Kit No. AF35193
If you’re building a diorama that includes an artillery piece one thing you’re going to need is a lot of ammo. Especially if you’re displaying it deployed, because if you ever look at photos of artillery positions one thing that stands out is the piles of ammunition waiting to go downrange. So this set is a very useful one to have as it provides ammunition for the 15cm sIG 33 range of guns which means not just the Heavy Infantry Gun, but any of the vehicle based variants such as the Bison, Bison II, Grille H and Grille M ( forgive my use of the more common names rather than the official designations but let,s be honest, more people know what you’re talking about when you say Grille instead of 15cm schwerer Infanteriegeschütz 33(SF) auf PzKpfw 38(t) Ausf H ).
This kit comes in a medium sized open ended box on three dark yellow sprues, two of which are the same. The mouldings are all excellent throughout with no flashing present anywhere and only the faintest of mould seams to clean up ( and let’s face it, so long as we have injection moulded plastic kits we’re going to have mould seams to clean up no matter how faint ). The two matching sprues hold the ammunition while the third sprue holds a set of wicker cases. There is also a small photo-etch fret and a small sheet of decals.
The instruction and painting guide is printed on the reverse of the box and a blind man could follow them, the only negative being that absolutely zero identification is provided for what each part is, or what it’s called, so if you don’t know your artillery you could be a bit lost as to what each piece is for.
The ammunition sprues each contains six assorted shells ( three x Gr. 33 High Explosive and three x Gr. 38 Smoke ), a Stielgranate 42 demolition charge, four wooden shell transportation frames, twelve charge casings, and two charge casing boxes which can be assembled either closed, or open with charge casings inside. The included decals are are used here for the shells and charge casing boxes. So as there are two of these sprues you get all that times two which gives you plenty of ammo.
The wicker case sprue is moulded from vinyl rather than plastic so the parts are flexible. It holds ten wicker storage tubes, eight of which are closed with the other two being open. The open end is suitably thin for the most part, though a little thicker on one side as opposed to the other so could use a little thinning down.
Two of the three PE parts are used with these open cases to provide the strap used to hold the shell cap in place ( which itself holds the shell in place ). These wicker cases are very well moulded and when painted can be made to really stand out with a good wash to get into the pattern and then a drybrush to highlight the raised parts.
Also included on the wicker case sprue is a muzzle cover for the sIG 33 gun. Why this wasn’t included in the kit of the gun I’m not sure, but if you want one there’s one included here. Also included as the third of the three PE parts is a retention strap for attaching the muzzle cover to the gun frame.
This is a very nice set, and if you’re building a sIG 33 then this is one addition that is well worth getting. The mouldings are excellent, the details are excellent, and the ammount of ammunition you get from it makes a healthy looking pile. My only complaint is that I would like to see manufacturers who provide ammunition sets also provide with them a bit of identification and information for the layman who most likely wouldn’t have a clue what each round in this set was without such a guide.
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