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1/700 US Navy 5in/25cal Mk19 Guns
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August 2023 |
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| Black Cat Models has released
some new accessories in 1/700, some of which they've sent along for us
to review. One of those sets is AC70011a, 5in/25cal Mk19 gun on
platform (x8).
According to the website NavWeaps, the 5in/25cal "...was the first USN heavy AA gun designed for the purpose and was used on most USA capital ships and cruisers built or modernized between 1926 and 1940. When these weapons started to appear on battleships, the gunnery officers began thinking of them as dual-purpose weapons and often fired them in the annual surface gunfire contests with impressive results. The mountings for this weapon were lightly built in order to give them the lowest possible moment of inertia and thus the highest possible speeds for manual training and elevation. As a result, these guns had about one-third the moment of inertia for train as did the 5"/51 (12.7 cm) anti-torpedo boat mountings. This requirement led to a short barrel in order to keep the weight down, which in turn resulted in a relatively low muzzle velocity, but this was considered to be acceptable for an AAA weapon. In the early 1930s these guns were briefly considered for arming new construction destroyers, but they were ultimately rejected in favor of a new design, the famous 5"/38 (12.7 cm) Mark 12. On 15 February 1942 while escorting a convoy near Timor, USS Houston (CA-30) was attacked by nine Kawanishi H6K Type 97 ("Mavis") four-engine flying boats and thirty-six Mitsubishi Ki-21 Type 97 ("Sally") twin-engine bombers. Houston claimed to have shot down seven of these aircraft with her 5"/25 (12.7 cm) guns, firing a total of 930 rounds during the 45 minute action." Among the ships that carries this mark, were Lexington, Ranger, Nevada, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Tennessee, Colorado, Pencacola, Northampton, Portland and most of the New Orleans-class (except Quincy & Vincennes, which carried the Mk23 version). |
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Click to enlarge images |
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| THE PARTS | |||||||||
| The packaging is the usual plastic
clamshell container, where a single print raft - with six 5in/25cal weapons
- are attached to the bottom of the packaging with double sided tape.
When I received this set for review, and saw that there were only six weapons
included, I reached out to Ben from Black Cat, and let him know that these
guns were usually found in sets of 8 on USN ships. So while you only
see 6 weapons in this review, the set will be sold at a set of 8.
The details on these guns is very nice and very delicate. Along with a very finely printed barrel, there are rails, fuse setters, sights and non-skid details printed as part of the gun. |
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| CONCLUSIONS | |||||||||
| These 700 scale 5in/25 guns are another nice accessory
from Black Cat. These are more detailed, and look more realistic,
compared to the 5in/25 call guns in the Trumpeter Big 5 battleship kits,
which are among the many 700 scale USN ship kits can benefit from this
accessory set. Highly recommended!
This is Black Cat Models set AC70011a, 5in/25cal Mk19 gun on platform (x8). It retails for about $9.50 USD, and is available directly from Black Cat Models - who I'd like to thank for this review sample - or from some of our other fine sponsors. |
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