1:35 Browning M1919 with Mount

The Browning M1919 with mount in 1:35 scale

An accessory, not a kit: the package holds a model of the Browning M1919 machine gun together with its mount, intended to be fitted to a vehicle model, into a diorama or beside a figure in 1:35 scale. Detail accessories in this category are bought precisely because the weapons supplied with plastic kits tend to be simplified in shape — they lack a bored-out muzzle, the fineness of the cooling jacket and the crispness of the small controls.

The real subject

The Browning M1919 is an American machine gun in .30-06 caliber, that is roughly 7.62 mm, derived from the older water-cooled M1917 and adapted to air cooling. Its identifying feature is the perforated cooling jacket around the barrel. During the Second World War and in the postwar decades it was the standard American machine gun across the whole range of service: on an infantry tripod mount, on armored and unarmored vehicles as both a coaxial and a pintle-mounted weapon, on half-tracks, scout cars and as tank armament. That is exactly why a model of the M1919 suits a very wide circle of kits of American vehicles.

Tips for working and painting

• Separate the parts carefully from the casting remains with a sharp scalpel or a fine saw; do not snap them off.
• Wash and degrease the surface before painting, otherwise small parts hold paint badly.
• Glue them with cyanoacrylate glue; ordinary plastic cement may not work on the material of the accessory.
• Spray the base coat in a dark color and fine-tune the metallic look with graphite or pigment, not with glossy silver.
• Bring out the perforated cooling jacket with a dark wash — it is what makes the weapon read.
• Work with the small parts over a mat, not over a carpet.

Who the accessory is for

For modelers who build American vehicles of the Second World War or of the postwar period in 1:35 scale and want to replace the simplified weapon from the kit with a crisper part. The work is straightforward, but the effect on the finished model is impossible to miss.

This is an accessory, not a complete model. The base kit, paints and glue are not included in the package, unless stated otherwise.