OH-58D Kiowa Armament Set (for Academy/MCR kit)

Armycast M&M, 1/35 scale

Reviewed by Mark Davies

HyperScale is proudly supported by Squadron.com

The Company

Armycast M&M’s website introduction gives a brief background of the company's four members. They obviously take pride in their products, and proclaim that they believe “their products will speak to you.” Armycast M&M offer an interesting range of products in 1/72, 1/48 and 1/35 scales; and I encourage readers to take the time to check out their website.

The Set

This is the first 1/35-scale set by Armycast M&M that I have reviewed, and despite being a dedicated 1/72nd builder myself, I enjoyed checking this set out. It is both simple and delightfully detailed, in no small measure due to the inclusion of turned barrel and jacket by Master, along with a PE flexible ammunition track by the same company. Armycast are obviously responsible for the resin parts, which are both nicely detailed and of good quality. These provide the receiver, ammo-box, feed cover, feed guide, recoil dampers, gun mount and pylon.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 

Thumbnail panels:

The instructions are well drawn and serve to guide most assembly effectively enough; basically just the gun and its mount. They do state that assembling according to photos is recommended; which obviously means that the builder should find some images since none are provided. No colour call-outs are provided either, so real images will again be needed. The instructions do advise that some sway braces be made from wire for the pylon.

At first I thought the instructions were a little inadequate, as they do not illustrate the location of the ammo-box on the side of the helicopter, or the wiring between the fuselage and gun. Being unfamiliar with Academy’s OH-58 kit I thought I had better do a web-search and take a look at it. After doing so, I came to realise that this set provides replacement parts for the kit, rather than being an add-on set as I had first assumed. In light of this, Armycast’s instructions seem more adequate than I thought initially, although they could still be improved with an illustration of the entire gun installation on the helicopter. Presumably the Academy kit’s instructions provide guidance on this, plus most modellers will source suitable images to help; so it is not a major obstacle. However, Armycast could consider listing URL’s for suitable walk-arounds, or include images and illustrations on their own website.

This armament set is nicely detailed and made of very good quality components.

The instructions are adequate, but either the Academy kit instructions or reference images will be needed to illustrate the layout of the complete gun installation. It would be helpful if Armycast were to list URL’s for on-line images, or include some on their own website. However, it is a relatively easy matter to find web-images to guide the finishing of this armament set.

I am happy to recommend this set.

Thanks to Armycast M&M for the review sample

Back to HyperScale Main Page

Back to Reviews Page