|
One of four Verlinden 120mm (1/16) kits that I built for a friend, the FlaK kit actually surprised me a bit. Oddly, for a 1/16 kit, the obvious candidates for photo-etched metal, the main gun shields, are molded resin. Generally, the kit is a large copy of the Tamiya 1/35 kit, as even the armored shields are beveled to make them look thinner. The muzzle break, another piece that should be p-e, is also resin.
On the plus side, there is minimal cleanup on most of the parts compared to the other kits in this scale. Also, as there are no wheels and suspension, there is none of the cleanup that goes along with Verlinden's wierd method for reproducing those parts. Many parts need just a little cleanup with a knife where they are attached to little sprues.
Fit is fairly good, although mounting the gun shield and barrel are tricky. The shield mounts on a plastic rod. The plastic rod is oddly resistant to instant glue, which makes bonding all of the parts more difficult. Plus, the big resin shields are thick and heavy. The barrel suffers from the same plastic rod. Probably, the real barrel should taper a bit (?).
Some rubber elastic is provided to make the sight's power cables. This is a nice idea, although I wonder if the rubber will rot and crack with time (and paint)?
I airbrushed the gun a dark grey color, followed by some thin coats of Tamiya German Dark Yellow. The barrel was painted Poly Scale Steel color.
In the end, the kit looks nice. The detail is not particularly fine, but the kit looks like a 20mm. Modifying the kit to delete the armor shields would make the model look nicer, too. Probably this is a good kit for a beginner in 1/16 accessory kits.
Schiffer's German Light Flak paperback book was helpful, as it has a lot of clear photos of the 20mm.
|