Wednesday, November 17, 2010

German 2.8cm

Another donation from Gerard Davey. This unusual weapon saw service between 1940 and 1943, when production was discontinued owing to a lack of tungsten for its projectiles.

It was apparently fitted to 251/1 half tracks in service on the eastern front.

Seven parts total, manufacturer unknown.

The wheels could be lifted and the weapon fired from the prone position; some sources list it as a heavy anti-tank rifle. It first saw service in the western desert, and was used by a variety of units including paratroopers. Maximum effective range was about 500 yards, it could fire 8-10 rounds per minute. A nice little addition indeed.

7 comments:

  1. This is a nice one. I´ve never seen it as a kit like this. Very interesting.

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  2. You keep on making guns Al, but what about their crews???
    You'll need many many figures to man them! :-)
    Just kidding!
    It looks great!
    T.

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  3. cute little gun,nicely painted.it must be gun month mate,keep them comming.

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  4. This is a much finer rendition of the funny little blobby thing that came in the first version sets of Airfix German Infantry and Afrika Korps!!!

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  5. Thanks boys. Mav, always wondered what that was supposed to be. I've got quite a few crew figures, will feature them at a later date.

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  6. Good looking piece! I love Gun Month!

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  7. Al - It's not that bad (the Airfix one) as it's meant to be depicting the Para-dropable one you've mentioned. Al you need to do is give it tiny little wheels (Airfix Churchill or something like that) on the two blobs coming out of each side of the cheese slice below the shield. Then - to get the seat level again - fix a handle under the seat, like a Y with the upper arms joined (actually - you'd better goggle it! I think it was towed by Kettenkrad's as well as being man-handled, so there may be a complicated tow-hook/'hand'le thing there!!) for pulling it.

    Or...cut the seat/seat-arm and lower cheese slice off, keeping the little disc they both go up to and glue it to a 251/1 instead of the front MG and you have field-modification infantry support/platoon commanders version

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