introduction

This is a basic accessory set designed to accompany any model kit using the 7.5cm PaK40 gun. It is inexpensive and useful, and I hadn't seen it reviewed on this site before.
The 7.5cm PaK40 was used individually as an anti-tank gun or mounted in a variety of vehicles, including the Marder II/III, Hetzer, StuG Ausf.F-G, Pz. IV and the Sd.Kfz 251/22. AFV Club makes an accessory set to accompany the anti-tank gun and vehicle sets to add a few extra parts for interest or dioramas. I purchased this set to go with their 251/22, also reviewed on this site.

the kit

The kit comes in a small box with box art depicting the kit contents, consisting of thee round ammo boxes, single round canisters, individual rounds and spent shell casings. The instructions are printed on the back of the box and show the three part assembly for the canisters and two part assembly for the ammo boxes. It also provides a painting guide for the above items, as well as four types of 7.5cm round and the empty shells. It also shows decal placement. A painting guide is provided for GSI Creos, Humbrol, Revell and Life Color paints. Paint colors used are German Gray, Dark Yellow, Steel, Flat Black, Brass, Wood Brown, Dark Green and Red.

The kit itself consists of three identical sprues, with each sprue containing 36 parts. Each sprue has parts for six ammo canisters, three ammo boxes, four empty shell casings and two each of the four different rounds. There is also a small decal sheet with markings for the ammo boxes and three of the ammo types.

The plastic is AFV Clubs common olive colored styrene, which I have found to be soft but brittle. Mold seams are very fine. There was a small amount of flash visible on the canister parts.

The canisters have delicate clamps and handles molded on. There will be a small glue seam visible when the parts are assembled but it was very fine and easily cleaned up. The empty shell casings will need to be hollowed out for best visual effect, and the bases are flat as well, and will need some careful shaping for the primer to be shown. The four different types of ammo are all carefully molded as well, with the end of the brass shell casing and the round heads clearly defined. The three ammo boxes have a wood grain texture molded to the top surface. The lower box halves each have two small ejector pin parks on each end on the handle area. They are very shallow. As any filler would have to be sanded away, it is just as easy to sand them off with no filler. The plastic is thin and the boxes can be shown open, but spacers would have to be scratch built for the rounds to sit on.

The decal sheet has printing for the ammo boxes in black and white ink to allow for the boxes to be shown either in wood or flat black finish. There are 7 decals for each of the three rounds requiring them, so you have an extra in case you ruin one. The decal film appears to be thin and my experience with AFV Club decals is that they go on well. However, in my sample the decal sheet was firmly attached to the protective tissue paper insert. I tried to remove it carefully, but almost all of the decals have some paper fiber attached to them and I don't know if they are still good. This was the only disappointing thing about the kit.

conclusion

This is a simple accessory that can go with a wide range of kits. It is simple to work with and the end result is very nice. I recommend it to anyone looking to add a little extra to a suitable modeling project.

Russ is using the accessory set on his AFV Club "Sd.Kfz.251/22 Ausf.D Pakwagen."
For a review of that kit click HERE