So what’s better than a 37mm FlaK 43? How about twin FlaK 43s. And how about mounting them in an enclosed, armored turret and mounting them to an armored chassis? In 1943, the German military contractor Rheinmetall-Borsig started designing the Flakpanzer 341 to be just that, an armored, mobile twin 37mm air defense platform. Commonly referred to as the Coelian [Flakpanzer V], the vehicle mounted twin FlaK 43’s in a powered turret which featured the ability to fire near vertical. The turret found itself mounted to a Panther chassis that had been slightly modified. Although the Coelian never made it past a wooden mockup [on actual Panther chassis], several experts over the years have speculated that the design would not have been effective due to the enclosed turret. Many believe that the turret design did not properly allow for the exhaust gasses from the twin 37mm guns to vent.

OK, so the real kit name is Pz.Kpfw.VI Ausf.E Tiger I Initial Production s.Pz.Abt.502 Leningrad Region 1942/43, but I was not going to squeeze that in above. This is another very impressive release from Dragon in 1/72 scale, and as with my other reviews in this scale, the level of detail is on par with what the company does in 1/35 scale. This release also includes a fret of photoetched parts, a length of wire to make tow cables with, and one-piece Dragon Styrene tracks.

Number 173 in Osprey’s NEW VANGUARD series provides a concise history of FRENCH TANKS OF WORLD WAR I. In this soft cover book, author Steven J. Zaloga focuses on the three main tanks developed by France during World War I. In ten chapters, Author Zaloga describes how an innovative military concept was brought to reality, perfected and effectively employed in its intended role, and how the most successful of them soldiered on after the war and on to the brink of WW II.

Both France and Britain conceived and began developing the military tank at about the same time as an effective way of dealing with the virtual battlefield stalemate brought about by trench warfare. The book describes how France was the first to introduce the new weapon into combat and eventually fielded more of them than any other country. In the process, France arrived at a design that would become a standard for future tanks, with armament in a central turret and the engine in the rear.

The Model

The SU-85 is a Russian tank destroyer that has a massive 85-mm gun, and was capable of taking out nearly every foe it came across. The tank did not have a moving turret so it made it easy for the Russians to build. It was powered with a V-2 12-cylinder diesel engine that could reach speeds of 34-mph on rough roads. There were roughly 2,050 destroyers built from 1943 until late 1944. It was mainly used in the battle of Kursk, as well as being heavily used from December 1943 to counter-attack German Panthers and Tiger Tanks.

The Kit

The kit contained 4 bags, one with the main body of the tank, one that contained 4 sprues marked A.B, C, and D, a bag with the tracks, and hardware required. The fourth bag contained 6 Russian soldiers to assemble. The kit also came with Tamiya weathering master for Russian Tanks.

This is the first SU-85 I have ever built, and the first Military vehicle I have built in a very long time.

This kit is listed as “My First Model Kit” and I wanted to get my grandson into modeling, so I thought this should be a good kit to introduce the hobby to my just turned 6 grandson. Well, things did not go as I had hoped. There are no age recommendations on the box, but most of the other kits on the shelf state 8 years old or older even for the snap tight kits. Now I know why. My grandson’s fine motor skills were not developed enough to handle a sprue cutter and his attention span was not long enough even to handle this kit (from start to finish no more than 2 hours). So I ended up finishing the model myself and getting him introduced to the painting and decal portion of the project. Below is listed what was done and how: