ICM WWII British Vickers MG Crew (35646) 1:35

[Mike]

WWII British Vickers MG Crew (35646)

1:35 ICM via Hannants

 

 

The Vickers Machine Gun was a development of the 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 war 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.  The gun remained in service throughout WWI and WWII, and was finally replaced by the General-Purpose Machine Gun in the late 60s.  Quite an impressive service run, and a testament to its enduring design.

 

The Kit

This is a reboxing of the gun, which is essentially the same as the one used in WWI, but a new tooling of the crew with WWII era equipment and uniforms.  It arrives in a small top-opening box with their usual captive inner flap, and has four sprues in grey styrene plus two sheets of instructions and painting guides.

 

 

 

You have a choice of whether to build the gun up in prone or seated shooting positions in the instructions, but as the figures are 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, it is shown on the box top, and 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 battle-bowlers that glue onto the flat tops of their heads.  The gunner is in the crouched position operating the weapon with one knee down, while the ammo feeder is kneeling, feeding the link into the breech of the gun from the ammo box in front of him.  Rucksacks, pouches and water bottle parts are included on the other sprues, plus a pair of Lee Enfield rifles and revolvers.  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.  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 was still an important part of WWII, and there were many Vickers guns used in action throughout the conflict.  It’s another nice little kit either on its own or as part of a larger scene.

 

Very highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of

 

[badger]

Thanks for this review- been eyeing this up and its nice to see what's in the box.