|
|
Forums - Modelling / Figures |
The figures forum is for the discussion of construction and painting of figures and the tools and materials used. |
|
|
| Subject: | Re: US Army sniper rifle - WW2 |  |
| Date: | Aug 18, 2007 |
| From: | Paul Gibson | |
Hi Marc,
If you really want a Springfield ’03 or ‘03A3, and if you’re handy at close work and have access to good pic’s of the ’03 family, you may want to convert a Mauser KAR-98 to the Springfield. As a matter of fact, DML has offered a ‘scoped KAR-98 in some of their figure sets and in ‘Part I’ (I believe) of their German Small Arms set. Done with care, this would result in a better-looking replica than that provided by Tamiya. Tamiya’s box art is far better than the bits inside the package.
The US Army also used two sniper versions of the M1 Garand: the M1C and M1D. As I recall, the primary difference was the ‘scope mount. I think one of these also had a lace-on leather cheek piece fitted to the left side of the stock and was fitted with a clip-on flash-hider. I don’t recall the date that the ‘sniperized’ M1’s entered service, but they were certainly in the field by D-Day, and quite possibly earlier.
Any WWII US figure set from DML should have at least a couple of decent M1’s. Tamiya did a more recent set of US small arms that is part of their “US Infantry Equipment” set (35206). There are a couple of quite nice M1’s in the set and it is in stock at GreatModels. A riflescope can be scratch built from different (small) diameters of styrene rod. The ‘scope mount and cheekpiece can be made from scrap styrene bits and the flash hider can be the tapered end of some stretched sprue.
Most books on WW II/Korean – era small arms should have decent coverage of both the ‘03A3 and M1 sniper rifles.
If DML is releasing their WW II allied small arms set, that is good news indeed. The Tamiya allied weapons set is pretty awful (as is their contemporary German weapons set). For some reason, Tamiya was never able to do realistic-looking small arms until quite recently. For many years, Tamiya’s MG-34’s were notable for having receivers with left and right sides being exact mirror images. And it was just lately Tamiya discovered that automatic (and semi-auto) weapons possess bolt handles.
That said, the Brens, Stens, and Enfields included in Tamiya’s fairly recent “British Infantry on Patrol” figure set are superb – quite possibly the best 1/35th scale renditions of these weapons ever. Likewise, the US weapons included in # 35206 are quite nice. But generally, DML has the best 1/35th small arms available. In fact these are better than most resin small arms (Ultracast’s 1/35th Enfield MkIII’s being a notable exception, along with Legends replicas). I do think that Italeri has the nicest 1/35th pistols – so long as you want a 1911A1, Luger, P-38, Beretta 92, or Tokarev. These are in their less-than-aptly-named “Modern Small Arms” set.
For the last bit of ‘more than you really wanted to know about 1/35th personal weapons’ trivia, the new Bronco Humber has a very nice Thompson Model 1928 SMG. I’m doubtful that these were ever included as standard equipment, given the Humber’s rather late introduction, but it’s a nifty little extra. The Thompson is the early-pattern with the vertical pistol grip. Not only does the gun come with the expected box magazine, but it also has a very nice replica of the 50-round drum. The cooling fins on the barrel are a bit raggedly molded, but can be cleaned up nicely; and I’m hoping for an aftermarket turned brass barrel, complete with a properly done Cutts compensator…
Obviously I’m a complete gun nut – in any scale.
Sorry to bore you :)
Paul Gibson |
| |
|
|
 | US Army sniper rifle - WW2 - Marc Yablon - Aug 16, 2007 |
| . . . Re: US Army sniper rifle - WW2 - Al Bowie - Aug 16, 2007 |
| . . . . . . Re: US Army sniper rifle - WW2 - Marc Yablon - Aug 16, 2007 |
| . . . . . . . . . Re: US Army sniper rifle - WW2 - Rob galassi - Aug 16, 2007 |
| . . . . . . . . . Re: US Army sniper rifle - WW2 - Al Bowie - Aug 18, 2007 |
| . . . . . . In the Tamiya Allied weapons set - Mike Riedeman - Aug 17, 2007 |
| . . . Tamiya US Infantry Weapons Set [IMG] - Paul A. Owen - Aug 17, 2007 |
| . . . Re: US Army sniper rifle - WW2 - Paul Gibson - Aug 18, 2007 |
| . . . . . . Re: US Army sniper rifle - WW2 - Marc Yablon - Aug 18, 2007 |
| . . . . . . . . . Re: US Army sniper rifle - WW2 - Paul Gibson - Aug 20, 2007 |
|
|
