ICM WW1 Austro-Hungarian Machine Gun Team. 1:35

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WW1 Austro-Hungarian Machine Gun Team

ICM 1:35

 

ICM have a great selection of figures in their catalogue, the latest set is of is an Austro-Hungarian machine gun team, consisting of two men and a heavy machine gun. The two men are in specific poses, one firing the machine gun, the other holding the ammunition belt. The parts come on two sprues of sandy brown styrene, (much like the favoured Caramac candy bar). All the parts are nicely moulded and once you have built the figures and one of two heavy machine guns you will have an awful lot of spares for use in other dioramas.

 

Each figure is made from multiple parts, with separate torso, legs, arms and head, for which each figure has a cap. To the assembled body, the modeller can add all manner of equipment, such as back packs, satchel, holsters and another small pack. The gunner is posed, sitting on a sack with his legs out and the belt man is in a kneeling position.

 

 

The modeller has a choice of two heavy machine guns, the Skoda manufactured Maschinengewehr (Schwarzlose) M. 7 of 1908 or the later 1912 version. Each gun is moulded with the rear tripod leg, to the leg several fitting are attached, including the elevation mechanism, while the firing handle and shoulder rest is fitted to the breech section of the gun. The front legs are moulded separately and once joined together and fitted with a locking handle they are glued to the head of the tripod. The four piece splinter shield is then assembled and fitted over the cooling jacket of the barrel and attached to the tripod head. The cooling jacket end piece is then attached and the gun finished off with the attachment of the coned flash hider.  The ammunition box comes in three pieces, into which the ammunition belt is inserted, with the other end attached to the breech of the gun.

 

 

The spares left over include rifles and carbines, spades, entrenching tools, helmets, ammunition pouches, bayonets and daggers, holsters, pistols, hand grenades of three different types, pick axes and several mess tines and water bottles.

 

Conclusion

The parts are nicely moulded, but there do appear to be some seams that will need removing but at least there are no moulding pips, so cleaning up the parts will be fairly easy. Assembly is pretty straight forward and they will look great in a in a vignette or in a larger diorama. The biggest headache will be painting them to look realistic.

 

Review sample courtesy of