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Having recently been knocked sideways by a bout of the Covid, progress in the mancave of both my Mercedes L4500 and SWS ground to a halt. Checking my faculties were still all functioning as they should and not wanting to muddle up either project, I figured a quick out of the box build should do the trick. Voila! Tamiya’s ickle 1/35 PzII was knocked out in a few hours and figuring my eye was firmly back in I then proceeded to ignore both ongoing projects and start a completely new one! This one would be a first for me, and one I had been itching to start since I received it 6 months ago. The contagion had scratched that itch, so it was finally time to confront my fear of all things new. Old school I don’t have a 3D printer but intrigued as I was over both the subject matter and the new engineering formula, I contacted the designer and enquired whether he would be prepared to send me one out. Fortunately, Darius Stucinskas is a jolly nice chap and was only too happy to print me a couple of trailers out and post them safely across Europe. The 3D kit is a Sondernhänger Sd. Ah. 56/57 single axle ammunition trailer towed by late war self-propelled Flak guns. Images of CAD renderings can be found below. Darius has done some amazing work researching this vehicle and although he admits there are a few small areas that are still difficult to 100% accurately ascertain, dimensionally the trailer is spot on. The future Before I start it is worth mentioning that the 3D file can be purchased for insanely good value from https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/various/1-35-scale-sd-ah-56-57-ammunition-trailer along with many other WWII axis projects Darius has created. To date there has only ever been one kit available in 1/35 scale and that is a resin kit made by Wiener Modellbau. It is a great little kit, but it lacks detail and there are a few inaccuracies in both the box and the chassis. Now anybody that has ever built any Sd.Kfz 7 self-propelled Flak gun variants will be aware that Trumpeter do indeed include a trailer with all of their kits. What you might not know, or indeed care is that the trailer kit they provide is a mismatch of two types of trailers. They label it as a Sd.Ah 52 but anybody who knows what a 52 looks like will agree that the Bronco kit #CB35079 https://www.scalemates.com/kits/bronco-cb35079-sdah52-37cm-flak-36-37-ammunition-carriage-trailer--115264 is a far better representation than Trumpeter’s. What Trumpeter have done is mixed up a 52 chassis with a vaguely similar 56/57 box body. If you are modelling an early Sd.Kfz 7 variant they did utilise the Sd.Ah 52 trailers as can be seen in many a period image but the majority of late war armoured 7’s and indeed L4500 Mercedes and Bussing NAG’s can be seen towing Sd.Ah 56/7’s. These trailers can be seen in a few slightly modified guises and obviously as resources became scarce during the late war years flat roofs and less hinges were seen on later models. Next up. Lets have a look at the kit

This is Trumpeters 1/35 kit #01527 with box art modelled on one of the very few clear late war remaining pics of this vehicle mounted with the Flak 43. As the kit included trailer is a fictional bodge of two trailers it was replaced with Wiener Modellbau's excellent resin Sd.Ah57 kit. There are a few fragile items still to be added including the width indicators and some small chains, but these will be added once the vehicle is placed on its base. Likewise, the crew gear will be further weathered and awaits final placement. It is painted in a monochrome but well weathered Dunkelgelb scheme with Mission Model and Tamiya acrylics and weathered with Mig enamels and Abteilung oils. This is to depict a retreating vehicle set in Northern Italy during the last months of the war. The kit overall is not bad and although I haven’t built one, appears a much better offering than the Dragon equivalent. There are a few dimensional inaccuracies and an obvious issue with the cab armour which Trumpeter again have managed to mix up with the two types of armour plate that were used, but it is an easy fix to remedy. The flak gun has a gunner’s seat missing which needs to be sourced/scratched and added and as already mentioned the trailer included is pure fantasy.

Hello all For my latest offering, here is my finished SWS - short for Schwerer Wehrmachtschlepper (Heavy Military Tractor), as I just found out on Wikipedia - with Flak 43, courtesy of Italeri's 1/35 kit. A very nice kit it is too, with the more complex sub-assemblies for the flak gun going together with no trouble at all, and Italeri being kind enough to offer options to pose the back end closed up or open in the firing position. The only odd thing is the way the front wheels sit clearly off the ground by a good few millimetres (most noticeable in the last pic I've posted) - hoping that's a kit error rather than one of mine... It was built OOB and airbrushed with Tamiya acrylics. I kept the weathering light, limiting it to a bit of muck on the tracks and tyres, an oil-based wash and a bit of drybrushing to help bring out some of the raised details. Pretty happy with how this has turned out, especially as I managed to keep my usual quota of self inflicted errors to a record low! Thanks for looking. Adam

German 37mm Flak 43 Zwilling Trumpeter 1:35 History The Flak 43 Zwilling was a development of the 3.7 cm Flak 43, which whilst as a single barrelled weapon was a dramatic improvement over older models. The new weapon introduced a gas-operated breech which increased the practical firing rate to 150 RPM, while at the same time dropping in weight to 1,250 kg (2,760 lb) in combat, and 2,000 kg (4,400 lb) in transport. Instead of having a single barrel the Zwilling, as the name suggests, was designed to mount two barrels. While this was thought to enable double the fire power from a single mount it proved to be unwieldy and heavy. This resulted in the increased production of the single mounts which proved pretty successful, particularly when mounted on Sd.Kfz 7s, and Panzer IV chassis producing the Mobelwagen and Ostwind. The Model The kit comes in Trumpeters standard top opening, and quite attractive box, with an artistic representation of the gun in action against some rather low flying B-17s. Inside there are seven sprues of light grey coloured styrene, plus a small sheet of etched brass. The mouldings are very well produced, with no sign of flash and only a few moulding pips. Surface detail is good although the bolt heads on the splinter shield are perhaps a little small. The build begins with the splinter shield, which is fitted out with the sighting hatch on the right hand side which can be posed either open or closed. On the inside there are four further shield panels fitted along with their support braces. The two guns are made up in the same way with the lower gun section in three parts, which once joined together, fitted with two recoil springs and the top breech section. The elevation shield is fitted to the mounting arms which are attached to each side of the breech; these differ in size depending on whether it’s fitted to the upper or lower weapon. The ammunition tray is then attached to the port side of the breech. The crew control sub assemblies are made up and these include the elevation and traversing wheels, plus the crew seats and their mounts. The elevation mountings on either side of the guns are in two halves, which, when joined together are fitted out with the rotating parts, the control sub assemblies, seats, control rods and sighting units. The right hand side is also fitted with foot pedals, and support brackets. The completed guns are then fitted to either the upper or lower elevation rotational parts and sandwiched between the two structures. The footplate is fitted with a turntable part underneath, whilst on top there are two ammunition boxes, another crew seat and grab handles. Onto this the gun mount is then attached, followed by the splinter shield, spent case tray and the etched brass netting that surrounds it. Finally the whole mount is fitted to the trailer bed, which is assembled from upper and lower halves, associated travel locks and three footpads. The kit also comes with several clips of 37mm ammunition which will help in the making of a nice diorama. Conclusion This is a fairly simple kit, but it does have a lot of character, the etched netting is a nice feature. Although not as widely used as the single barreled weapons it would make an interesting subject when combined with a suitable crew. For a what if, you could mount it on a truck, halftrack or even a flatbed railway wagon, as I’m sure the Germans would have done so at some point even if there are few photos available. The kit would also make a nice quick mojo build as it could be built in a day or two, then have fun painting and weathering. The only downside is the lack of crew which would have been nice to have included. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of