I got this kit on clearance sale from squadron a few years back for a few bucks. It sat in my stash, but recently figured that I would pull it out as a quick simple build… boy was I wrong…[bnghead]
This sucker has been an exercise in over engineering frustration. I think they thought they were trying to build the real weapon in 1.35 scale… separate receiver, barrel and barrel collar parts, spade grips are one for each handle, charging lever a separate piece… pintle left and right halves plus elevation knob, windage lever, and a few other parts, the tripod- two center parts, separate two piece legs, optional carrying handle bars…[:@] I still have a few more items that need to be added to the tripod, plus the ammunition clip to the side of the receiver…
tripod
pintle/traverse & elevation unit
machine gun (w/o ammo clip)
and all placed together
Maybe I would not be so frustrated if the detail was more crisp and pronounced, and the fit not so haphazard, but seriously I have seen 1970s vintage stuff with better molded in detail…
You are not kidding guys! As soon as I opened the box to look at the sprues the warning bells went off in my head… But this is a huge red flag on that Maquette ( I think) Dshk HMG I later picked up… same concept of a kit…
Stik, personally I think you did a heck of a job on a dog of a kit! From Slime Green madness to Gunmetal Cool!! It looks nice next to your sweet Chi Ha! All you need is some figures to go with it!
Which is pretty prominent with these, as there is a oiling pad above the feed slot to lube the cartridges.
The metal just above the feed tray is a little bit darker from having absorbed all that oil–but, it’s more shiny, too, which kind of makes it an either/or for the modeler.
The cooling fins on these, up sloce always seem darker than the barrel–Burnt Iron to Oily Black, but scale effect would negate that a bit. They do all seem to have a highlight on the those fins, the sort of thing a rub with a pencil lead would render–but, it’s a very skinny highlight.
The ammo for this had a gausey muslin carrier, but the smart people tell me the Japanese troopers nearly universally used the wooden box loaded with ammo in it’s 40 round feeding strips.
For the seriously curious, the full-up squad for one of these is a gunner, the a-gunner, and three riflemen, with all of those designated as ammo bearers. If one notes the tubes on the front legs of the tripod, doctrine was that the MG squad would also keep track of a couple 2m wood or bamboo poles. if the MG needed to displace, the riflemen would come in, set the poles through, police up all the ammo, and then they, and the gunner on the back tripod leg, would pick the piece up entire and race to the new location.
The moniker “woodpecker” came from the steady rate of fire from the MG, with the pauses as more ammo strips were fed in.
The kit actually comes with the handles for the squad to carry it, two seperate ones for the forelegs, and a twin handled piece for the rear legs, an alternate pintle for an AA mounting, and a few odds and ends accessories. I will see if I can come up with an appropriate color for the oiler portion of the feed tray cover.
It looks great Stik! With armor, aircraft and ships the “sexy” thing it is nice to see something as simple as a crew served automatic weapon getting a little time in the limelight…wait, is that why the kit plastic was that color? It is the limelight?
Thank you guys. I think the engineer(s) for this kit went thru the AFV/DML model engineering school. Why mold it in one piece when it can be done in three to five pieces? But in the long run I am happy with this little pecker (pun intended) and will add it to my growing IJA collection here. Now if I can get a real deal on all those Fine Molds IJA kits I keep eyeballing…
Good thing you stuck with it though, can’t let the woodpecker get you down! [;)]
