1:48 Handley Page Hampden - Vickers K with Mounts (3 pcs / for ICM Kits)

The hand-held defense of the flying suitcase

The Handley Page HP.52 Hampden first flew on 21 June 1936 and from 1938 it was, alongside the Wellington and the Whitley, one of the mainstays of RAF bomber aviation. A fuselage barely a meter wide earned it the nickname Flying Suitcase, and at the same time it meant that defense against fighters had to be provided by the crew with hand-operated weapons in open firing positions above and below the fuselage.

What you will find in the box

The set carries three complete Vickers K machine guns together with their mounts, that is enough for the hand-operated positions of a model with one spare for a cut that goes wrong. This gas-operated weapon of the Royal Air Force was marked by a high rate of fire of around a thousand rounds per minute and by a striking drum magazine set above the receiver; both are legibly rendered on the castings and, once painted, give the open gun positions the credibility that injection molded plastic usually does not offer.

• Three weapons with mounts in one package, 1:48 scale.
• Shaped for Hampden kits from the maker ICM.
• The cooling jacket of the barrel and the drum magazine as separately legible elements.
• Resin castings with no need to fold photo-etch.

Before building, leave the castings for a while in warm water with detergent and let them dry, so that traces of the mold release agent disappear. Separate the casting blocks with a fine-toothed saw, level the cut with a sanding sponge and check the barrel against the light to see whether it is straight. Steel gray complemented by a light dry brush along the edges is enough to make the weapon look used. The barrel will then take a slightly darker tone than the receiver.