Great Wall Hobby L3515 – German Infrared Night Vision Devices
There’s probably a lot of people who have never heard of the German use of night vision in World War Two, and many who have possibly think it falls into the “what-if” category. But odd as it may sound, like helicopters, the Germans did indeed develop night vision devices before the war even started. They didn’t however really get into their stride till the final year by which stage it was of course too late, and there are endless debates regarding how extensively they were used. Perhaps, again like the helicopter, it was a good thing that they never gave this technology enough interest early enough for it to really have been a key component of wehrmacht technology.
This kit comes in a medium sized open ended type box containing four small light grey and two clear sprues as well as a small photo etch brass fret ( the box is actually about twice the size it needs to be ). Two of the grey sprues are duplicates, so are the clear sprues and the other grey sprues would also be duplicates except one has an MG34 and the other an MG42. The instructions are printed on the rear of the box in simple line diagram style and are clear and easy to follow.
The moulding is excellent with sharp, clean detail, no flash, and close to non-existant mould seams. In fact the only real clean-up needed is the sprue attachment points The level of detail is extremely good, particulalry for what are essential small pieces of equipment.
The clear parts are used to make the ends of the scopes and are well thought out as you use these in place of solid parts and then paint the edges to leave clear lenses. Well done GWH. This sprue also includes the lenses for the IR lamps and a couple of large unused lenses which belong to the Uhu kit.
What you get is enough to make two infrared “Solution A’ sets, but because of the duplication of sprues you get a variety of options on how to build them. You can make up two complete Infrared Night Vision Devices and you also get two full weapon mounts so you have the option of mounting the two of them in a combination of - on a Panther cupola AA ring without an MG, on a Panther cupola with either an MG34 or an MG42, or on an Sd.Kfz.251 ( or similar ) with either the MG34 or MG42. The only thing missing from these are the power leads which you will need to add yourself.
The machine guns are beautifully moulded, among the best available in injection moulded plastic and right up there with the DML Gen 2 versions. They include a seperate receiver cover with internal detail shown if the cover is left open. You also get two ammo tins ( take note here Tamiya, they include all the handle and latch detail in a single mould ), six drum mags with two carriers, a folded bipod, an open bipod, and a very nicely moulded length of ammo belt that includes the starter strip.
Conclusion. The use of the IR NVD may have been very limited so I suppose there will be less than overwhelming demand for this kit but I’d buy this set ten times over just for the MG34 and MG42 sprues, they’re brilliant. For a small kit ( or rather two small kits and some spares ), this is a really nice one and well worth getting. Very highly recommended.
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