At the start of WWII, the U-boat packs operated with impunity in the North Atlantic and while their torpedoes sunk a lot of ships, their deck guns did a lot of damage also. This ended with the advent or air patrols and small carriers. Eduard has produced an excellent resin and photoetch kit of the 8.8cm gun used on the Type VII U-boats. My only recommendation is to check references in that on the later Type VII's, the gun was removed due to its ineffectiveness due to the threat of aircraft.

Eduard kit consists of 14 perfect resin parts and 15 photoetch parts on a single fret. The first dozen of these parts actually forms the gun sight alone. Fit is excellent but the parts are small with some being 2mm long and requiring bends. The rest of the gun assembly is smooth with the resin parts coming off the pour stubs easily and fitting perfectly. Add the adjustment wheels and tampion (gun plug) and its clamp and the gun can be set aside.

The base is next. Watch when adding parts R10 and 11- if you angle them in, the gun barrel will not fit. The photoetch brackets are nice and fit perfectly. The brackets on top have very little attachment points. I added a drop of glue to the bracket and kicker to the photoetch part. A few second in, they grabbed well enough and once all the parts were added, I set it aside to get a good cure.

I added the barrel to the base and set our for paint. Color call outs are pretty straight forward as the gun and all parts are gray and they list the color as Gunze 305 FS36118 Gunship Gray. I used White Ensign Models Hellgrau 50 which is lighter. The gunner supports are painted black and that about it. I flat coated and added wash and a little dry brush. and sealed. Lastly I added the line between the tampion and the base.

I grabbed my Revell Type VII and built up the gun quickly. Naturally, the gun supports snapped as the plastic is brittle. You can see by the comparison shots, there is no comparison- Eduard's gun is head and shoulders above Revell's with better and more delicate detail.

Highly recommended! This is a must if you are building a Type VII that has the gun. My thanks to Eduard and IPMS/USA for the chance to review this excellent item.