Flak 41

by: Steve Faxon

This project started when I went looking for reference material to detail the Bandai Nashorn. During my search I came across some interesting photo’s of the wheeled version of the 88 PaK 43/41 anti tank gun. I decided that it would make for a nice diorama and off to research the PaK gun I went. One of the many books I bought was the OSPREY New Vanguard book “88mm FlaK 18/36/37/41 and PaK 43 1936-45”. While thumbing through the book the FlaK 41 caught my attention. I have been armor building for 20 years and was plenty familiar with the FlaK 18, 36 and 37 but I’d never paid much attention to the 41 version. One of the things I tend to do is “theme” model. For instance in the past there were the Grumman fighters, the planes of the Red Baron, all the different Panther versions, Tigers etc. This seems to keep me motivated and helps me actually finish kits. So, why not build the 88mm FlaK and Pack guns? So off I went to start gathering enough info to scratch build the PaK 43, Pak 43/41 and the Flak 41. I had enough Bandai Flak kits to do the 18, 36 and 37. I recently bought the QUARTER KIT Flak 36/37 and bashed it with a Bandai kit to make the 36 and 37 kits. (more to come on those later) Like I mentioned in my brief notes on building the PaK 43, there is really not much readily available in good technical drawings for any of the models I was attempting to scratch build. Then it hit me, why not buy the 1/35 kits and use them to scale down from. Not only has someone else done all the research work already, but I would have 3D patterns to build from. The only FlaK 41 kit in 1/35 is from CROMWELL models, and it is a dandy. I built the 1/48 model following the CROMWELL instructions for the most part. It is 3 basic sub assemblies. The cruciform base, the gun and the carriage.

 CRUCIFORM

 The main cruciform was made from laminated layers of styrene as are the outriggers. I made only one leveling pad and one sonder trailer mounting  hook. Then I used RTV to make molds and cast the 4 pieces of each needed for the model from resin. The stakes are from a Bandai FlaK kit. Some grant line bolts and bits here and there detailed the rest of the cruciform. 

GUN 

The gun breech is laminated EVERGREEN strip stock. The lever is styrene strip and rod, and lots of bits from the scrap box help detail the rest of the breech. The barrel was made by using the QUARTER KIT FlaK 36 as a master, RTV for a mold and then casting up a couple in resin. Then both ends were chopped and stretched to get the very long barrel of the 41. The gun cradle started as a old unidentified kit part from a 1/35 A.T. gun but it was close to what I needed. I used strip to build it up to the proper dimensions and detailed it with bits of strip where necessary. The recuperators are from styrene tube and rod. The two large carriage mounts were made by building a styrene master, RTV molds and then casting 2 for the left and right side. This is a slight time saver but better yet you get two identical parts. Again lots of bits from strip stock and the spares box finish up the details.

CARRIAGE 

This took the most time for obvious reasons. It is made mostly from strip, rod and sheet styrene. The gun sight is from a Bandai FlaK kit. The 4 seats were cast from resin using a STOK-VERLINDEN seat from a 3.7 FlaK kit. The traverse and elevation wheels were cast resin as well. The shields were cut from styrene sheet and once again many small parts like hinges, latches etc were made from small bits of styrene and items from the scrap box. 

FINAL ASSEMBLY

 I built the kit as stated earlier following the CROMWELL instructions. This allowed me to build the kit as a functioning kit. The gun would traverse 360 degrees and elevate to 90 degrees. This helped during construction of the sub assemblies to check proper fit. Also  some painting was done prior to the final assembly which was pretty straight forward. The cruciform had a small styrene rod for a swivel pin and the carriage had a receiving hole. The gun was mounted to the carriage with two styrene pins on the the left and right sides and after some touch up paint to these pins final painting started.  

I think the things that really assist me most in these projects is a very well stocked shelf of EVERGREEN strip, rod, tube and sheet styrene. This means I can work on a lot of projects without having to travel to the “local” hobby shop 30 miles from my home. Also I have a huge spare parts box. The next scratch build is the Schiffskanone,or Unterseebootlafette C/35. And even though not really related to the 88 Flak and Pak’s, it is an 88!