1/72 (20mm) Italeri PaK 40 Anti-Tank Gun & Walls and Ruins

 

I finished building and painting my second PaK 40 anti-tank gun and the Walls and Ruins terrain set. Both kits are produced by Italeri and are in the 1/72 (20mm) scale.

 

 

 

 

 

The successor of the 5cm PaK 38 anti-tank gun, the 7.5cm Pak 40 (Panzerabwehrkanone 40) entered service in 1942; by the end of the war, Germany had produced 23,303 PaK 40s.  The research into the Pak 40 started in 1939, when Berlin received intelligence reports of new Soviet tank designs, featuring tanks with better armour.  Italeri produces a soft plastic PaK 40 set with a crew of six manning the anti-tank gun.

 

 

 

PaK 40 anti-tank gun sprue: side 1

 

PaK 40 anti-tank gun sprue: side 2

 

 

 

I learnt from the mistakes I made building the previous PaK 40 anti-tank gun and made the necessary corrections when building this model.  I made the decision to omit the crewman mounting the anti-tank gun’s leg.  This decision was due to the fact this figure was noticeable smaller than the other crew members; thus, I felt this figure would appear ‘out of scale’ on the finished model.

 

 

 

PaK 40 anti-tank gun: side 1

 

PaK 40 anti-tank gun: side 2

 

 

 

While I painted the crew of the previous PaK 40 anti-tank gun in the Eichenlaubmuster (Oak Leaf A) style of camouflage (a camo pattern used exclusively by the Waffen-SS), I painted the crew of this PaK 40 in the Splittermuster (Splinter pattern) style of camouflage.  Therefore, while the crew of the first PaK 40 are Waffen-SS, the crew of this PaK 40 are part of the regular German Army (Heer).

 

Italeri produces several 1/72 scale terrain pieces, which includes the Walls and Ruins set.  This set is comprised of two sprues and could be built in various configurations or added to other terrain sets.

 

 

Walls and Ruins sprues: side 1

 

Walls and Ruins sprues: side 2

 

 

 

I used the examples on the box set when putting together the ruined buildings and battled damaged walls (perhaps, if I purchase a second set, I will take a more creative approach).  I did, however, use the individual sandbags to build up the existing sandbags walls, adding a greater level of height to the walls.

 

 

 

Walls and Ruins (1)

 

Walls and Ruins (2)

 

Walls and Ruins (3)

 

 

 

The photos below are ‘test shots’ for my upcoming World War 2 miniatures site.