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German Flakpanzer Gepard A1/A2 1:35


Mike

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German Flakpanzer Gepard A1/A2

1:35 Meng Model

 

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The German Army had fielded many different Flakpanzers through WWII, and it was no surprise that they would continue this into the cold war. The Gepard or Cheetah was developed to fill this role in the 1960's with deployment beginning in the early 1970's. The system used the proven chassis of the Leopard 1 tank carrying a large turret carrying the two 35mm auto cannons and radar dishes.

 

The anti-aircraft system combines two radar dishes; a general search radar, and a tracking radar/ There is also a Laser range-finder. The German systems featured an S band radar for search, and a Ku Band radar for tracking, whereas the Dutch systems featured an X and Xu bad radars. The German system having a search & track range of 15kms, the Dutch having a search of 15kms, but track of only 13kms. The gun system fitted is a twin 35mm Oerlikon KDA system. Each gun can fire 550 rounds per minute. They fire a Frangible Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot and Armour piercing ammunition with a range of up to 5.5kms. The usual load is 320 frangible and 20 AP rounds per gun.

 

The German Army ordered 377 units, the Dutch 95 and the Belgians 55 which were identical to the German ones. The Germans retired the Gepard in 2010 but they are in storage, as have the Dutch and Belgian units. The system is still used in other countries though. Brazil currently has 36, and Romania 43 obtained from Germany. Jordan purchased 60 from the Dutch.

 

The Kit

This is brand new tooling from Meng, and takes advantage of some of the Leopard parts, including hull and tracks, which is in line with the real thing so totally expected.  The box is typical Meng with that satin finish I like so much, even though mine always end up in the bin when I've finished building them.  Inside the box eight sprues and three hull and turret parts in green styrene, a flexible styrene sprue, clear sprue, two sprues of different sized poly-caps, a bag of track link parts, a length of braided synthetic cord, a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE), a pair of chrome stickers for wing-mirrors, a couple of bags of track links, a small sprue of ice-cleats with jig, and a small decal sheet.  The instruction booklet is portrait A4+ with colour on the outermost pages on glossy paper, and a black and white centre section where colour isn't needed.

 

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I'm a big fan of Meng's products, and this one isn't going to dent my faith in them, as straight from the box it is a quality model kit.  The build starts with the pairs of road wheels, which have poly-caps trapped between them, and these are fitted onto the working torsion suspension arms along with a number of return-rollers and other suspension parts on the sides of the lower hull.  The idler wheels are ostensibly the same as the road wheels, with subtle differences telling them apart, and the drive sprockets are built up from three parts each, again hiding a poly-cap in the centre.

 

The upper hull is different in shape, but sports mostly bog-standard Leopard hardware, with an insert on the engine deck that is (sadly) covered by a PE mesh grille, before the Gepard turret adapter ring is added, which just sits over the top of the smaller turret ring of the Leopard, aft of the driver's hatch.  Various boxes and lumps are added around the upper hull, plus folded PE vision block armour, towing shackles and light clusters on both sides.  At the rear a large optional stowage box can be added on the back of the engine deck, or two large flexible styrene bags if you prefer, which are lashed down by some straps made form the same material.  A pair of mudguards, towing cable made from the cord and styrene eyes, lights and shackles are also added to the rear bulkhead later in the build.

 

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The tracks are the same as supplied in the Leopard 1 A5 here. They take on the form of individual workable links in styrene, each link of which consists of five parts. The central piece has track-pins moulded in, and two track pads are constructed from halves, linking the pin sections together one after another. A jig is included to help with this, and the winter ice-cleats are shown with seven links between them in case you wish to use them. The track-pin part has four attachment points to the sprue, while the pads have only one each, with a double pin/hole combination differentiating between the inner and outer portions. There are very small contact patches between the pad halves, which bothers me a little in case they decide to come apart during the build, but take your time, and make full use of the jig. You need 85 links per side, so allow plenty of time for the task.  The top run is almost totally covered in the next step when the side skirts and front fenders with integrated mudguards are attached, so decide for yourself whether you will do a full run, or just the parts that are visible.

 

Finally, we get to the turret!  Construction here starts with the smoke dispensers, the sights and the tracking radar, which builds up from a large number of parts, with a pair of big poly-caps holding the two side sensors in place, and a bayonet fitting allowing the whole assembly to rotate on the turret.  The turret itself is built up from top and bottom sections, with an insert for the sloped panel behind the radar assembly, and an equipment insert within the rear of the turret.  The sight, lifting lugs, smoke dispensers and flashing orange beacon are added to the exterior along with armoured shrouds for the crew vision blocks around the hatch, and a number of smaller assemblies.  The guns are slide-moulded as single parts, with optional early barrels or late barrels that have more complex muzzles supplied, fitting into the rotating housings which hold the breeches and ammo feed.

 

The Power Box Supply is built up over two stages, with lots of parts making for a detailed part, which then accepts the target search radar assembly at the top, with a single part moulding for the parabolic dish.  This can be mounted on the rear turret in either the open or closed position, exposing the detail insert placed within earlier in construction.  The two guns are then inserted into the large side mounts, interlocking and remaining movable in synchronisation.  For the A2 turret, these are a few different parts, and the construction of this variant is described separately following the A1 turret.  The A2 turret has a choice of different barrels, additional crew air conditioning units on the back of the turret, as well as more storage on the rear deck.

 

 

Markings

All markings options are based on the tri-tonal NATO scheme of green, black and brown, with the decals being what sets them apart.  Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

  • 3rd Battery, 12th Armoured Air Defence Gun Battalion, Bundeswehr, Hardheim.
  • 2nd Battery, 131st Armoured Air Defence Gun Battalion, Bundeswehr, Hohenmölsen.
  • 2nd battery, 2nd Armoured Air Defence Gun Battalion, Bunderwehr, Exercise Caravan Guard, Westerwald, 1989.

 

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If you wanted to go off-piste for some additional fun, there are some photos of a rather fetching winter camouflage with green and white distemper floating round  the net, which should add a little interest to your modern German armour display.

 

 

Conclusion

Detail is sharp, as is the attention to the intricacies of moulding such things as weld-lines and anti-slip texturing, and these won't be found on other kits of this unusual-looking vehicle in this scale.  Construction follows a sensible route, and with the exception of the tracks, which will take some effort, the model should build up relatively quickly.

 

Very highly recommended.

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Review sample courtesy of

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One thing I am not sure if it is mentioned in the instructions is the German Army did not have the sideskirts on their vehicles, Meng got the box art slightly wrong there?

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