Shelf Oddity
1/700 British QF 4" Mk XVI AA Guns

 
Reviewed December 2024
by Martin J Quinn
Shelf Oddity of Poland has sent us some upgrade sets for review.   This one is set SO700188, RN Dual QF 4 inch (102 mm) AA Gun Mk.XVI.  Per the Shelf Oddity website, these weapons were "Widely used on all British and Commonwealth Vessels during WWII Era.", while according to the website NavWeaps: "Intended for use as a DP weapon, the Mark XVI was a reasonably good AAA gun although many considered it as being too small for the anti-ship role. This weapon superseded the 4"/45 (10.2 cm) Mark V HA gun on new cruiser construction during the 1930s. In addition, many older cruisers and capital ships had their Mark V guns replaced with these more powerful weapons during refits. A popular weapon, production could not keep up with demand until late in the war, resulting in many ships being armed with older weapons.  HMS Carlisle, a converted AA cruiser armed with these guns, shot down 11 aircraft during the war, the highest score among British cruisers. The Auxiliary AA ship Alynbank, also armed with these guns, shot down six aircraft."

Again, from NavWeaps, these weapons were found on a host of Royal Navy ships, including, but not limited to:

Capital Ships: Barham, Malaya, Warspite, Royal Sovereign class, Hood
Monitors: Roberts class
Aircraft Carriers: Furious, Unicorn, Activity, Campania and Nairana classes
Cruisers: All 8 inch cruisers except HMAS Canberra and HMS York, 6 inch (15.2 cm) cruisers built after 1930 except HMAS Sydney, "C" class as converted to AA cruisers and Abdiel minelayers
Destroyers - Main Armament: "Hunt" and "Weapon" classes, Canadian "Tribal" class destroyers, "L" class destroyers Lance, Legion, Lively and Gurkha, "P" class destroyer Petard
Destroyers - AA Armament: "Tribal" class
Australian and Canadian "River" class frigates

Click to enlarge images
THE RANGEFINDERS AND DIRECTORS
The parts arrive in a small plastic bag,  There is one print raft, containing separate parts - shield, base and gun cradle, which allows you to mount in any angle. 

These are very finely and delicately printed, with outstanding details.  The gun shields are very thin, with detailed hatches and riveting. 

The barrels - provided by Master Models of Poland - are very finely turned pieces of brass
Close ups of some of the parts details.
INSTRUCTIONS
There are no instructions included.   If you go to Shelf Oddity's website, you'll find a PDF of the instructions to download there.  Sample image below.
CONCLUSIONS
These QF Mk XVI AA guns are really nice.  For such small parts they have tremendous details.  These will be a huge upgrade to any kit supplied versions, whether injection molded or resin.   Highly Recommended!

 This is Shelf Oddity set SO700188, RN Dual QF 4 inch (102 mm) AA Gun Mk.XVI.  They retail for about $ 13.50 USD, and are available directly from Shelf Oddity's website, whom I'd like to thank for the review sample. 


© ModelWarships.com