Flakpanzer V "Coelian"

[Mike]

Flakpanzer V "Coelian"

1:35 Cyberhobby

The Flakpanzer V was a derivative of the Panther main battle tank that utilised a new turret which mounted twin Flak 43 barrels in a mantlet with good elevation to allow the gunner to target aircraft successfully.

The vehicle in this form was another paper Panzer, as at the end of the war, only a mock-up utilising a Panther D chassis and a wooden turret had been completed, although there is some confusion on the start date of the project.

This is a reboxing of the Dragon Flakpanzer V kit in Cyberhobby's orange box, with a set of tank riding figures to sweeten the deal. On opening the Dragonesque top opener box, 13 sprues of various sizes, the two hull halves and a bag of Dragon "Magic Tracks", together with a postage stamp sized decal sheet and of course the color instruction manual.

The hull is a sturdy affair, with good alignment, and is covered in typical Dragon style detail, including a fine patina to represent the rolled steel armour. Some rather chunky interlocked seams are also moulded with recessed weld seams nicely done. The various vents and grilles on the rear deck are provided as separate parts, with a corresponding recess below each one, although little would be seen of this after the louvers are in place. The modeller may wish to procure themselves some Photo-Etched mesh panels to cover these areas, as German tanks seldom left the factory without them, to stop dirt ingress, as well as grenades and other munitions finding their way in.

Looking at the period photos, there appears to be a small "fender" hanging down from the side of the hull, starting approximately 2/3 of the way back from the front, and deepening as it goes aft. This isn't supplied with the kit, but would be simplicity itself to fabricate from strip. It was perhaps a temporary addition for use when the proving grounds were muddy, or a field modification made by the former crew of the Panther D on which the turret was built.

Roadwheels are supplied aplenty, as well as some extras that aren't used in this particular build. In fact, the order of the day for this kit seems to be use half the parts and discard the rest, as it is an amalgamation of a number of sprues from various kits (at least in part). The roadwheels are depicted with rubber tyres, which is more appropriate for an early to mid-war vehicle (the prototype was a Panther D afterall), as rubber was a strategic material, and its use in roadwheels was reduced dramatically towards the end of the war by making roadwheels fully steel.

The casting texture on the final drive assembly is nicely rendered, although I might be tempted to stipple it with Mr Surfacer to sharpen the detail up a little. The attention to detail here is commendable though.

The bag of Magic Tracks are a useful addition to the kit, although once glued they aren't workable like some. Personally, I don't find this a problem, and once made up the tracks can be added and removed from loose roadwheels for painting and weathering.

The turret is a slab-sided unit, with moulded in weld seams and torch cut ends to the individual plates. The part count here is fairly low, with a 3-piece mantlet holding two injection moulded 37mm Flak 43 barrels. The barrels themselves are moulded in one piece, but consequently have no perforations in the flash-hider, which most modellers would probably remedy with a pin-vice and appropriate sized drill bits. I'll be picking up 2 RB Models barrels for this project, as they will really improve the look of the finished model.

A full set of pioneer tools is provided, together with racks for stowing spare tracklinks, which I'd recommend adding after construction of the main tracks, just in case you run up short. That said however, there have always been plenty of spares when I've used them in the past.

The decal sheet is simplicity itself, consisting of three Balkenkreuz, although only one is shown on the back of the stowage bins attached to the rear bulkhead. The others could be utilised on the turret sides or left off completely, and no-one will be able to say you were wrong.

Two paint schemes are shown on the colored painting guide - the most interesting is an ambush scheme with a base of dunkelgelb overlaid with brown and green camo, over which contrasting dots of the same three colors have been laid. A good plan here would be to punch out some templates from thin styrene sheet or card, and spray through onto the model from close range.

The other scheme shows a dunkelgelb hull and a "brown" turret, which I suspect is meant to be wood? Although it doesn't jump off the page at you, it could be useful to test your wood effects skills on the prototype with mocked up turret. All of the pictures I have seen however show the whole vehicle painted with the same color, or at least the same tonal value, as they are black and white.

Three sprues of the kit are devoted to the bonus figures, which are described as "Panzer Riders (Lorraine 1944)", and you get the large sprue containing parts for four figures (3 seated, one standing), their combat gear, and two small sprues containing 5 rifles (4 x K98, 1 x G43), 1 x Panzerfaust, 1 x MP40, and an odd looking machine gun, with which I'm not familiar, which looks similar to an MP34.

The figures are well sculpted, and although not quite Gen2 standard, would not look out of place riding the finished model. A color painting guide is supplied for the figures on the rear of the instructions, which also gives suggested paint colors from the Gunze Sangyo range.

Conclusion

A nice re-release of the Dragon kit, with additional sprues for figures and plenty of scope for the modeller to use their artistic license with the paintjob. My only real gripe is the Flak 43 barrels, which need a lot of careful drilling to make them suitable for use by the discerning modeller.

Construction is simple, and even without the addition of any aftermarket parts will build into an impressive and unusual model.

Review sample courtesy of UK distributors for

[Paul A H]

That looks very nice Mike. I treated myself to a Cyberhobby StuG III Ausf. F. a while ago and have been very impressed with it. The magic tracks are great too, and easy enough to put together once you get the hang of them. I'll post some pictures of the build soon.

[Mike]

That looks very nice Mike. I treated myself to a Cyberhobby StuG III Ausf. F. a while ago and have been very impressed with it. The magic tracks are great too, and easy enough to put together once you get the hang of them. I'll post some pictures of the build soon.

They are pretty easy, aren't they? I glue a length together with liquid glue, then drape them round the roadwheels before they set up. Just remember not to panic

[Paul A H]

They are pretty easy, aren't they? I glue a length together with liquid glue, then drape them round the roadwheels before they set up. Just remember not to panic

It's not having to snip them off the sprue and clean them up one-by-one that I really appreciate Give me a bag of these any day!

[Mike]

It's not having to snip them off the sprue and clean them up one-by-one that I really appreciate Give me a bag of these any day!

yeah - there's that too. Although cleaning up a set of metal tracks can be about as infuriating... as to the plastic workable tracks, I can only imagine the pain of cutting all the myriad parts from the sprues

[dahut]

I recall some years ago, back in my Fine Scale Modeler days, that Tony Green had a featured Coelian build.

Back then we didnt have so many options, and outfits like Dragon werent on the scene yet. Like most things Mr. Green did, it was scratch built to perfection.

I always liked the look of the vehicle and the premise behind it. I wonder if Tony is still at it?