KIT: |
MAC 1/72 20mm Flak 30 |
KIT # |
72053 |
PRICE: |
$18,98 ($16,96 at Squadron) |
DECALS: |
None |
REVIEWER: |
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NOTES: |
HISTORY |
Allow me to quote snippets from the instruction sheet. "This gun was first used in the Spanish Civil War in 1936. There it was very successfully used during the battle of Bilbao. Rheinmetall-Borsig mass-produced this weapon as the 2cm Fligerabwehrkanone 30 (Flak 30).
The German army possessed the greatest concentration of anti aircraft artillery in the world. Variously known as flak, from the German abbreviation or Ack-Ack, from the laterally British phonetic alphabet. The Flak 30 was the principle AA weapon for the German Army during WWII. TI was mounted on a bewildering variety of vehicles, armored and unarmored halftracks, lorries, tank hulls, Uboats, ships, and armored trains as well as deployed on the towed ground mount. It was the most widely used 20mm AA weapon in the world by 1940. It was light and accurate; seeing actions on all fronts until the end of the war.
THE KIT |
When one opens the box the first thing one wonders is where the rest of the kit is! Actually, it is all there; it is just that in 1/72 the bits are a touch smaller than one is used to if one has mostly built 1/35 scale. There are two sprues that contain the basic gun and trailer. On two etched brass frets are the gun shields and some smaller bits. All of the plastic is well molded and nicely detailed. There is some minor flash (or large mold seams) on all the parts that will need to be cleaned up, but it is quite minor and should be easy to remove with a swipe of the knife or sandpaper. No nasty ejector pin marks or sink holes on this kit! Be careful when opening the bag so as not to lose any small parts. Two little ones broke off the sprue on my kit and I nearly tossed them!
The instructions are very well done. In addition to a nice historical section, there are 11 construction steps and a nice 7 view set of drawings of the completed unit on and off the wheels. You do have to do a bit of sprue stretching on this one, but only for one piece. The painting diagrams are for three guns. A panzer grey one at Stalingrad, 1942; a desert yellow one with the Afrika Korps in 1942 and a sand/light green one at Charkov in 1943. No decals are provided.
CONCLUSIONS |
Heck, this is a kit that even I could build! Doesn't have a zillion parts and will take up darn little space on the shelf. What's more, it was used all over the place so is perfect for a bit of diorama material for both the armor and aircraft modeler. The box says 14 or older and due to the small parts, I tend to agree. For the experienced modeler. It is already on the workbench!
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