Guido Hopp provides an In-box review of the Rheinmetall 12.8cm K44 L/55 Anti-Tank Gun, an upcoming release from Great Wall Hobby which should be hitting the vendors shelves very soon.

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Thanks!

Great review, Guido! I am patiently awaiting the release of this beauty here in the US (or in HK stores). I am sure I'll pick up the update set as well.

Rob

Its on my list!!

So, are you the same dude who has done some excellent build articles on Steel Navy? The German torpedo boat among them, maybe?

I'd love to see you build of this,or other armor.

I did a couple of articles for them indeed, but that was way back. I do a lot more on the Kitmaker Network's own Modelshipswrights or modelwarships.com these days. I am by far not as good an AFV modeller as most of the regulars on armorama are, but I am trying and I come back here for inspiration. I'll be doing a build-up blog as soon as I can get my hands on the add-on set.
Cheers,
Guido

Looking forward to seeing your build blog Guido. I did manage to pre-order the detail set for this gun (from Hobbyeasy) so I'll be getting it pretty soon.

Rob

Is it like a secret whose making this upgrade?

Nope!
It's from GWH/Lion Roar.
Cheers,
Guido

No secret...Now that Great Wall Hobby (a Lion Roar subdivision) does the kits, Lion Roar gets to do the upgrades for what basically amounts to their own kits (although this set has the GWH label). This set includes all the bells and whistles for this gun. Here's a link of it.

Rob

So, next dumb question, what has Dragon got to do with this? They're selling the kit and upgrade. Are they just like an online hobby shop?

Oh, yeah, DragonUSA Online is just a hobby store like any other. They are, I believe, tied to Dragon in some way but I just treat them like any hobby store. I provided the link to their store just because it was easier for me, you know, since their ad is just a click away...

Rob

Hey dude, go sell your shoes somewhere else!

All,

In case you're wondering, the above response was to a spammer who posted ads for shoes here last night. His/her post has obviously been deleted but my remained.

Rob

Guido, a fine review but one question: if a PE upgrade is coming with presumably a turned barrel, is a 95% rating called for? Can someone build this kit OOB and be satisfied with it? In most Dragon kits these days, a turned barrel is included free of charge because styrene just can't rival metal. Do you think this kit will build up into something that doesn't require a turned barrel or extra PE?

Hello, Bill!
You must be something of a journalist wanting to ask one question, but ending up asking three!
Indeed I was pondering a higher rating, but upon looking through a handful of reviews I didn't find a 100% rating even when the reviewer was blown away by the kit. Now this was my first review for armorama, so thought it to be clever to "do as the Romas do". As well, I do not feel comfortable with rating a kit at 100% before actually having built it. You know how many kits look "great-in-the-box", but build more like "pain-in-the-a**".
I plan to start building this one OOB this weekend and find out, if the kit builds up nice without metal barrrel and shield. I have another one on order with the add on set and will do that build some time later this year with the gun in tow behind a GWH Armored sWS.
Anyone know where I can get 12.8cm ammo boxes and rounds?
Cheers,
Guido

I could not really afford the dough, but I bought the kit anyways ..its VERY nice ..and will move to the top strata of my buildpile..I have an idea in mind for a cooker of a diorama..

Seeing as there were only around 50 of these guns produced, they must have been extremely rare on the battlefield. I've never even seen a picture of one in all my resources. Where were they used, on the Eastern Front? It seems to be overkill as the 88 Pak 43 had the power and range to easily knock out JS ll's, and had a better performance than the Russian 122mm gun.

If you do a google search" Rheinmetall 12.8cm anti tank gun pictures" youll find lots of good images...

I love the box art, and this is one very slick looking piece of artillery.. I'm not sure if I'm ready for the soft plastic though.. eh, it'll end up in my stash sooner or later

does anyone have pictures of the ammunition and ammo boxes this gun used?

There were only a couple of prototypes of the full gun produced but none were actually deployed. 50 barrels though were produced and used on captured French and Russian carriages.

This may be of interest to some regarding the kit build
12.8cm K44 L/44 review

Cheers
Terry A

arrrghh....I thought it actually saw service...

Gentlemen-
I should have started that build some time ago, but real life interfered once more. Then I got notice that the add-on was on the way and I decided to wait.
I got the deail set just yesterday: It is a thing of beauty. It replaces the gun shields, the barrel, and the muzzle break. It certainly does help the kit, even though I am convinced that the kit will build nicely enough without the add on.
Anyway, I should find the time to start the build tomorrow. First I'll put together a few words and pics for the News.
Cheers,
Guido

PS.: Look! I got a medal! That's nice! Thanks!