Stefan Halter takes a close look at Master Box’s recently released British Infantry Weapons WWII Era in 1/35 scale.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Good review- I,too was very disappointed with the PIAT.
Personally I would rather have seen more rifles with fixed bayonets and less stens.

Stefan,
Australian soldiers used the Lewis MG in WW2 due to a shortage of Bren guns in the early years. Aussie infantry used the Lewis at Kokoda (39th Militia Battalion) and the weapon was also deployed by Regular Infantry in the desert campaign. Images are available at the Australian War Museum and no doubt on Google.
Cheers, Jason.

The attraction here seems to be the Vickers HMG. They are obviously following the Bronco 1 spur route which isn't a good thing for modellers.

A good set would be where you get 2 trees with at least 3 of each weapon/piece of kit. The older Italeri set is better for quantity of weapons and equipment although each tree contains different weapons.

What's missing is the Thompson .45 MG with the option of drum and straight magazines. Bayonets in scabbards and a Very Pistol, grenades .45 automatic, 2inch mortar etc. etc,etc

This is not very useful if you want to re-equip a 7/8 man section of troops. The Vickers needs a lot more ammo cans too and where are the holders for the ammo for the PIAT?


Good idea MB but not such a good effort, which is a pity.

Al

Thanks for the additional info guys.

Jason, you got me there... On that one account I depended on my Mk I brain and see where that got me...    :D 

Alan, completely agree with you there, at least two sprues would have been a minimum, and the lack of extras like ammo cans really makes this set no stand alone accessory. I also think it's odd that most weapons are the early war versions but the are no early war SMG (i.e. thompson).
However, I think you've got some manufacturer's confused. bronco's weapons set (to my knowledge the only one is   the US set and it contains two each of all the weapons sprues. Also, the set reviewed here is by Master Box, not Mini Art.

Cheers!
Stefan

Hi Stefan,

Bronco did a weapons and radio set:

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/bom/bom3509.htm

Vickers K Guns, Brens, Rifles and a Thompson plus a No 19 set. Only one tree though.

Thanks changed the MA to MB!

Al

Wish I had seen this before I had ordered the set. What are the other options for a PIAT? I got the DML set cheap, and it was missing the weapons.... and I had thought this set would be good....damn....

Hornet used to do a set in white metal but discontinued.and one in the old Esci Red Devils set, They come up on ebay occassionally. There is one in the Tamiya Universal carrier
There is also one in the Tamiya Universal carrier.

Well, in any case it's good to see that it was released separately, it's their standard sprue included in several kits. Looks like they learned when they released the US set.

Cheers!

Seems like a nice set, but I would like to see some extra magazines and more Sten guns. I thought that the detail display was a little unfair when compared to other model brands. The other brands were shown with a lot of paint slopped on them to hide the details while the MB ones were shown unpainted.

Well just got my set in the mail, and I have to concur with the review, a waste of $10, worst weapon set I have seen in a long time. Both tripods in my set are warped so bad, they are useless. The moldings are not great, no extra magazines, and the Sten's, well I won't even go there.

I found the lack of quality very shocking coming from Master Box, would have expected so much better. Well guess I will not have to order the Bronco sets, or go resin.

This went with the Canadians too. Just so everyone knows it's not all for "British" grunts only. Also her Dominions.

Cheers,
Tom