„PaK 38“ – the German antitank 5 cm caliber cannon

The 5 cm "PaK 38" anti-tank gun was constructed in 1938 at the German factory "Rheinmetall - Borsig" AG in Düsseldorf. But serial production started only at the end of 1940. At the time of the invasion шт the USSR there were 1064 copies of this cannon in the service of the German Wehrmacht. 9568 units were produced in 1939 - 1943 (2 units in 1939, 388 units in 1940, 2072 units in 1941, 4480 units in 1942, 2626 units in 1943). One cannon cost 10,600 reichsmarks. 2677 kg of iron, 3.8 kg of chromium, 0.3 kg of tin, 3.35 kg of copper, 80.8 kg of aluminum, 0.47 kg of zinc, 5 kg of nickel, 35.1 + 0.07 kg of rubber needs for it producing, it took 1,800 working hours to produce. Polygon tests with trophy Soviet tanks showed, that the personnel of these guns had a lot of problems, when firing at the sharply inclined frontal armor plates of T-34 tanks - these tanks were easily hit from other sides. In order to improve these characteristics, the production of 5 cm caliber Pzgr 40 armor-piercing shells with tungsten filling inside began and continued until 1944. In 1943 the production of these cannons was stopped due to the fact, that better cannons "PaK 40" (7.5 cm caliber) and "PaK 43" (8.8 cm) began to be released in series. During the war several types of self-propelled artillery units were armed with this type of cannon.

A well-designed and well-detailed model of medium complexity for intermediate and experienced modelers, but under the supervision of a more experienced colleague, it can be easily assembled by the beginner and advanced modeler.