Meng Russian Light AA Gun Set 1:35

[Mike]

Russian Light AA Gun Set
1:35 Meng Model

As part of their "Supplier" series that is aimed at providing (avoided saying supplying!) the modeller for accessories and diorama fodder, this kit kind of falls between two stools, as it really is a proper kit. In fact it's four proper kits in the one box, which makes for a very full box that wouldn't react well to having dozens of other kits placed on top of it. It arrived in an unassuming sand yellow topped box, and inside are sixteen sprues in green styrene, plus a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, no decals and an instruction booklet with the painting guide inside the rear glossy pages.

There are parts in the box to make one each of the following Anti-Aircraft guns:

ZU-23-2 (three configurations)
Previously seen in the Toyota Hilux kit VS-004 in 2012. A two barrelled 23mm cannon towed on its two-wheeled chassis, with optional mounting on a vehicle flat-bed by removing the wheels.

ZPU-1 (two variants)
Previously seen in the Toyota Hilux Pickup kit VS-001 in 2011. A single barrelled 14.5mm gun on a low tripod for ground installation, also able to be built as the Chinese Type 80.

ZPU-2 (three configurations for two variants)
Previously seen in the Toyota Land Cruiser kit VS-005 in 2014. A double barrelled 14.5mm gun on a trailer mount that can also be flat-bed mounted by removal of the wheels. This can also be built as the Chinese Type 58.

ZPU-4 (two configurations for two variants)
A new tooling for this boxing in 2016. A four-barrelled 14.5mm gun on a four-wheel trailer with ground anchors for firing. It can also be built as the Chinese Type 56.

As mentioned, all but the ZPU-4 have seen release as cargo for the various Pickup trucks that Meng have released over the years, so it appears that rather than release the new tooling as a small single boxing, the marketing people at Meng decided to bundle in their previous work to produce a comprehensive set of light AA guns, with a few details added to each one on the PE sheet. The barrels have all be slide-moulded, and detail is excellent throughout, irrespective of the time when they were originally moulded. The detail on the cooling jackets is superb given the limitations of injection moulding, and the guns with wheels are all styrene, split vertically.


Markings
It's a shame that no stencils were included in the kit, even if they were just for the ammo cans, but there it is, and if you wanted to add that extra detail you would need to source some elsewhere. The colour scheme is fairly simple with Russian Green being the dominant shade, with the option of sand for an Iraqi ZPU-4. It wouldn't be difficult to find some other colours from the many operators of these long-lived and almost ubiquitous anti-aircraft guns. The colour call-outs have been done in their new collaborative effort with AK Interactive to produce acrylic paint sets specifically aimed at their own models. We'll be reviewing some of these in the coming weeks.

Conclusion
A great bunch of kits that would look equally well on your shelf or in diorama settings. Well detailed and quick to build due to the simplicity of colour.

Highly Recommended.

Review sample courtesy of

[Julien]

Looks like a good set.

If you want pics of a ZPU-4 then we have a walkaround: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234988318-zpu-4-anti-aircraft-gun/

[Mike]

Ah, forgot to add that to the review And isn't that gun tucked away between hangars at Newark? It's amazing what that place has

[Sgt.Squarehead]

That does look a good set.....Very topical too.

[Mike]

Why, have the Russians been trying to shoot you down recently?

[Lothian man]

Mike, have a look at the ZPU-1's gun barrel length (and that of the associated mounting cradle).

The original kit (in the pickup kit) had a gun barrel which was far too long, by a centimetre or so, as Terry Ashley pointed out in his Perth Military Modelling Site review when it came out. But the reissued kit now seems to have been altered to be more accurate.

You even get two barrels in the '-1 kit, so you can correct an older one with a bit of work if you don't mind having two versions.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Why, have the Russians been trying to shoot you down recently?

Nah, but Russian AA guns are all the rage in the news.....Apparently Toyota are thinking of offering them as an option on all future SUV exports to the Gulf States & Africa.

The car in front is a:

[Lothian man]

A couple of further points about the ZPU-4, from building it:

1. The elevating handwheel and base (A53) needs to go on after the main gun assemblies are added, as it tends to foul the toothed arc (B27) - the instructional sequence is the right one here ... I had to open up the recess for the latter a little.

2. The kit is a bit confused about travel versus deployed configurations as the travel lock can only be built down (gun deployed) but the extended jacks (B35) aren't quite long enough to meet the ground when the thing is on its wheels. However the kit axles do not swing up. It is possible that in reality, when the gun is deployed, the wheels/axles swing up when unlocked, but I can't find any very clear photos. Anyway, do your own research to your satisfaction ...

Edited June 10, 2016 by Lothian man

[philp]

Finally a ZPU-4 injection molded. Now someone needs to do a Unimog 406 and I can do that Palestinian version I have always wanted to build.

[Julien]

A couple of further points about the ZPU-4, from building it:

1. The elevating handwheel and base (A53) needs to go on after the main gun assemblies are added, as it tends to foul the toothed arc (B27) - the instructional sequence is the right one here ... I had to open up the recess for the latter a little.

2. The kit is a bit confused about travel versus deployed configurations as the travel lock can only be built down (gun deployed) but the extended jacks (B35) aren't quite long enough to meet the ground when the thing is on its wheels. However the kit axles do not swing up. It is possible that in reality, when the gun is deployed, the wheels/axles swing up when unlocked, but I can't find any very clear photos. Anyway, do your own research to your satisfaction ...

If you look here it does show the axles swing up on ZPU-4 http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234988318-zpu-4-anti-aircraft-gun/

Julien

[Lothian man]

Excellent, thanks, just what I need. It looks like a Chinese one (gun barrels, wheels) but the mechanism where the axles meet the cruciform carriage is so similar that it's got to work identically on the Soviet version which the kit seems to show. The travel lock looks in the way, but that's just because they haven't wound down the jacks.

Here's a Moscow museum example confirming this - can't think how I missed this before.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ZPU-4_AA_gun_-2.jpg

Now to cut apart and replace the axles on my model ...

Edited June 11, 2016 by Lothian man

[Lothian man]

Two further points on the ZPU-4:

1. the instructions carefully tell you how to paint the little semicircular transverse flanges on the four cannon barrels, not far from the muzzle. They are needed for the ZPU-2, but they get in the way of fitting the cannon to the quad mounting and - so far as I can see on the real thing - shouldn't be there at all!! They need to be pared off carefully.

2. No very positive fit of the gun assemblies to the ZPU-4 main body mounts. I started by fixing the gun forward mountings, leaving the guns themselves loose within each loop. I then did my best by eye on the two lower mounts as it seemed easiest to fit those first. Now to try the upper ones ...