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WWI British Vickers Machine Gun Crew (35713) 1:35 ICM via Hannants The Vickers Machine Gun was a development of original Maxim, the company Vickers had bought in the late 1800s, lightened and with an inverted breech to improve the type, which entered into British service at the outbreak of WWI in insufficient numbers due partly to the price being asked for each one, which was soon rectified by accusations of profiteering that resulted in a huge price cut per unit. It was used first by the infantry, then by the newly formed Machine Gun Corps when the lighter Lewis gun arrived on the scene, and I’m proud to say my paternal Grandfather was one of the operators of this type, surviving the war despite getting gassed, and bringing home a medal for bravery into the bargain. We’ve still got his cap badge that has been polished so much that the ribs on the cooling jacket have all-but worn away. The gun remained in service throughout WWI and WWII, and was finally replaced by the General Purpose Machine Gun in the late 60s. Quite a service run. This set includes the parts of the earlier kit that contained just the MG (35712), but adds a two-man crew and lots of accessories. It arrives in a small top-opening box with their usual captive inner flap, and has three sprues in grey styrene plus three sheets of instructions and painting guides. You have a choice of whether to build the gun up in prone or seated positionss in the instructions, but as the figure is seated you should choose the latter to make full use of the included figures. Construction of the gun is simple, with the breech details and firing handle attached to the ribbed or smooth barrel jacket, followed by the two arms that hold the gun in place and their central arm with adjustment wheel at the bottom. A length of finely moulded ammunition slides through the breech, and the unused end is fixed to the ammo can with more moulded rounds in an insert that sits on top of the box. The weapon is inserted into the hole at the top of your choice of tripods, then the aforementioned ammo can and the water reservoir for the cooling jacket, which is linked by a hose to the underside of the muzzle, but isn’t mentioned at all in the instructions. Depending on how you will deploy your gun, you could use a length of lead wire or similar to portray this, gluing it to the can. If you’re unsure of the correct locations, there are a number of good resources online. The figures are covered on the glossy instruction page, with two views of each of them showing the parts in position and giving full painting options using their usual letter codes in red. The figures are well sculpted with sensible parts breakdown into torso, head, arms and legs, with peaked caps that glue onto the flat tops of their heads. The gunner is in the seated position operating the weapon, while the ammo feeder is prone, feeding the link into the breech of the gun from the ammo box in front of him. Additional rucksacks, pouches and water bottle parts are included on their sprue, with many more parts on the accessory sprue, which has a separate instruction sheet, mostly for painting purposes. There are copious Lee Enfield rifles, a Lewis gun, spades, axes, more pouches, binoculars and some battle bowlers that could be used instead of the earlier caps if desired. There are also pistols, grenades, wire cutters, a rifle mortar, pick-axe and sheath, and even a football-style rattle for signalling. You can use as many or as few of the accessories as you wish, keeping any spares for use in future projects. Colour call-outs are made throughout the build using red letters in boxes that correspond to a table on the rear that gives the paint names plus Revell and Tamiya paint codes, or Model Master for the accessories. All the codes have the colour names in English too, so if you’re not a user of those brands you should be perfectly able to find some alternates from your preferred brand. Conclusion The machine gun is an important part of WWI, and there were many Vickers guns used in the trenches. My own personal connection aside, it’s a nice little kit either on its own or as part of a larger scene. Very highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of