Kugelblitz
Posted: 02 Jan 2020, 02:24
Hi Folks,
here's my entry for the AA build, the Cyber Hobby Orange Box Kugelblitz. It's a slightly older kit with new tracks, some figures and two new gun barrels thrown in. I'll try to keep this as simple as possible so that I finally have a chance to finish something in time....
The Kugelblitz was a late-war development armed with twin 30mm MK103 autocannons, each capable of throwing about 400 rounds per minute into the air. These guns were originally developed for fighter aircraft and could bring down heavy bombers like the B-17 with very few hits. The same gun was then adopted for ground use, usually by mounting it in the cradle of the 2cm Flak 38.
The Kugelblitz saw service in the final days of the war, but no in-action photos are known to exist right now. At least one was destroyed in Thuringia in 1945. Parts of the turret and upper hull were recovered on a forested hillside in 1999. In recent years a photo surfaced of what looks like a turretless Kugelblitz in Berlin. The Kugelblitz upper hull was purpose-built to accept a Tiger-sized turret ring and lacks the slanted forward hull roof, which makes it very distinctive among the Panzer IV family.
The kit:
Philipp
here's my entry for the AA build, the Cyber Hobby Orange Box Kugelblitz. It's a slightly older kit with new tracks, some figures and two new gun barrels thrown in. I'll try to keep this as simple as possible so that I finally have a chance to finish something in time....
The Kugelblitz was a late-war development armed with twin 30mm MK103 autocannons, each capable of throwing about 400 rounds per minute into the air. These guns were originally developed for fighter aircraft and could bring down heavy bombers like the B-17 with very few hits. The same gun was then adopted for ground use, usually by mounting it in the cradle of the 2cm Flak 38.
The Kugelblitz saw service in the final days of the war, but no in-action photos are known to exist right now. At least one was destroyed in Thuringia in 1945. Parts of the turret and upper hull were recovered on a forested hillside in 1999. In recent years a photo surfaced of what looks like a turretless Kugelblitz in Berlin. The Kugelblitz upper hull was purpose-built to accept a Tiger-sized turret ring and lacks the slanted forward hull roof, which makes it very distinctive among the Panzer IV family.
The kit:
Philipp