In The Box Preview by Stephen Brezinski, February 2005

 ATTACK Hobby Kits #RE 72324 

Introduction & Weapon History For Modelers

I have always felt that a little history is needed in order display a model in the correct colors and situation.  According to Ian Hogg, this mammoth anti-aircraft gun began in 1936 with the expected need to combat ever higher and faster aircraft.  It could throw a 26-Kg (57-lb.) projectile up to 10.6 km (35,000 feet).  Even though this model is depicted on its travel trailers, at 15 meters long and 26,450-Kg (26 tons) weight it was not very mobile.  The Flak 40 was most commonly used in the thirty-four 12.8-cm Flakzwilling mounts in tall Flaktowers located in several German cities, beginning in 1942. 

Based on the production time it may be painted in either early war panzer gray, or dark yellow for post 1943 production.  I have not seen any photos of the gun with a camouflage pattern.  I understand that these guns were only used in the German Fatherland and would not be seen in any occupied countries.  A towing vehicle would be one or more SdKfz 9 Famo halftracks.

Attack Hobby Kits calls this a Flak 44, though in GERMAN ARTILLERY OF World War Two, Ian Hogg tells us this is a Flak 40 gun, not a Flak 44.  Perhaps there is confusion with the 12.8-cm K44 artillery and the 12.8-cm Pak 44 anti-tank gun?  Planet Models also has a model of this exact gun with trailers and refers to it as the Flak 40, not Flak 44.  To further confuse this issue, in Ian Hogg’s later book ANTI-AIRCRAFT ARTILLERY he refers to this as a Flak 41.  In this review I will refer to the gun as the Flak 40 as that is its most common designation in print.

Instructions

There are two pages of kit instructions showing two exploded-view diagrams.  The diagrams are clear and well drawn.  Considering that references for this gun are rare, separating the two diagrams into six or more, showing distinct separate steps is preferable in helping both experienced and novice builders.  All the parts are numbered in the instructions and on the pour plugs which is really nice.  There is no parts diagram of the pour plugs in the instructions showing where the parts are located.  Though I give credit to Attack for decent instructions, I wish all manufacturers would take their instructions more seriously. 

The very nice box art show the model painted in panzer yellow and black/schwarz tires (actually dark gray works best for tires in small-scale modeling).

I counted about 85 amber resin parts and one turned-aluminum gun barrel.  There are no etched brass parts or decals.  No crew figures are included.  There were no air bubbles, warping and excess flash noted.  Parts are delicate and cast very sharp and clean.  With a good hobby knife and razor saw the parts do not look difficult to remove from their pour plugs.  [Please be careful not to breathe in the resin dust,  Save the pour plugs as they can be broken up into nice building debris.]  The model is well packed in six Zip-Lock type plastic bags within a larger bag, all in a paperboard box.  I found no broken parts.

Attack resin kits have always had good quality but has still improved as I noted no small resin spheres/bubbles all over the models like in earlier Attack resin model kits.  Below are scans of most, but not all the parts.

The above scan displays the gun carriage, pedestal and baseplates for the outriggers.  This is a good example of the great three-dimensional detail that can be cast into a good resin model.

At far left is the “I” shaped baseplate for the gun mount, notably different from the cross-shaped base of the prototype Flak 40 and 8.8-cm Flak gun.  At the top & bottom are the delicately molded traverse and elevation wheels, and railings.  I found no broken pieces.  The turned aluminum barrel is beautiful and is a great plus for the kit.  At the rear end of the gun barrel is the commendably molded gun breach.

The large piece at the upper left is Part #11, which is the part of the two trailer assemblies.  Also in this scan we see four of the eight well-molded trailer wheels.  At the bottom left is the spare tire (Part #15) and the two pivot points “fifth wheels” (Parts #12) for the trailers.