Review:

U.S. Machine Gun Set by Academy in 1/35th Scale

The Contents:

There are aprox 100 peices moulded in grey plastic. There don't seem to be any pin marks or sink holes anywhere that might be seen in the parts, except for a couple of minor ones on the bottom of the .30 cal ammo boxes that can easily be sanded off. There are some moulding seams that will need to be scraped but they are not too bad.

The set consists of 2 .30 cal guns made in 1 peice with perforated air cooled barrels. 1 has a later style cradle moulded on and one is the gun only. and 2 .50 cal with air cooled perforated barrels molded with the gun chassis, and 2 .50 cal with the barrels molded separately with a choice of 3 different heavy barrels, one with the straight barrel, one with the barrel and changing handle plus one with the handle and flash suppressor on the muzzle there are 2 of each style of barrel. Each .50 consists of 6-7 pieces moulded separately which makes cleanup and detailing easier.

There are both WWII and Modern Ammo boxes for these guns. about 3 boxes each of .50 cal modern and WWII style, two styles of WWII .30 cal and 1 style .30 cal modern boxes. You also get 2 linked ammo belts for each.

The kit also comes with various mounts for Tanks and vehicles along with tripods for each both open with gun mounted as options and folded. for both modern settings or WWII era.

Conclusions:

All in All this is an excellent kit that is much better than the guns in the Tamiya Weapons set and better in scale details than any plastic .50 or .30's i've seen so far with the exception of some of the Dragon kits which have guns that are on par with these.

Review by Delbert, originally published on 08/12/2007 on Armorama.com

Additional Photos (taken from academy site)