With the sudden flood of various Sd.Kfz. 7/1 and Sd.Kfz. 7/2 kits onto the market from Trumpeter and Dragon in 2009 we’ve seen an equal flood of upgrade parts for these kits, so much so that it seems you could easily spend three times as much on the upgrades as on the kit itself. This photo-etched set is one of those upgrade sets that will also come in handy for the older Tamiya Sd.Kfz 7/2 as well as the various free standing 37mm FlaK 43 kits.
This a simple set ( if it is ever possible to say that of a photo-etched set ) that makes up into ten of the eight round ammo trays used to feed the 37mm FlaK 43. Each tray is made up of 17 parts, the tray base and the ammo holders, and can be made in either the loaded or emptied state.
A good PE folding tool is needed to do these justice as there are some very delicate folds to be made as well as a very, very fine channel to be indented on each. The ammo holding clips are very fine, too fine for soldering for anyone but the most advanced and studious, but the design means that in the emptied state they all support each other if glued, and in the loaded state the shells help to hold everything in place also. Though if gluing you will need to be extra careful as there is a minimum of contact area.
As for the shells this set does come with eighteen complete shells and two empty cases, so enogh to fill two complete trays with a few left over. So if you want to fill all ten trays you’ll need to buy around 62 extra shells ( RB Model do a relatively inexpensive set that look very good ).
This is a beautiful little set that is well worth the effort to put together as the end result far surpases any plastic kit supplied ammo tray out there. It’s probably only for those who really like to go the extra mile in detailing their kits, but if you’re one of those people this should be on your must have list if you’re building anything with the 37mm FlaK 43 involved.
Click thumbnails to enlarge images.
