The Germans certainly had a thing for mobile anti-aircraft guns. I suppose as the war progressed this became a necessity as the Allies gained air superiority, and so we started to see more and more purpose built anti-aircraft platforms being built on obsolete tank chassis. The production Mobelwagen, or Sd.Kfz. 161/3 3.7cm FlaK auf Fahrgestell Panzerkampfwagen IV (Sf) to give it it’s full title ( Mobelwagen meaning “Furniture Van” because of its boxy shape with the shields up ) was produced with the 37mm singled barreled FlaK 37 and FlaK 43 and as such became the forerunner to the later Ostwind and Wirbelwind. But prior to that several trial versions were produced mounting the 2cm Flakvierling 38 quadruple barreled AA gun which is what Tamiya have produced here.
This kit effectively combines parts from three kits into one, the lower hull and running gear from the Pz.Kpfw IV, the 2cm Flakvierling 38, and the anti-aircraft gun crew, together with a new upper hull and armoured sides. All this giving you a total of six sprues, one in dark green with the four figures, the other five together with the hull tub and upper hull in dark yellow giving you the Mobelwagen itself.
The moulding quality is very good with nice sharp detail, though there is a bit of clean-up of sinkholes from the moulding process in a few prominent places, worst of all on the back of the gun shields. Clean-up however is simply a case of taking a little extra time to remove these sinkholes and the minor mould seams. This kit is one of Tamiya’s older kits, evidenced by the hull tub coming complete with the mountings for the motors for a remote control versions so the detail is somewhat simplified resulting in a low parts count compared to more contemporary offerings.
The lower hull doesn’t have a huge ammount of detail, being mainly the running gear either side, the exhaust at the back and the spare track link holder at the front. The suspension set up is very simple with each suspension unit moulded as one piece so will require a little surgery if you with to reposition any of the wheels to be going over uneven ground. The tracks are single length vinyl “rubber band” style tracks.
The upper hull was made new for this kit and is very basic with a lot of simplified detail including the driver’s and radio operator’s hatches being moulded as part of the upper hull. The gun platform is also moulded as part of the upper hull and is very simplistic. The fold down shields can be positioned up or down.The moulding detail is very good though they, like the gun shields, do have several rather prominent moulding sinkholes to get rid of. You only get a single long ammo tin for the interior though it is my understanding that these vehicles operated together with an Sd.Ah.56 ammo trailer.
The 2cm Flakvierling 38 gun has a reasonable level of detail with a few minor issues such as the ammo bins on either side having room for seven mags rather than the correct eight. Also as mentioned the shields have a number of moulding sinkholes to deal with and scalewise are too thick. A lot of the detail is simplified including the elevation arm but it still makes up into a reasonably good looking piece and can be made so that the guns elevate and traverse if desired.
The figures you get are a four man gun crew designed to go with the Flakvierling 38. There is a seated gunner, two seated loaders and a standing commander, all looking skyward and all dressed in winter gear. The mouldings are a bit heavy and the faces lack any form of individuality or expression. They aren’t terrible figures but nor are they up with the current level of quality and detail we now expect. No weapons are included.
Decals are provided for four vehicle options – 1st SS Panzer Division : 21st Panzer Division : 2nd Panzer Division : 116th Panzer division. Only one paint scheme guide is given.
This kit, in spite of the need to do a fair ammount of clean-up, at the end of the day still makes up into a nice model albeit one that is lacking in some of the finer details, and with some of the detail that is there a little heavy in places. Currently Tamiya is the only maker of a Mobelwagen so if you want one this one makes a good out of the box kit for the day to day modeller, but for those who seek the best in accuracy there is a fair ammount of work involved ( not to mention AM parts ) to bring it up to a top level model.
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