Italeri

1/35 Bofors 37-40mm A.A. Gun with Crew

Kit Number: 6458

Reviewed by  Howie Belkin, IPMS# 16

MSRP: $44.95 Injection molded, 149 olive drab parts, no decals, and four man crew Review kit provided by Model Rectifier Corp (MRC) www.modelrectifier.com Suspend reality a moment and imagine that finally, only now, has a major model company released a model of the German 88! Incredibly, Italeri has done something akin to that in its release of the Bofors, with nearly 35,000 "real" ones built and its descendants still being manufactured 77 years after its introduction! Admittedly the real Bofors suffered by not having Goebbels create a myth about it, and, it's not German. Cookie Sewell wrote that the Bofors is one "…of the most influential ones in history …which ranks up there with the US M2 (nee M1921) 0.50" caliber machine gun - "Ma Deuce." Much has been written so I'll concentrate on the model rather than the history. Suffice it to say it was born in Sweden, served in 29 countries in WWII plus an illegitimate (unlicensed) USSR version. It replaced the U.S.'s 37mm in April 1941 as the M1. It served in many roles, including PT Boat duty which is why the kit was released (it's included as just one of the weapons on Italeri's awesome 1/35 PT Boat). It was mounted on Morris trucks, Deuce and a Halves and mated to the M15 AA half-tracks and the Bofors "special" mount, as well as on the tracked M19, M42 and Sergeant York. Disregard criticisms that Italeri's gun mounts do not match the one in Aberdeen. Both are right: Italeri's is the early M2 and APG's is the later M2A1. Construction is pretty straightforward, but decide whether you want to display the model in firing or towing position and follow the appropriate sequences. I chose firing, but used cement sparingly, and even used 'white glue' for the "jack/leg stands" (parts 55) so I could reposition them if I so desire later on. The wheels come in halves with the directions showing that the tire tread design doesn't cross left to right as a straight line; it alternates. Clean up the tires' glue seam, and the occasional mold seam, use a Flex-I-File to keep the barrel round, and it practically puts itself together! There were a couple of part placement questions, but the box top painting answered them for me. The base (part 14A) has a locating hole for each of the two "generators" (36/40) but either my base is upside down or Italeri didn't mold the hole all the way thru. If you flip 14A over you lose some excellent detail so simply drill the hole thru from the bottom. Another question related to one drawing showing parts 84B, the cranks for traversing and the other for elevating, lined up as if in synch. Another drawing shows them misaligned. They have totally different functions so it would seem obvious they are not connected in any way and shouldn't align. I'll bet some judges won't know and will take it upon themselves to say they should be aligned. Show them this and tell them Howie sez… I got out my airbrush once I had completed three subassemblies: the wheeled carriage, the crew's base, and the gun in its elevating mechanism. This way it could be sprayed without missing any hard to get spots. I used Testors Model Master enamel Field Drab FS 30118. When thoroughly dried I sprayed on a protective coat of Future clear acrylic, and when dry, liberally swathed the model in Winsor & Newton Olive Green #447 oil paint and wiped most of it off leaving a multi-tone OD effect. I painted the tires acrylic medium grey, then applied and removed a black-grey oil paint. A final clear flat coat finishes it off. The kit provides three four round ammo clips and a spare barrel with flash suppressor in a packing case for added value for your money. But the four crewmen aren't very exciting or well detailed. Hopefully one of the other manufacturers will produce state of the art sets of Bofors crews, preferably a British as well as an American Army and U.S. Marines. No decals are provided, but there are plenty of photos of Bofors with a name on it, and/or kill markings. Diorama possibilities are endless, from the defense of practically every Allied base (e.g.; Battle of Britain) and river crossing (Remagen) to dug-in anti-tank duty, when Monty devastatingly used Rommel's tactics against the Fox himself. Can Italeri have an M-15 or M-15A1 AA halftrack up their sleeve? Or perhaps the also long neglected U.S. M1 90mm AA gun as a follow up? One can only ask, and it seems with Italeri, we shall receive. Italeri has been whittling away at our "most wanted kits list" - witness the LVT series, the DUKWs, Staghound, Italian AB Armored Cars and Bofors to name a few. I just hope they whittle the price down quite a bit too, as $45 retail will hurt sales of a kit that would otherwise fly out the hobbyshop doors. If you can afford one you definitely want this in your collection. An enjoyably easy build of a long overdue, major subject. Thanks to Bob Lewen of distributor MRC for the review sample. You can get yours at better hobby shops or go to www.modelrec.com/ or www.italeri.com. References: Artillery by John Batchelor and Ian Hogg The World's Great Artillery by Hans Halberstadt Allied Liberation Vehicles by Francois Bertin M-24 Chaffee In Action by Jim Mesko Allied-Axis Photo Journal No. 13 by Ken Dugan Tanks & Weapons of WWII by Beekman House, NY Anti-Aircraft Guns by Chamberlain and Gander British Motor Torpedo Boat 1939-45 by Angus Konstam PT Boats In Action by T. Garth Connelly

Information, images, and all other items placed electronically on this site are the intellectual property of IPMS/USA ®.