M134D on EC725
Gun Mount Set

Legend Productions, 1/35 scale

Reviewed by David Couche

The M134 Minigun is an American 7.62×51mm NATO six-barrel rotary machine gun with a high rate of fire (2,000 to 6,000 rounds per minute). It features a Gatling-style rotating barrel assembly with an external power source, normally an electric motor. The "Mini" in the name is in comparison to larger-calibre designs that use a rotary barrel design, such as General Electric's earlier 20 mm M61 Vulcan, and "gun" for the use of rifle ammunition as opposed to autocannon shells.

"Minigun" refers to a specific model of weapon that General Electric originally produced, but the term "minigun" has popularly come to refer to any externally powered rotary gun of rifle caliber. The term is sometimes used loosely to refer to guns of similar rates of fire and configuration, regardless of power source and calibre.

The Minigun is used by several branches of the U.S. military. Versions are designated M134 and XM196 by the United States Army, and GAU-2/A and GAU-17/A by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy.

The basic minigun is a six-barrel, air-cooled, and electrically driven rotary machine gun. The electric drive rotates the weapon within its housing, with a rotating firing pin assembly and rotary chamber. The minigun's multi-barrel design helps prevent overheating, but also serves other functions. Multiple barrels allow for a greater capacity for a high firing rate, since the serial process of firing, extraction, and loading is taking place in all barrels simultaneously. Thus, as one barrel fires, two others are in different stages of shell extraction and another three are being loaded. The minigun is composed of multiple closed-bolt rifle barrels arranged in a circular housing. The barrels are rotated by an external power source, usually electric, pneumatic, or hydraulic. Other rotating-barrel cannons are powered by the gas pressure or recoil energy of fired cartridges. A gas-operated variant, designated XM133, was also developed.

While the weapon can feed from linked ammunition, it requires a delinking feeder to strip the links as the rounds are fed into the chambers. The original feeder unit was designated MAU-56/A, but has since been replaced by an improved MAU-201/A unit.

The General Electric minigun is used in several branches of the U.S. military, under a number of designations. The basic fixed armament version was given the designation M134 by the United States Army, while the same weapon was designated GAU-2/A (on a fixed mount) and GAU-17/A (flexible mount) by the United States Air Force (USAF) and United States Navy (USN). The USAF minigun variant has three versions, while the US Army weapon appears to have incorporated several improvements without a change in designation. The M134D is an improved version of the M134 designed and manufactured by Dillon Aero, while Garwood Industries manufactures the M134G variant.

*Text mainly from Wikipedia

Having managed to score an Academy 1/35 UH-60L Blackhawk and being in possession of a wonderful set of Werner Wings “IRENE! - TF 160th in Somalia” decals it was time to do an Operation Gothic Serpent airframe. My research of photographs showed that these Blackhawks had very obvious M134 miniguns mounted at each of the doors. Whilst the kit has great detail, the guns left much to be desired. And the hunt was on…… with me finding and purchasing a set from Legend Productions of a pair of M134D’s with the LH and RH EC725 Gun mounts in unbelievable detail. Legend Productions started producing armor accessories in resin in 2011 and had continually developed and expanded their range till now, branching out into a number of aero based products, including some great seats in 1/32 and 1/72. Along with a few other odd aftermarket bits and pieces, this gun set will really lift the model into a high level of detail (I hope).

The set comes in a relatively small sturdy box with the grey resin parts bagged, along with 72 greyish resin parts and a couple of pieces of brass wire. The detail and quality of the casting is amazing. Casting blocks are minimal and very little clean up will be required. The resin barrels are so close to the Master metal barrels quality, it would be hard to tell the difference under a coat of paint. The construction process follows, what I think would be close to the process for the real thing and the instructions are in a photographic style. Whilst illustrating sections, the do not give and order required, so you will carefully need to look, check your parts, dry fit etc to ensure all is together in the correct alignment etc. No painting call outs are there but there are Legend do give you coloured photos of the finished painted models, so some good educated choices/guesses will be required. And as seen above, there are plenty of coloured photos on the internet to use as references and even some weathering.

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You will need to refer carefully to the photos they supply of the completed model for the placement of the wiring.

This is an amazingly detailed gun set, most suitable for using in Blackhawk models. I would highly recommend this set for experienced modellers who really want to take the detail level of the Academy Blackhawks to new heights. I must say that Legend produce a huge range of armament for both choppers and for armour, as well as a wealth of accessories for all types of AFV modelling. Do yourself a favour and have a look.

Thanks to Brengun for the review sample.

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2022 David Couche
Page Created 1 March, 2022
Last updated 1 March, 2022

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