The PaK 38 was introduced in the late 1930s and played a critical role in Germany’s campaigns during the first half of World War II. Even so, there haven’t been many kits of this important antitank gun. The Tamiya 1/35 scale German 5cm Antitank Gun (PaK38) plastic model kit is the first non-self-propelled gun kit produced by the company since the 1970s! It did not disappoint, and is an extremely well-engineered kit with beautiful figures.
First, decide if you want to build the gun in a firing or towed configuration. I chose the latter because I wanted to have mine towed by a SdKfz 251/1 Ausf B already on my shelf.
The instructions are clear and easy to understand, and the parts had little to no seams to clean up. However, this is a small kit with many tiny, delicate parts. When you do have to clean these up, be careful, so you don’t lose or break them. I found this out the hard way when I added the gun shield and its braces. Tamiya has done a great job molding these delicate rods, but I managed to break one. Fortunately, I was able to repair it. You have been warned.
While building the carriage, I mixed up the orientation of the axle (it’s not obvious in the instructions which side is up or down). I don’t think the instructions can be made clearer, and it’s a matter of checking and double checking. Fortunately, I recognized my error soon enough to fix it before the cement set.
The single-piece gun barrel had only a slight mold seam that needed cleaning up. The muzzle brake has one half molded onto the barrel and the other half as a separate piece, making it easy to sand. This was a nice way to engineer the gun to ensure a round barrel.
Interestingly, Tamiya molded the tires as separate slices rather than single parts to provide an accurate tread.
When I had all the subassemblies built, the instructions had me combine them to finish the gun. I joined the trails together for the towing configuration. Tamiya also included extra ammunition canisters and shells, which was a nice touch.
Finally, the four crew members are beautifully molded and have clear locator pins and joins that ensure the torsos, arms, and heads are all positioned correctly. To paint the kit, I used Tamiya colors for the gun. The instructions indicated it was painted in the typical early-war dark gray, but also mentioned yellow-brown for North Africa and dark yellow after 1943. I chose the early war color to match the half-track it would be attached to. I used Vallejo paints on the figures.
The Tamiya 1/35 scale German 5cm Antitank Gun (PaK38) plastic model kit with its figures can easily be built in a weekend. It would be a great way to cleanse the palate after a long, complex build. However, painting will take a while; the four crew figures took me longer to paint (10 hours) than the assembly process (eight hours). I’d recommend it for intermediate builders because of the small, delicate parts. Otherwise, this kit is a dream to build.
Photos by Kyle Nelson