Scott Espin reviews Aber's 1/35 scale German StuK.40 L/48 7,5cm Barrel with early model muzzle brake, manufactured for use on the Tamiya and Dragon kits.

Link to Item



If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Thanks for the review Scott, shame about the brass collar not fitting with the base considering the level of detail it would offer.

I was pretty excited about the prospects of using it with my Dragon StuG III Ausf. G Smart Kit, the detail is perfect! I'm hoping the fit issue was just a fluke with my review sample. If anyone else has this set, please let us know if you encountered the same problem with the barrel fit.

Great review, Scott, but what a major booger! I would've given the thing a 50% or worse, since there's no point, as you say, in laying off $25 to have the thing not fit. Can we get a comment from Aber on the fit problem? Someone at Armorama able to contact them and see if they're going to address this?

It's not unheard of, though. I had to return a Lion Roar Tiger I barrel because the muzzle brake assembly would not screw onto the barrel threads. Apparently it had been machined from the wrong direction. I went with Armorscale and never looked back.

Well in that case you could almost argue an even lower score depending on how you look at it. I'd like to see another set, or have someone chime in who has purchased it so we can see if my fit issue was a fluke. If it weren't for the fit problem with the barrel this would be a fantastic set.

Good point on letting Aber know about a possible problem with one of their products, one of the worse things for a business is not getting feedback on something faulty. What makes a company outstanding is how they handle the problems, do they make it right or do they ignore you.

We've, most likely, all purchased kits that have had manufacturing defects, short shots and the like. I've contacted 2 separate companies (both well known manufacturers) on defective parts in recent releases (not some OOP kit), one ignored me and the other had a replacement to my door in under a week. I'm now hesitant to buy from one, and will buy from the other without pause.

Cliff notes:
Give a company the chance to make it right before writing them off completely

James, you make a good point. Given the long wait time, though, to get many of these AM products (LuckyModel.com is STILL OOS on Armorscale radio aerials months after my paying for them), it's human nature to be impatient about these matters. Aber is normally spot-on with their products (I personally prefer their PE upgrades to Eduard by a mile), so this is surprising. Let's hope it's a fluke with someone not paying attention on the production line when maching out the muzzle brake and not a design flaw.

I have had fitting problems on my Tiger-B Armorscale barrel. The forward part of the muzzlebrake only fitted after lengthy sanding and filing of the aft part and the collar which slots down the barrel also had to be filed to be able to be slid down all the way.

So any company can get their hit and their mis.

The Aber Panther barrel I reviewed was perfect construction wise. No problems.