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Zvezda

Set 6257

German Anti-Tank Gun PaK 40

Click for larger image
All figures are supplied unpainted    (Numbers of each pose in brackets)
Stats
Date Released 2015
Contents 3 figures and 1 gun
Poses 3 poses
Material Plastic (Very Hard)
Colours Grey
Average Height 25 mm (= 1.8 m)

Review

The PaK40 must be about the most modelled of all the guns in military modelling, and this site alone reviews quite a few of those. This is hardly surprising as it was one of the most important guns of the War and the standard German anti-tank gun of the second half, but until this product was released it was absent from the Art of Tactic game range. Now it is here, and an impressive model it is too. Many models of the PaK40 are greatly simplified, but this one is highly detailed and takes quite a while to put together, making it one of the best in this scale. Everything looks authentic to us, and as always the engineering of the model is beautiful, with almost no need for glue anywhere.

Zvezda provide a decent three crew figures to serve their gun, which are not shown to their best in our photo. Instead they need to be seen in situ, arrayed around the gun on the provided base, as shown here. As you can see, one man is operating the gun while another views the results and a third is ready with a shell. All are great poses, and unlike many kits they are very much interacting with their gun. Both the commander and the man with the shell are resting on the trails, and all the poses are natural and very well thought out. The price of such great poses is that they are all made up of several pieces, but again they fit together very well and easily. The uniform is the classic early-war one, with smart tunic, uncovered helmet and long boots. The gun was only introduced in very late 1941, so soon after this the smart uniform would start to give way to more practical, camouflaged designs, and of course when in service in Russia the cold also greatly affected the appearance of the men. Nevertheless an apparent too neat appearance is the only criticism we could have of these figures, so no accuracy problems.

A great gun and a lovely set of crew figures. There are no separate bases for the figures, but when arrayed as intended they make a lovely-looking model. While there is already a flood of model PaK40s in the model world, this is one of the best, and those looking for a high-quality model for their armies, and have the time to put them together, will find this is definitely a candidate.

Further Reading
Books
"German Artillery at War 1939-45 Vol.1" - Concord (Armor at War Series No.7059) - Frank De Sisto - 9789623611435
"German Artillery of World War Two" - Greenhill - Ian Hogg - 9781853672613
"Hitler's Anti-Tank Weapons 1939-1945" - Pen & Sword (Images of War) - Hans Seidler - 9781526749833
"The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II" - Amber - Chris Bishop - 9781905704460
"The German Army 1939-45 (3) Eastern Front 1941-43" - Osprey (Men-at-Arms Series No.326) - Nigel Thomas - 9781855327955
"The German Army 1939-45 (4)" - Osprey (Men-at-Arms Series No.330) - Nigel Thomas - 9781855327962

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