So one of my big pet peeves is the apparent inability of most model companies to sculpt and subsequently mold in styrene a good representation of the weapons which essentially won the Second World War for the US. Brownings. Browning M1919 Cal.30 beltfed and M2HB and M3 Cal.50 beltfed machine guns. Since my early days, I've reached that part in my model builds and regardless of the brand, the piece was always poorly done. The lone exception, Dragon. DML seems to have got the memo on accurate or at least acceptable Browning MGs. Why am I so grumpy on this point? I love these weapons, and I own these weapons IRL..

So, I'm very familiar with these weapons, as you might guess.

So consider this thread as a kind of clearing board for the Search for the Best cal.,30 and Cal.50 MG models in 1/35. I have my current favorites, which I will describe and show here in detail. There may be even better ones out there I have not seen yet, so feel free to throw in on this if you know of any. So far, my favorite Browning M2HB in 1/35 is a resin kit by K59.

My other favorite, and only favorite in styrene, is the DML / Dragon rendering of the Browning .50..this is one of the guns from my M16 halftrack build.

Unfortunately, the picture host here has decided tonight is the night to malfunction, and refuses to upload any more pics! Arrogant little bastard! Well, I'll be back..

I`d like to hear your opinion on the Tasca M2`s. By the looks of `em, they`re pretty ok OOTB

Yeah, I'm waiting on a Tasca M2HB..I had to order one when I saw a revue that raved about the accuracy of the reciever model. When it arrives I'll have it here right away.
Meantime, here's one of my favorite combinations..K59 kit, resin and PE done very clean, with machined brass barrel and barrel support by Barrel Depot.

The Tasca piece makes any of the Dragon ones look like junk.

All you need to do drill the holes in the cooling jacket slightly they look great. Best barrel changing handle out there too. Better than the PE options.

Close on the K59 resin M2HB..this has not been cleaned up in any way. This is OOB. I'm impressed.

Dragon made a couple of compromises in their M2 .50 that confuse me. Instead of following through and making it really good, they compromised the barrel support badly and the charging handle is quite a joke I'll admit..they molded a straight "pin" to the top feed cover to represent the charging handle?? Bad. Their spades are no good but I replace those with PE. And I really never use the styrene barrels anymore, I have about 20 years worth of plastic built and not a straight machine gun barrel in the lot. Brass all the way now. I wish someone local in Phoenix had the Tasca but so far, no, had to bring it in from afar. When it gets here, we'll see. I happen to own a real live M2HB so I get to check things against the real gun.

So while I was waiting for my Tasca M2HB and some other stuff, I went and ordered a Tank Model M2HB resin kit..well, it looked good in the picture! it is unfortunate that the guys making these at Tank Model have ignored what a lot of successful resin parts makers know...the way they lay out the parts to make their molds, it's inevitable that the parts will warp. Pics as soon as I get this pic host here to behave..but needless to say, I'm not very happy with the Tank Model offering. Besides laying out their parts with massive resin blocks attached laterally..bending the parts in a bow as the resin shrinks a bit..their scale dimensions are simply..wrong.

I have been toying with a .50 cal for a while now.
A few people have seen what I have done and advised me that I need to get a life.
I have made it so the gun can be stripped down into it's basic groups (bolt, barrel extension, buffer, feed cover, bullet stop etc etc). And it can be reassembled.
Takes about as long as the real thing too!!
Just need to finish/refine one or two parts and then try to figure out how to cast the bugger!
Cheers Jason

Semi conversions, Transferable guns or are you an SOT? Either way, nice guns.

Jason, I lust for you to finish that project...

Jason,

You will have reached the pinnacle when the model builder can set the headspace and timing. LoL

Wow, Jason, you're not doing it in 1/35 are you? That would be nuts!
I have semi auto conversions...tons of fun. And I built them myself. You want a full auto M2HB you need to cough up like $20K to $40k depending on the gun and condition..build your own semiauto and you can reel one in for around $6k. And a 1919 can be under $1000 easy if you home build. A Browning M2 fires at 550 rpm, and will burn up barrels and internals at a horrifying rate. In semi? I'm yet to wear my first barrel out. I can still fire it pretty fast. No real need for R&R..

So anyway, working with the excellent K59 resin kit for M2HB..one of the more convenient things is alignment of brass parts for barrel and barrel support. Since the K59 has a resin barrel support as a separate part, there's a base that fits it at the place where barrel meets reciever..don't cut the barrel off at the face of the reciever, leave that first ring..it fits the brass part if you use Barrel Depot or Griffon parts. This one has the Barrel Depot parts.

Something else I like about the K59 is the early type rear sight assembly, with the dovetail slot for telescopic sights.

Something everybody omits due to moldmaking issues is the fact that Browning machine guns eject empties straight out the bottom..the gun is wide open underneath. On both M2HB, and 1919 Cal .30, you should carve this out if it's visible.

The spade grips of the K59 kit are among the most accurate I've seen..and the biggest pain in the rear. To be close as possible to true scale, the metal top and bottom grip brackets are VERY thin PE brass..so thin you can easily destroy them completely by simply cutting them from the fret or trying to assemble them..they are mega-fragile. It helps that the entire back plate of the assembly is one piece and thus a bit easier to handle, but it's still risky business. Don't drink too much coffee that day..! The butterfly trigger is also the best representation I've yet seen.

Hey, guess what I got today. Thanks HobbyLink.

OK, so there's a running opinion that this .50 M2 by Tasca is the best available. I had to see for myself, always looking for the best as I am...now this reciever has a lot going for it, very sharp details, and some really good areas where this model shines. There are however some big problems I see right away.

On the positive side...IF you are going to go into enhancements and upgrades, use a brass barrel and support, and a PE set for gunsights and spade grips and triggers (there are 2 triggers on a real M2)..then this basic reciever is pretty good. The detail of the retracting slide group on the right side, the actual slide in the groove where it engages the bolt, the correct see-through of the slot in the reciever, this is impressive.

The underside has details all other models omit..the open reciever where the empties eject, the kinda-almost representation of the big castle nut that secures the breech lock cam, these are nice to see.