SHQ 88mm Flak 18

German Flak 18 88mm

One off the Second World Wars greatest weapons was the Flak 88. It was produced in many versions, initially from a First World War gun. The Flak 18 had a rate of fire of 15 to 20 rounds per minute and was highly accurate. With the Pzgr 40 ammunition it would penetrate- 185mm of armor at 100m and 123mm of armor at 1500m. On several occasions it was the only German field gun capable of penetrating allied armor. In France with the BEF Rommel was forced to mass his guns to stop a British Mitilda counter attack. Latter against the Russian T34 it also proved its worth.

The versions of the guns were Flak 18, 36, 37 & 41 a final version the Flak 37/41 was also produced but only 13 were made due to technical problems. This matted the Flak 37 chassis with the 41 muzzle in an attempt to reduce combat weight.

SHQ have produced a wonderful model, which is easily assembled, even if they forgot to put the instructions in! The model was crisply molded with very little flash. Not shown is the two bogies that are included to convert the vehicle to a towed version. The weapon was only fired with the wheels attached in an emergency. Shown is the 88 gun crew which contains 10 figures. Two seated and 8 standing, although the second seated figure is difficult to attach. The Crew are well sculpted and only one had any flash to speak off. I practically like the crew members carrying the shell boxes and in T shirts.

Click to enlarge pictures

Front View of the 88mm Flak 18	Crew of 88mm Flak 18	Crew Detail

Figures by SHQ painted by D.Wood

VERDICT	QUALITY	VALUE FOR MONEY
A great model to own. This model gives pure punch to your wargames table. I intend to buy more, watch out Ruskies! As for value for money:-You could buy the Airfix kit if you are short of cash, but it is not a patch on the real thing.