modifications, this late platform has a few minor differences to the earlier platform used in the Dragon kit.

The kit:

The kit uses three sprues A, B and C from the FlaK 38 and Flakpanzer I kits with new sprue D for the 3cm gun and the etched shields and shell basket from the FlaK 38 kit plus additional etched parts also for the 3cm gun with quite a few parts not used for this kit such as the 2cm ammo clips and boxes that can be added to the spares box.

Etched parts
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The standard of moulding is again excellent with virtually no pin marks present and the many small plastic nodes which will need care to remove from some of the finer parts but again this is small price for the clean mouldings and the many small parts will also require care removing from the sprues and during assembly.

The lower turntable base has excellent details with a separate turntable with subtle tread plate pattern and around the edges of the base is the weld seam as it should be but unfortunately the sprue attachment points are right on the weld line and you will have be extremely careful in removing these or add back the small seam after cleanup for a uniform weld seam appearance.

The four small tightening hand ‘wheels’ around the base have good definition especially considering the small size and really look the part. There are also etched wheels included as alternatives but these are best ignored as they are flat one dimensional and simply don’t look as good as the plastic items.

The two round traverse and elevation hand wheels are the early solid type but the type used with the 3cm 38/103 were the late open type with single cross spoke and you can either ignore this or modify the kit hand wheels accordingly.

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Actual FlaK38/103 images courtesy AFV Modeller Magazine

The gunner’s seat is made up of six parts again with very good details and another small hand wheel on the back of the chair base.

The two gun cradle sides have separate upper bearing rings as per the real gun for good definition with additional separate parts for the elevation assembly plus the gunner’s foot rests and on the inside of the right cradle is a separate perforated reinforcing bracket and at the back is the rotation box and hand wheel.

There is another minor issue with the contours at the rear of the two mountings (parts A1, D17) which should be more rounded than on the kit parts and there are small discrepancies with the size and shape of the mounting openings and a few small fitting differences but these is not really that noticeable on the finished model but should be noted for true accuracy.
The rear of the mounting is also closed as opposed to being open on the earlier mounting and this can be added with thin card to represent the later mounting.

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Actual FlaK38/103 images courtesy AFV Modeller Magazine

The main gun sight is made up of seven parts for excellent definition and with some very fine parts that will need care cleaning up and fitting but make for a nicely defined assembly. The sight mounting is quite different from that of the FlaK 38 and is captured quite well here with the mount in two halves to capture the ribbed detail and the fine sight parts added allowing you to position the sight at any elevation.

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The 3cm gun is nicely done with 9 plastic parts and 5 etched parts for the muzzle brake and ammo feed chute, the gun shield is provided in plastic or etched metal and this would be the obvious choice for scale thickness as the plastic part is a little thick.

There is a small fitting (part D7) also provided as an etched part but the plastic part while requiring care to clean up is three dimensional as opposed to the flat one dimensional metal part (a common issue with etched parts and not just with this kit).

The detail on the gun receiver and the elaborate muzzle brake is nicely defined with opened muzzle and side gas holes and the three part etched muzzle brake plates again nicely done, note that on some early guns the large muzzle brake plates were not fitted but from information these were most likely fitted to production guns.

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The etched 3cm shell chute requires careful bending as the inner lip has to be bent at 45° to the angled chute guide and the instructions aren’t that clean on this, with the muzzle brake etched parts it’s best to use an etched bending tool to ensure sharp bends. When fitting the etched muzzle brake to the plastic muzzle you have to ensure the bore hole of the etched part lines up with the hole in the plastic part and to do this I inserted an appropriate sized drill bit into the muzzle and slipped the etched part over this gluing in place with cyanoacrylate.

There are alternate elevation arms and sight linkage rods to position the gun at 0°, 20°, 40° and 60° elevation with corresponding lower carriage panel for the applicable angle so you best make your choice of angle early on in the assembly.

The plastic gun shields are a little on the thick side with bevelled edges to give a thinner appearance and also include nice bolt head and attachment details with the upper and lower main shields as separate parts.

As with the FlaK 38 kit you get alternative etched shields which are far thinner than the plastic shields with separate etched attachment brackets and look more the part. The gunner’s shield is in three parts with three alternate right hand panels with minor detail differences.

While the etched shields are more to scale thickness there are a couple of issues in that the bolts are fairly flat in profile and not rounded as they are on the plastic shields and there is also an indentation at the outer bend line of the main shields which should not be there and you have to fill these with solder if using the etched shields. Also the pre-bent main shields were at different angles meaning you have to slightly bend these to the correct angle using the front supports (parts A59) as guides, make sure you don’t bend these to much as they could break apart.

The shell ejection cage is included with plastic frames and etched mesh with the lower “bag” in two pre-formed halves and the upper sections that require you to bend to shape which is best done with your fingers to achieve natural contours and sag in the mesh and this should give a nice appearance.

The Sd.Ah.51 trailer is also very well done with the wheel mud guards included but these should be removed as indicated in the instructions while the front trailer hitches have separate parts to allow the frame to be assembled raised or lowered depending on your choice.

The two wheels are very nicely done with subtle tread pattern and again no pin marks on either side of the wheel rims which are included on the outer wheel with just the inner tyre section as a separate parts making for a commendably thin wheel disc. On the inner rim is the tyre valve which protrudes through the hole in the wheel disk when the two wheel halves are fitted together for a good appearance.

The ammo for this gun is in belt form as opposed to the clips for the FlaK 38 and you get a sort belt with ten rounds plus six separate rounds to add as you wish to the final model.

Decals:

The small well printed sheet has a selection of kill markings to use as required as there is no real information on actual numbers produced or units issued with the weapon.

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The instructions with the usual exploded view drawings are easy to follow but you should carefully study the sequences as some are quite busy especially where there are finer parts and with some of the etched parts.

Conclusion

Overall a nicely done kit of this lesser know flak gun to add to the list of German equipment in kit form with nicely done barrel and muzzle brake and other detail with just a few minor issues for those wanting true accuracy but overall will build into a nice model out of the box.

Highly recommended.

The Sprues

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Detail images
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References:

Thanks to my credit card and the excellent service fromRainbow Tenfor the review kit.




Page created September 30, 2006