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1/700 Water Cooled Browning .50cal MG |
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Reviewed
by Martin J Quinn |
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| Kraken Hobbies has sent along another one
of their new products for review. This one is the 1/700 Water
cooled Browning .50 cal MG set. The .50cal machine gun - whether
the water cooled or air cooled version - needs no introduction to modelers, as
both versions were seen on US warships, aircraft and armor.
According to navweaps.com,
"In the 1930s, these guns in various forms on simple AA mountings were in use
on most USN warships. However, at about the start of World War II, the Navy
quickly determined that they were almost useless against modern aircraft and
replaced them as rapidly as possible with the 20 mm Oerlikon AA MG. In the
1930s and 1940s, the US Navy used a water-cooled version on ships while aircraft
and small craft such as PT Boats used a lightweight air-cooled version." Ship modelers, especially those building "pre-war" and "early war" ships, will know that these water cooled versions were common on many US Navy vessels in 1941 and 1942, before the widespread adoption of the 20mm Oerlikon. |
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 Click to enlarge images |
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| TWIN 40mm BOFORS | |||||||||
| The packaging is in a large plastic
clamshell container, with the ten small 3D printed rafts - one for each of the
twin .50cal Browning MG - secured to the bottom of the packaging with double
sided tape. The set includes ten 3D printed .50cal Browning MG. The details are very fine and very delicate. The barrels are not much thicker than a human hair. As you can see from the photos below, they are so small, they are almost impossible to photograph clearly. |
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| CONCLUSIONS | |||||||||
Modelers building "pre-war" (for the US) and "early war" 1/700 USN ships will really like these weapons. They are incredibly small, really finely printed, and the number of weapons enclosed in the package may be enough to outfit more than one battleship, or perhaps one pre/early war carrier. Definitely a better choice than flat sided photo-etch. The most difficult thing may be removing them from the print raft without breaking them, or without sacrificing one to the carpet monster. This is Kraken Hobbies 1/700 Water cooled Browning .50 cal MG. They retail for $8.99 USD, and is available directly from Kraken Hobbies, who I'd like to thank for this review sample. Highly recommended! |
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