introduction

Here we will take a closer look at Armorscale’s new aftermarket accessory kit, #B35-013, or the 128mm Pak 44L/55, Gun Barrel for German Tank Hunter Jagdtiger (late model). For readers who are not yet familiar with Armorscale, they are a new company from Poland who are currently concentrating on producing quality aftermarket accessory kits for various model subjects in 1/35 and 1/72 scale. Their A/M kits include any or all of the following materials, depending on the model subject: finely turned aluminium barrels, machined brass gun barrels, machined brass parts, cast resin accessories, and photo-etch brass parts.

inside the bag

This kit comes to you in a heavyweight Ziploc style bag, with card style packaging; decorated with Armorscale’s logo and slogan (which I think is very creative), “Real Armour For Real Models”…that says it all! Inside the bag you will find simply but respectively, the two and only parts of this A/M kit. A sheet of OD coloured cardboard protects the pieces, and behind this you will find the kit’s instruction sheet.

The kit’s parts consist of the following: A finely turned aluminium barrel, and a cast resin mantlet. The turned aluminium barrel supplied in the kit is very smooth, well machined, with nearly no apparent machining marks present. The barrel comes complete with a hollow muzzle opening, and if you look closely inside you will see tiny rifling grooves machined on the inside of the barrel. Overall the turned barrel is very good, and will upscale most Jagdtiger subjects.
The resin mantlet is equally as good, with lifting rings moulded onto it, and a really cool “metal cast” look texture to the resin that will finish up very realistic.

The resin piece is well moulded, fine detailed, with no pesky air bubbles in the casting, flash or apparent imperfections. The casting lug that it is still attached separated easily with only a slight amount of cleanup necessary.

There is also a one-page one sided instruction sheet with the kit, colours to use, and explanations of construction in both blow-up drawings and text in two languages. The base model subject pictured is the Dragon Models Late Jagdtiger version, but this kit will most likely adapt to any 1/35 scale late model Jagdtiger. There is a detail drawing included for the adaptation to the Dragon subject, with proper revisions explained for proper fit.

The turned barrel fits tightly and smoothly inside the mantlet with no gaps around the barrel mount, and alignment was very simple with this sample. The company suggests using cyanoacrylate adhesive (superglue) for joining the metal to resin parts.

in conclusion

All in all, this simple but effective A/M kit from Armorscale that does what it promises to do. The detail and looks are great, the quality of the machine work and manufacturing is top notch, and it’s good value for money. Definitely recommended.


Many thanks to Armorscale for providing this review sample.