I think the German 88mm anti-tank gun was one of the most effective weapons of WW II. I have almost finished a model of it. Recently, I saw some footage on television of what appears to be a much different version. My model has front armor but no side armor. I saw pictures of what looked like 88s with side armor. They still appeared to be towed AT’s. Does anyone know the weapon I am trying to describe? Is it an 88 or something else? Does someone make a model of it? Thanks for any help you can provide.
If you had a picture that would help us in identifying it for you.
Which 88 gun are you building. There were 2 88mm AT guns, the Pak 43
and Pak 43/41.
Hey, Bish. I wondered if I needed to give more info. I’m building the old Tamiya kit of the 88mm FlaK 36/37. I’m building the AT version. It was fitted with a front shield on a cruciform mount and it has small side shields that provide some protection, but in these videos I’ve seen in old WW II film clips, it looks like what might be 88s with full side shields on them. These shields are as tall as the men firing the weapon and pretty much provide full protection on the sides. It almost looks like they enclosed the gun on three sides. I’m not sure if it is an 88, but it’s a pretty long barrel.
Ok. Well, firstly, Tamiya are a bit misleading in that kit. There was no such thing as an AT version, hence the term Flak. All the Flak 88’s could be used in the AT role, though the Flak 37 was more suited to static locations such as those defending the homeland rather than in the field. But that’s me just being picky.
As for the other gun, it doesn’t ring any bells. I checked my book on German artillery of WW2 and found nothing there. Were these guns also on a towed platform. Your description made me thing of the coastal gun on the Atlantic wall. The only other thing I can think of is field applied extra armour, but I can’t say I have seen it before.
From looking at images of the Flak 36/37, it appears that there was more than one shield design. And at times, often no shield was fitted at all. Anyways here is a photo of a more extensive shield on a Flak 37 and similar to what Dragon makes on one of their kits of the 88.
Bish and Stik, Thanks for that additional thought. I haven’t been able to find anything in the books or on the Internet like what appears in this film clip, either. It’s in a series that shows regularly on television. I’ll just have to try to note which program it is and provide that additional information. Maybe, then, someone will be able to take a look and know exactly what this thing is.
Take that off its bogies and maybe. What I saw might have been taller, but that’s a nice looking model. Even if it’s not the same one I saw, I think I’d like to build that. Thanks.
barrett, this is it deployed.
Its pretty distinctive with those wheels still on. There were two types, this and the Krupp version, but that did not have those side shields. But neither entered service, only prototypes were built. Were the guns you saw in action.
Wow. Pretty unique, for sure. That definitely isn’t it. The piece I’m talking about shows up very briefly as a background picture at the intro of one of those 10+ episode documentaries about WW II they show all the time on tv. It is definitely shown in action. I can’t even tell for sure if it is the African or European campaign. I’ll just have to try to see it again and remember what program it is.
I’m also building that same Tamiya 88 Flak kit now…pretty nice easy kit. I know alot of people don’t like it, but watching kit reviews of the Dragon kit scares me lol. And I really like Dragons kits overall.
I remeber building that Tamiya kit years ago. It might be getting on a bit (who isn’t) but still a nice build. Hope you post some pics.
Unfortunatly i don’t have the Tamiya build any more. But i do have one of the Dragon kits in the stash, and it does look daunting. I must get to building that one day. I did build the Merit 1/18th kit a couple of years back, now thats an impressive kit.