Mk. 77 Napalm Bombs
This Mk. 77 is an unguided incendiary weapon used by the U S military. The Mk. 77 uses a fuel gel mixture that is similar to napalm, with similar effects when dropped. The Mk. 77 was used in Operation Desert Storm to destroy oil/fuel filled trenches and obstacles created by the Iraqis.
The set includes parts for two complete cannisters, each comprised of a tapered nose section, a barrel shaped center section and a tapered tail section. While the nose and tail sections are similar, they are not identical. The set also includes three different types of fuses for each cannister, and the instructions illustrate some of the fuse combinations available.
Construction is very straight forward. I used a razor saw to cut each section from the pour block, taking care to ensure that the ends were kept square. I then sanded the ends lightly on a sheet of sandpaper taped to a sheet of glass from an old picture frame. The sections were glued together using slow setting superglue to allow me time to adjust the alignment of the sections so that they matched the configuration shown in the instructions. I elected not to install any of the fuse options as I have seen several photographs of Mk. 77’s on USMC F/A-178’s without fuses at either end.
I airbrushed the cannisters Testors aluminum, but as shown in the photos, it is a bit grainier than I had intended, so you may want to use a more metallic paint such as Alclad to get a smoother finish. Once the paint was dry, I put on a coat of Alclad gloss to prepare the cannisters for decaling. The decals are sharply printed. They are printed on a continuous section of decal film, so you will need to trim up each decal before you apply it. Also, they are very thin, so be careful not to let them fold over onto themselves. The stencils for one of the center sections did this and I was unable to untangle it.
Once the decals had dried, I sealed them with a coat of Testors acrylic flat.
This is a nice little set of an air-to-ground weapon not commonly seen. The castings are very sharp and crisp with no air bubbles and separating the parts from the pour stubs was easy. I am looking forward to mounting them on a Desert Storm US Marine Corps Hornet.
Highly recommended.
Thank you to Brengun/Hauler for the review set and to IPMS-USA for letting me review it.
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