COBI Panzer III Ausf. J - Limited Edition Set 2671

COBI's Panzer III Ausf. J Limited Edition is a 1:28 model built from 1,127 blocks, 30 cm long, in winter camouflage. The turret rotates, the barrel adjusts, the hatches open, a section of armour plating lifts away to show the crew compartment, and the Maybach HL120 TRM engine is removable.

Five figures exclusive to this edition are included: a tank commander in a white winter suit with a choice of officer's cap or Stahlhelm, a German infantryman in a winter greatcoat, a Soviet infantryman with a DP-27 light machine gun, a Soviet sniper with a scoped Mosin-Nagant, and a ski battalion soldier with skis and poles. Diorama accessories include a snow-covered signpost giving the distance to Moscow and to Berlin, a section of railway track, a barricade, barrels, crates and defensive elements. A laser-engraved collector's plate and a numbered certificate signed by COBI's chief executive complete the set.

The German soldier is carrying a Soviet weapon

Look at the German infantryman: white helmet, winter greatcoat, and a PPSh-41 submachine gun. That looks like a mistake. It is not.

German troops on the Eastern Front used captured PPSh-41s in very large numbers, and they preferred them. The MP 40 was always in short supply, and the PPSh had a 71-round drum against the MP 40's 32-round magazine, a simple open bolt that kept working when it was filthy, and a tolerance for cold and grit that German designs did not match.

Germany eventually formalised it. Captured weapons were designated MP 717(r) — the r for russisch — and a number were rebarrelled and modified to take German 9 mm ammunition as the MP 41(r), specifically so that supply would not depend on captured Soviet cartridges.

A soldier in front of Moscow in December 1941 took what worked. COBI has put that on a figure without explaining it, and it is the most historically precise thing in the box.

The signpost

The accessory with the distances to Moscow and Berlin is the whole campaign in one object. Operation Typhoon began in late September 1941 with the intention of taking Moscow before winter. German reconnaissance units got within about twenty kilometres of the city. Then the temperature fell to minus thirty, the offensive stopped, and the Soviet counterattack on 5 December pushed them back.

The tank

The Ausf. J is the version that finally received the long 50 mm KwK 39 L/60 and 20 mm of additional frontal armour. Some were later rearmed with a short 75 mm gun for infantry support. Production ended in mid-1943, when it became clear the turret ring could take nothing larger.

In the COBI range

Set 2289 is the Panzer III Ausf. J at this scale, buildable with either barrel, and 3090 the 1:72 Ausf. L.

Specifications

Pieces: 1,127 · Figures: 5, all exclusive to this edition · Scale: 1:28 · Removable engine and armour section · Numbered plate and signed certificate
Model length: 30 cm (11.8 in)