James McFarlane [ JAMESITE ] reviews the ''PAK 97/38 AT Gun with Servants'' kit from Italeri. Read on to find out how the classic Italeri kit measures up. Thanks James.



PAK 97/38 AT Gun with Servants

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Thanks for the review!

Isn't this a rebox of the old DML kit? (Eduard makes a pe set for that one.)
Here's a good walkaround of the gun:
http://svsm.org/gallery/75mm_pak-97-38
IIRC this gun was also issued to Luftwaffe Feld divisions.

No. The lizard's kit is a bit better detail wise. However, unlike the Italeri kit, the lizard's does not come with the castor wheel or a gunsight. And, like the Italeri kit, you have to drill out the pepperpot muzzle brake.

Chris "toadman" Hughes
Toadman's Tank Pictures

As James says in his review, I think this is a bit of a "pot noodle" of a kit, using bits & pieces Italaeri had lying around. If the figures are the same as the old 75mm howitzer kit, they do indeed date back to the 70's, & they were originally Esci (rather like the Italeari "new release" Sturmtruppen & Rest Area). Though old they aren't absolutely awful, but interestingly from the painting point of view, the original Esci box showed them in the Heer splinter pattern camo (there was a Heer smock, but it had an attached hood & it did not have elasticated cuffs). The new kit box is wrong in every respect, the front shows the M1944 "pea pattern" suit, this is not what the figures are wearing. They wear the interesting mix of early camo smock & gaiters. The back is pure fantasy, so anyone buying this kit & intending to keep the figures needs to do their research.
It's not completely impossible that this gun was used by SS troops; even the first line units got some "transient" equipment up to 1942(e.g. the original Marder III with the 76.2mm Russian A/T gun). There were plenty of second line SS units which used a lot of captured material (e.g."Prinz Eugen"& "Politzei" which were never first rate, & the Eastern European Volunteer Legions). The units raised later in the war did much of their training on obsolete or foreign weaponry (I have seen photos of "Hohenstaufen" training on Russian or Czech(?) howitzers, which have to be drawn by the men themselves!), before being issued with the latest German equipment for combat.

Hi guys, glad you liked the review, its my first so great to get some feedback.

Firstly thanks to Henk for posting it and being patient with my e-mail server that refused to send the attached pics!

Marc, I think Chris cleared up that it is different to the DML kit. From what I have seen, the DML Eduard PE set should work with this gun. However you'd be better off with the Eduard set for the Pak 38 as it will fit this kit better and almost all the parts for both sets are for the shield and carridge and so leave the barrel untouched.
Thats a great walkaround you posted, and the same I used to asess this kit.

Steve, thanks for the info. I think we can safely say that anyone wanting to depict this gun with a crew is better off buying a different set of figures!

I have done some construction on the gun scince the review and can say that it will build up ok with some TLC. I decided against a PE set and instead detailed it with spare PE and other bits. I filed down the sheild to scale thickness, and while time consuming and awkward in places, this does give a good final impression. PE rivets and catches were used to detail the inside of the sheild from an Aber Pak 40 kit, and I replaced the sight with a DML Pak 40 sight too. I also used copper wire for the 'shield support rods' and to add some other details. Apart from this a bit of filling was required in places. I have not tackled the lower half of the gun (wheels and trail arms) but have painted up a couple of the supplied shells which brush up ok with a bit of work.

This pretty much confirms what I said in my review, with a bit of TLC this will turn out quite nicely, but it won't 'fall-together' as nicely as some other new kits.

Thanks again,

James