Eduard German 88mm Submarine Main Gun. 1:48

[Shar2]

German 88mm Submarine Main Gun

1:48 Eduard Brassin 648-327

 

Having made resin aftermarket guns for the big Revell 1:72 submarines, Eduard-Brassin have started to release a scaled up version of the 88mm main gun for the huge Trumpeter 1:48 Type VIIc U-Boat.  The set is contained in the standard cardboard box used by Brassin, with the parts well protected by foam blocks.  The guns parts, even in this scale are quite small, but are really well detailed with plenty of small fragile parts, so take care when removing from the moulding blocks and cleaning them up.

 

U-Boat 88mm gun - [648327].  Unlike some sets where only the barrel of a gun is changed, this pack contains not only the barrel, but the whole mounting.  The resin parts include the pedestal, mount, breech bock, barrel mounted rangefinder and optical sights, elevation quadrant, elevation and turning wheel fittings, the elevation and traversing wheels, fittings for the rangefinder, and the prominent crew waist supports.  There is a tampion and clamp to be fitted to the muzzle, which is missing the cable that could be seen attached to the tampion and wrapped around the barrel and connected to the gun mounting, although the instructions do give you the length and size of the wire required to make it and how it is wrapped around the barrel. The same is done for the breech cover and what looks like a telephone cable attached to the mounting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As always, check your references as from June 1943 the Atlantic-boats had landed the deck gun. Only in the Mediterranean and the Northern Sea boats kept their guns for a few months longer. In July 1944 some of the VIIc boats from the 8th Flotilla in Konigsberg got their guns back for the patrols in the Baltic Sea against the Russians. A number of Captains were also allowed to re-fit the deck gun when operating in the Indian Ocean.  From the quick bit of research I have done, it looks like U-552 kept the gun long after it should have been landed.

 

Conclusion

This is a fabulous model in its own right. The detail is superb, as we have come to expect from Brassin and It’s great to see this prominent gun being released as it gives modellers the chance to improve on the kit details, The resin is superbly moulded with some very fine detail and will look great mounted on this impressive submarine kit, or even on its own as a vignette.

 

Review sample courtesy of

 

[whitestar12chris]

This might also make a nice swap with the Hatchette 1/48 u-boats gun.

 

All the best Chris