German 20mm Flak38 Vierling

The 2 cm Flakvierling 38 was a prominent German light anti-aircraft weapon system heavily utilized across all branches of the Wehrmacht during World War II.

Developed by Mauser as an evolution to increase the firepower of the single-barrel Flak 38, the system quad-mounted four 20mm automatic autocannons onto a single unified carriage.

Technical Specifications
• Caliber: 20 mm (firing 20×138mmB ammunition)
• Rate of Fire: Combined theoretical cyclic rate of 1,800 rounds per minute (approx. 450 rpm per barrel). The practical combat rate was roughly 700 to 800 rounds per minute due to reloading needs.
• Maximum Vertical Range: 3,700 meters (with an effective operational vertical envelope of about 2,200 meters against low-flying aircraft).
• Maximum Ground Range: 5,783 meters.
• Muzzle Velocity: 900 meters per second.
• Weight: Approximately 1,514 kg when deployed in its quad configuration.

Operational Mechanics & Ammunition
The gunner operated the Flakvierling by depressing two distinct foot pedals. Each pedal triggered a diagonally opposing pair of barrels (e.g., the right pedal fired the bottom-right and top-left guns). This allowed the weapon to fire in alternating pairs, ensuring a continuous stream of suppressive fire. While one pair of guns was firing, loaders could swap out the spent 20-round box magazines on the opposing pair.
The weapon fired a versatile mix of ammunition types, allowing it to perform a dual role as both an anti-aircraft shield and an effective direct-fire weapon against infantry and lightly armored vehicles. Standard rounds included:
• High-Explosive Fragmentation (HE / HEI)
• Armor-Piercing (AP / APHE)
• Tungsten-cored High-Velocity Armor-Piercing (HVAPI-T)

Variants & Platforms
While initially deployed on a towable triangular platform with a detachable two-wheel trailer (Sd.Ah. 52), the Flakvierling 38 was highly adaptable and rapidly integrated into fixed fortifications, naval decks, and mobile chassis:
• Flakpanzers: It served as the primary armament for dedicated mobile anti-aircraft tanks, most notably the Wirbelwind (built on a Panzer IV chassis) and the Flakpanzer 38(t).
• Half-tracks & Trucks: Frequently mounted on the beds of Sd.Kfz. 7 half-tracks or heavy trucks to provide rolling air defense for armored columns.
• Naval Use: Widespread installation on German Kriegsmarine surface vessels, U-boats, and landing craft as close-in point defense.
• Armored Trains: Standard equipment on German BP42/BP44 defensive armored train configurations.

The model was created based on blueprints, photos and historical documentation. It was created with precision in detail and in real units of measurement to be a faithful digital reproduction of the original. The object has been modeled in Lightwave and finished and texturized in 3DCoat.
LIGHTWAVE 2018 - The model comes with a simple Lightwave 2018 setup scene to animate pitch and heading rotation.
OBJ and FBX - model with UV maps. You may need to reassign textures when open the files with different software.
BLENDER 2.79 - UV model with uv material assigned
The object has two UV maps, each one with color, normal, roughness, metalness and specular textures