BRAVO-6 [ MORE REVIEWS ] [ WEBSITE ] [ NEW STORIES ]

In-Box Review
135
MAT-49 SMG & M37 Grenades
MAT-49 SMG & French M37 Grenades
  • move

by: Engin Kayral [ GRAYWOLF ]

introduction

BRAVO-6 lately released a weapons set of submachine guns and hand grenades that can be used for French Troops in Indochina and Vietnamese forces of Vietnam War.
about the kit

MAT-49 is a blowback operated, box magazine fed submachine gun which fires from open bolt. It was developed by Manufacture d’Armes de Tulle (MAT) in 1946 using the 9mm Parabellum cartridge and adopted by French Army in 1949. Widely used by French forces in Indochina, many found their way into the hands of Vietminh and Viet Cong. Vietnamese modified the weapon to fire 7.62mm ammunition and replaced the magazine capacity from 32 to 35.
There are three remarkable features of the weapon.
A - Sliding wire butt stock could be pushed forward out of the way for carrying and pulled to the rear if it was to be used in firing.
B - Magazine housing on the receiver could be rotated forward through 90-degrees (even with the magazine fitted) to lie along the barrel to save space when not in use.
C - At the back part of the pistol grip, there was a safety grip, which was operated by the action of squeezing the pistol grip when firing a round. When the grip safety was not squeezed, it locked the bolt in the forward position, and locked the trigger when the weapon was cocked. The lock was released by the pressure of the palm of the hand. The weapon could not be accidentally discharged.


Production was ceased in about 1979, when French army officially adopted the FAMAS assault rifle.

M37 is a French grenade made of sheet steel or aluminium. It weighs from 250 to 300 grams and can be used with several fuzes. It is known as DF37 or OF37 in different colors for defensive and offensive proposes.
packing & casting

Kit comes in standard light brown cardboard box and all parts are inserted in a transparent ziplock bag. A drawing how to make a wire buttstock covers the backside of the box. Resin quality is good and casting is flawless. Parts are served with casting blocks. They can be easily removed from blocks but keep in mind that barrels are always fragile and hand grenades are delicious food for carpet monster.
parts

Six submachine guns and eight hand grenades are given inside the kit. SMGs are cast in one piece so no assembly will be needed. Four of them are ready to fire and two are in storage position with front folded magazines. Hand grenades are cast in different types as 4 offensive and 4 defensive. All details are well defined.
Note that retractable SMG stocks will be made using copper wire and stencil block supplied as a kit part. How-to scheme on the box will be helpful on that. As a bonus, a French Mle51 canteen and a M3 fighting knife come on the stencil casting block.
conclusion

It can take interest and be useful for Indochina and Viet Cong modelers.
SUMMARY
Highs: SMG details are well defined even the weapon and scale are small.Grenades are sculpted different as OF and DF.
Lows: Safety grip is not clear or not sculpted on SMG.
Verdict: Not sure it will be popular as BRAVO-6 figure kits but a useful one for Indochina and Vietnam builts.
Percentage Rating
88%
  Scale: 1:35
  Mfg. ID: B6-35204
  PUBLISHED: Nov 09, 2013
  NATIONALITY: France
NETWORK-WIDE AVERAGE RATINGS
  THIS REVIEWER: 92.20%
  MAKER/PUBLISHER: 95.07%

Our Thanks to BRAVO-6!
This item was provided by them for the purpose of having it reviewed on this KitMaker Network site. If you would like your kit, book, or product reviewed, please contact us.

View Vendor Homepage  |  More Reviews  

About Engin Kayral (Graywolf)
FROM: IZMIR, TURKEY / TüRKçE

Born in 1962,married and having 2 sons. I started modelling about 8 years old building USS Fletcher with mom. It was a model dad brought from USA., I think in those days only a few people in Turkey had info on scale model kits. Grown as an AF officer son , I built many aircraft models in years. Som...

Copyright ©2021 text by Engin Kayral [ GRAYWOLF ]. All rights reserved.



Comments

Thanks for the review. There is one of those guns in the U-Model Indochina Jeep crew, but the Bravo 6 ones look way more detailed. Might pick up the set. Cheers, Christophe
NOV 09, 2013 - 09:53 PM
Thanks for sharing again, i have this set too for my Vietcong Figures and it is really great. The weapons are very fine detailed and the grenades add much more Options than only US type ones or the stig grenades in the Dragon NVA sapper and VC set. It´s the only set to get some MAT-49 in that Quality. Highly recommend from me too.
NOV 11, 2013 - 07:56 AM
   
ADVERTISEMENT


Photos
Click image to enlarge
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
  • move
ADVERTISEMENT