Scratchbuilt 28mm WEX Flammenwurfer

 

       Wechselapparat (WEX) was introduced in 1916 to replace the much heavier and less user-friendly Klief version. The WEX was light enough to be carried and used by one man (although two were normally assigned the job). While not specifically designed to be used against tanks it could be quite effective if the operator could get close enough to land the jet on the top of the vehicle.. Thus my 28mm tank hunters needed one.

 

first order of business was to grab some BBs for the small pressure tank, 

next was to make the larger circular tank, I made several in slightly different sizes 

simple balls of clay squished flat and the BB stuck in the center

 

back to Frankenstien's lab! we start chopping up arms to get the right position,

 this is the left arm from the MG08/15 pair

 

first the bipod has to go

 

then the hand is cut off (behind the cuff of the sleeve) 

and rotated 90 degrees to hold the flame projector

 

this arm is in the right position but is currently busy holding a Gew-98

 

that is a simple thing to solve

 

this hand is also rotated 90 degrees and glued back on

 

both arms are attached to the torso to check to ensure

 that they are positioned correctly to be cradling the flame projector

 

more stretched sprue bits and bobs;  the bit on the left is the control valve made of two bits of sprue glued at right angles with a tiny disc of sliced sprue as the vale handle, next a curled bit of thin sprue for the hose, and last a long narrow bit with a thicker section added to the end as the flame projector

 

a spot of superglue to attach the canister, then the valve gets added to the lower left and the flame projector is glued into the models hands

 

I used the smallest of the examples that I had made, it is about 3/8" across

 

I can't say that I'm truly happy with how the hands worked out

 

once everything was dry I added the hose to connect the tank

 with the rear end of the flame projector

 

it won't win any modelling competitions but it does the job as a wargaming toy

       Now it is time to get down to business and paint them all!