Misc: 88mm Flak Madness

MORE FLAK 88 STUFF!

Since recently building a Hasegawa 1/72 Flak 36, and buying the Haynes 'manual' on this famed WWII workhorse (in its several types), I've kind of gone a bit nuts for the 88mm! I just bought another Hasegawa 1/72 kit, this time the Flak 18 variant, and a second 1/76 Airfix kit. The plan is to build these sans armoured shield.

Two new big guns...

One detail that emerged from studying the Haynes manual on the 88, was the absence on most 1/72 or 1/76 kits of any 'erdpfahl', or stakes, on the articulated side legs/arms of the cruciform gun mounts. I need to check, but I think the Zvezda 1/72 models might have them. Certainly the Airfix and Hasegawa don't. A desire to scratch-build these little doodads - used to help cope with gun recoil - perhaps even to batch-produce some in resin, is thus born! 

The erdpfahl, or stakes, are labelled in this German diagram.

Erdpfahl are 'trefoil', three-lobed/winged; part 8, the distinctive holed fins (AFV Club 1/35 PE).

Interest in other details, such as the presence or absence of the crew shield, and how that's mounted (the Zvezda is the best of the kits I've made so far by a long way, in this latter respect), or the rolls of cable on the bogies, and how these facilitate the communications wiring of the guns electronics, starts to rumble into life. Details like the sextant, dials and fuse-calibrator all start to seem more important.

And then there's the issues of deployment and transport: on or off the bogeys? And how about guns with recoil, or mid-firing? What about prime-movers, or guns mounted on vehicles, or even buildings? And how about the 128mm or even 150mm cousins of the 88mm? And I still haven't addressed my latent desire to sculpt my own crews*... This hobby certainly taps right into an obsessional part of the nervous sytem, no doubt about it!

The short video above, with a primitive but effective soundtrack added, uses archival WWII footage (much of which is also colourised) to show the 88mm in action. Fascinating! It leaves me wanting to convert at least one model so as to give it recoil, or depict it in the firing/recoil state.

* I ordered a resin casting kit from a company called Sylmasta.com, with a view to making various parts, like the erdpfahl, some ammo, and perhaps even some crew figures.

Book Review: Haynes, Flak 88 Owners' Workshop Manual - Chris McNab

I recently bought and built a 1/72 Flak 36 88mm gun, by Hasegawa. Looking at that and my other 88s, one an Airfix 1/76, the other a Zvezda 1/72, I felt a hankering for further knowledge. A quick look online revealed the existence of this Haynes 'Owners' Workshop Manual' title. Looking around for the best deal, I found The Works had new copies for just £7. So I shoe-horned a trip to the Huntingdon branch into our daily round yesterday, and bagged my swag.

Funnily enough on perusing the photographs I found that there were many that I'd already hoovered up in my online quest for ref, whilst building the Hasegawa kit. But no matter, I prefer having these images in print to looking at them digitally. There are, of course, also lots of images I didn't have. Although actually I do have lots of photos uncannily similar to the Muckleborough images to be found here, from my own trip to that terrific collection.

At this point, although I've dipped into the text - especially as and when I've chanced on stuff that tickles my interest - I've mostly used this excellent book as a purely visual aid. An invaluable source of reference and detail, it's sheer unadulterated fun just perusing it, and a font of inspiration for detailing and colour schemes, etc.

A typical spread, packed with useful images and info'.

Some little details that I've discovered or learned more about, thanks to this book, include: the stakes (extra precautions against movement/recoil) attached to the folding legs; the numerous types of shells and their containers (I particularly like the wicker boxes); crew size/roles; the electronic gizmos; the sextant, tools, toolboxes and the jack (for removing the trailing arms from the bogies); associated radar and other ranging and sighting stuff; the different types of bogies, etc. 

I'm left wanting to both build more of this fascinating gun, and to better detail the models I already have. The three I've made so far all have the shield. I fancy having a similar 'unit' without the shield. And it'd be nice to have some deployed off their bogies, and some on them. Yet others could be on their bogies but in transportation mode. Then there are the prime movers. And it'd be nice to have a few oddments like searchlights, acoustic locators, stuff like the Kommandogerät 36, etc.

Anyway, my first Haynes WWII manual, but not my last, methinks. Love it!