Master Model of Poland produces small brass parts for detailing models, be they aircraft or ships. They have parts for aircraft in 1/32, 1/35, 1/48, 1/72, and 1/144, mostly pitot tubes, refueling probes and gun barrels.

These are 4 20mm gun barrels for Japanese WW2 fighters. I had a 1/144 Platz N1K2 “George” on the shelf, which I built for a review about 4 years ago. I selected it for the upgrade.

Removal and Replacement

Removal was a simple job. I used sprue cutters and cut the guns off the wing, as close as I could to the leading edge. The kit has fairings at the base of each gun, but I fixed that later. Once I got the plastic guns removed, I used a sanding stick to flatten the base of the kit fairings. This gave me a clean surface to drill into. The instructions call for a .4mm drill. Looking at my .4mm drill and the guns, I downgraded the drill to a .25mm. The hole was still just a little large, but .25mm is about the smallest drill I’ve got.

Once the holes were drilled, I test fit one of the guns to make sure the hole was deep enough to take the gun, but not so deep as to make it too short. Once I had all 4 holes at about the correct depth, I got out the gel-type CA and applied a drop to the base of one of the guns. I put it in the hole and aligned it vertically and horizontally. Then I put a bit of accelerator on the base of the gun, and it was installed. I repeated the above step 3 more times. I now had 4 guns installed, but they weren’t quite right. The George had fairings at the base of each gun at the wing leading edge. Using a toothpick as an application tool, I put a tiny drop of Elmer’s glue at the base of each gun. I was able to fiddle with them until they looked pretty much alike. When the Elmer’s had dried, I painted the guns with Testor’s Gun Metal Metallizer. Then I painted the base of the guns, the fairings and the spots I marred on the wing leading edges with Tamiya yellow.

The whole project took about an hour, including the time for the Elmer’s to dry. And the George looks good.

Overall Evaluation

Highly recommended.

Pitot tubes, antennas and protruding guns are always susceptible to being bent or broken. My experience has been that once a Master part has been installed, your worries are over. The parts are finer than the kit parts, but much, much stronger. If you break off a small part on your model, go to the Master Model website and see if they have a replacement. You’ll be glad you did.

Thanks to Master Model for the review item, and IPMS USA for helping me upgrade my "George".