COBI 8.8 cm Flak 18 Set 3141

COBI's 8.8 cm Flak 18 in Afrika Korps colours is a 1:35 model built from 232 blocks, 19 cm long, on its cruciform mount in desert sand. The barrel elevates, the mount turns through 360 degrees and the outriggers fold. A Luftwaffe artilleryman in tropical uniform is included with three brick shells, an ammunition crate and a white collector's plaque. No stickers.

Why the 88 mattered most in the desert

The 88 was effective everywhere. In North Africa it was decisive, and the reason is the ground.

The desert has no cover and no horizon-blocking terrain. Sightlines run for kilometres, which suits a gun with a very flat trajectory and a shell that arrives fast — and ruins any tank whose own gun is only good at close range. British tanks in 1941 and 1942 mostly carried the 2-pounder, effective to perhaps 500 metres. An 88 dug in behind a low rise could engage them at two kilometres and keep firing while they closed.

Rommel's standard method followed from that: draw the British armour forward with his own tanks, then pull back over a ridge with a line of 88s waiting behind it. It worked repeatedly against opponents who knew exactly what was happening and had no answer to it.

In the COBI range

Set 3140 is the same gun in European grey with its transport trailer. Set 3143 pairs a Flak 36 with the Sd.Kfz. 8 tractor that towed it.

Specifications

Pieces: 232 · Figures: 1 · Scale: 1:35 · No stickers
Model dimensions: 19 × 14.5 × 7 cm (7.5 × 5.7 × 2.8 in)