Weapon History

Developed in the late ‘60s to replace the M134 7.62mm mini-gun then in use on lightweight helicopter gunships, the M197 20mm 3-barrel rotary cannon is found primarily in the chin mounted turret of later AH-1 Cobras. A derivative of the M61 cannon found on nearly all US fighters since the F-104, the M197 trades 6-barrels and a higher rate of fire for lighter weight and stopping power gained with a 20mm round. The M197 is still in use today on the Cobra, specifically the AH-1W and AH-1Z operated by the USMC.

Kit Contents

More than just an aftermarket part to superglue in place, the Model Master M197 is a very detailed miniature model kit, with extra emphasis on the miniature! The kit is highlighted by three beautifully turned cannon barrels, a small photo etch fret, and an impossibly small bit of brass representing the center nut. My particular kit was packaged with an extra center nut.

This Special Edition dual kit is a re-release of Hasegawa’s DC-3/C-47 kit with decals included to build two variants of the L2D “Tabby,” the Japanese copy of the C-47, and one USAAF C-47. The parts are typical Hasegawa – molded in gray and with super detail. On my sample, something apparently happened to the C-47 during packaging because it had what looked like tank tracks across the left vertical fin, and the antenna and pitot masts were bent horizontal. It all turned out OK with some putty and re-scribing. The kit could use the addition of some details – there are no exhaust stacks, for instance.

The L2D kit has the World’s Smallest Resin Part included for the antenna cover atop the forward fuselage – and that pretty well typifies the main issue I had with these kits: size. The builds are straightforward, but some of the smaller parts are so tiny, it’s difficult to hold them and clean up sprue nubs, sand off mold seams, and so forth.

This review is for Plus Models Old Radios set in their "Easy Line" product range.

The kit consists of three resin cast radios from different decades of the first half of the 20th Century.

These are just simply washed with soap and water to remove the mold-release agent and then painted appropriately with Vallejo and Citadel acrylics. The radios need to be snipped from their resin runner/sprue; there was no flash, warpage, or air bubbles observed.

Many thanks to IPMS/USA and Plus Models for the review sample.