Tamiya 1/35 German Africa Corps Luftwaffe Artillery Crew Set - Kit Review
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- A short review of Tamiya's 1/35 scale, DAK Luftwaffe Artillery Crew figure set, Kit No. 35343, released as a "Stand Alone" kit in 2015, this kit was originally included in Tamiya's "88mm Gun Flak 36 "North Africa Campaign" model kit, No. 35283, released in 2006.
This nicely detailed kit includes parts for 8 "Afrika Korps" uniformed figures, with a range of accessories, including: 88mm Flak 36, Shells, Casings, and Wicker Ammunition Containers, EM34 Range Finder, Stereoscopic Binoculars, and some personal equipment and tools.
Nice review of a great looking kit Pete. You can't go wrong with Tamiya 👍
Thanks John, much appreciated.
Another honest review awesome , definitely could find a use for this kit
Thanks mate, yep, this one you could use just about anywhere in the Med. Theatre, North Africa, Sicily, Italy proper. Has a lot of potential. Cheers.
Definitely some hornet heads and the use of a blade to define parts of the figures. They are pretty soft. I'm hoping Tamiya redoes these and their older figures sets with their 3d versions
Agreed. The faces are quite soft and almost featureless, but at least the heads are separate allowing them to be replaced with resin ones. Cheers!
Maybe it varies by kit, I bought this set right after release, I don’t remember that much flash .
It is very unusual for a Tamiya kit to have this degree of flash, especially along the mould lines. It could easily be that my particular kit came from the beginning of a new run of the mould, and the flash caused by slightly mis-aligned plates wasn't picked up straight away.
Hi Pete!
Very nice one!
I do have a couple of questions about this kit (and more generalist), hope you can help ;)
So, 1st question is: can we use this crew for the Tamiya 35017 kit (the older 88mm gun, the one I'm building for my Cassino dio) ?
Or, and this is a 2nd question, is there any major difference on the uniforms (apart from the guy wearing typical DAK shorts, of course), and mainly the helmets, used by the DAK and those used by the Western Front Whermacht?
Notice that I think it would be ok to use a Luftwaffe crew for my 88mm in my Cassino dio, why not (obviously changing the uniform colors)? I think there were Luftwaffe guys fighting at Cassino (not sure tho) .
Any thoughts on this?
Again many thanks, mate!
Cheers!
Hi mate, so to the first question. Apart from a couple of updated parts, apparently there is no significant difference between the older Tamiya 88mm and the newer released 88mm. So you don't have any issues with that.
As for the 2nd question. Your 88 would still be operated by Luftwaffe troops, subordinated to a Wehrmacht unit (during Operation Barbarossa there were around 50 Luftwaffe Flak units deployed, subordinated to the Wehrmacht at Corps or Army level). And the Wehrmacht did authorise "Afrika Korps" tropical uniforms for use by other troops in the overall mediterranean theatre, like Sicily and Italy. Plus, of course, they also had captured Italian uniforms as well. So you can mix and match for variety using your DAK colour, Feld Grau, or almost any shade of either, since there was quite variety of shades depending on the maker, washing and fading from the sun.
Variety is the spice of life. And also adds interest to the scene.
Hope this helps. Cheers Mate!
@@PetesKits Thanks mate!
Yes, you told me before, that there's no major difference between the old Tamiya 88mm and the newer release, I got that. What I'm interested in is the differences between the actual two crews, the one coming with the old release and this one. I guess we can use this one with the old Tamiya kit (and the main reason being because I'm not having the gun in firing mode, so the older crew, except maybe for a couple of guys, including the motorcyclist, is not really the right one to use). This crew seems to fit better the "not in firing position" attitude I plan to depict.
Now, my question is if the uniforms on this new crew can be painted as a Western/Mediterranean Front (Italy in this case) crew. Or do they have any particular features that were only used by the DAK?... Not sure...
And what about the helmets, are they the same used by the Whermacht? Maybe it's just me but there seems to be something a bit different with these ones?...
Another question is about a couple of accessories: the telescope, is it exactly the same as the one supplied for the older crew on the older 88mm release? What about the Rangefinder, is it exactly the same as on the older crew? For instance, I don't remember seing a Rangefinder Mount Case on the older kit/crew.
I'm not sure if on the older kit there are those pieces 8 and 9, as on this new one...
The ammunition boxes seem different (I know because I've just assembled the ones coming with the older kit/crew :)
On the other hand I noticed there's indeed quite a lot of mold lines on this new crew (I haven't started my figures for the old kit yet, so I may be wrong, but from a quick overview they don't seem to have as much pronounced mold lines/flash, as these ones seem to have, am I right?), but then again old generation modelers are used to do a lot of cleaning, so not really a big deal :)
Yes, I know quite a few different units fought on Cassino, Whermacht, Fallschirmjäger, Luftwaffe, Panzer and Motorized units... not sure if any had shorts like those used by the DAK (and the 3rd Battle having taken place between March 15 and March 22 I think it was cold for wearing shorts :)) .
But maybe some coming from the DAK still had their North African uniforms (except for the shorts), same colors, etc, IDK...
Guess I still need to do more research on that ;)
Thanks again, mate!
Keep up with these great reviews!
Cheers!
can be painted as a Western/Mediterranean Front (Italy in this case) crew
@@bluelight3183 Hi mate. Okay got it. The DAK uniforms had no special features outside of the "tropical" style, so they're fine for Sicily/Italy use. The helmets are slightly different. The new ones seem to be slightly narrower than the old but this is purely a new moulding thing, not an actual real world feature.
As for the actual figures, yes, the DAK crew are more at the setting up stage, with only one figure who looks to be seated at the gun (but not operating it), where as the old crew have 3 figures in firing position.
The DAK rangefinder is a new moulding with the shoulder support framework, as against the old one which is purely hand held. Most photos I've seen show the rangefinder in use without the support frame. The rangefinder case, in the DAK crew, is just for the support frame. The actual rangefinder was stored in a solid wooden braced box when not in use.
The stereo binoculars are new for the DAK crew set, and would probably be used by the section leader/commander.
And yes, the wicker ammo containers are slightly different. The moulding is finer, with better detail, and less pronounced longitudinal bracing, which you can notice side by side, but overall the older ones are still fine.
Yes, there is a fair bit of mould line to clean up on these new DAK figures, much more so than on the older crew, which is kinda disappointing for a new Tamiya kit, but with figures you're always going to have a bit of clean up anyway.
The tropical uniform used in Sicily/Italy wasn't much different than the DAK used, including the Reed Green colour jackets etc.
Most of the DAK didn't make it out of Tunisia, being captured along with their Italian counterparts. Overall Axis P.O.W.'s numbered around 275,000, mostly Italian. Rommel wanted to evacuate the DAK so they could fight in Italy. Hitler said no. And then the Allies cut off all shipping/transport routes in and out, and they were trapped.
Okay, so hoped this cleared a few things up for you. Glad to help anytime.
Cheers mate!
@@PetesKits Hi Pete! Thanks a lot for your detailed response, it helps a lot! I guess I'm ordering this new set, the DAK crew, and then see by myself which ones I may be using for the Cassino dio. And definitely both the Rangefinder and the Telescope seem indeed to be a better option. Same for the ammo boxes.
It's not an expensive set (less than 10€ here), so I'm probably ordering it.
Again many thanks, mate!
Cheers!
Yep, I ordered this new Tamiya kit, it looks fine, and it should work for my Cassino dio. Even if I have to use some of the figures (and especially some of the new accessories that look better than the older ones) from the newer kit, and some from the older kit, I guess that's ok.
And maybe some changes will be needed, IDK, will see.
As for the uniforms (colors), I'll have to do some more research in order to find if there were DAK guys fighting in Cassino. Weren't some units transferred from the North African Front to the Mediterranean Front (Italy) before the DAK surrendered in Tunisia (Panzer units, for instance)? I think I've read about that somewhere before, as I say will have to do some more serious research...
Thanks a lot once again, mate!
Cheers!
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