From ICM website:

These installations were used by the Wehrmacht to defend troops on the march from air attacks and to support the advancing infantry. They were originally installed on the special trailer “IF5” and Stoewer, BMW cars (type Kfz 1) in the initial period of the war, also later in the bodies of trucks and as fixed firing points.

Reviewer’s Comments:

ICM’s Zwillingssockel 36 kit consists of a color box cover with a reinforced inner white cardboard box underneath it. There is a single sprue with 30 parts provided inside and one sheet of instructions. There is no background or history of the gun provided. However, there is a brief description of this machine gun mount on ICM’s website. There is a list of colors needed to paint the assembled kit in the instructions. The colors list Revel and Tamiya paints and their numbers. The assembled view of the model is presented in black and white in the instructions, but there is a small side view of the mount in color on the side of the box cover. There are 16 assembly steps in the manual.

There are two variants possible in this kit: one with a horizontally placed gun barrels and one with the barrels lifted up. In the step #16 different parts need to be used depending on the angle of the gun barrels. I opted for the horizontal mount but when gluing the part number 6 to the assembled frame in step 15, I did not attach its front to the frame. This way I could still move the guns up and down. I have also made the base of the gun mount rotating in steps 10 and 11 although it is not an option if you follow the instructions. I drilled out machine gun barrels out before proceeding with the assembly. The fit of the parts was excellent throughout the build. The details on the parts are great. The box art on ICM site includes a small insert stating: ‘100% New Molds.’

Some parts, however, required some sanding to remove tiny mold lines. The parts are very small and care must be taken to avoid breaking. I did not have a textured plastic base to mount the finished assembly on it but plan on adding it later after I get one from a local hoppy shop. It would have been great to get an example of how this machine gun mount was installed on the various military equipment. There is only one option to paint the assembled kit: overall Tank Grey. I used four colors to paint the model: tank grey, gunmetal, khaki, and leather (brown), for the mount, the guns, the front cover, and the seat respectively.

Final notes: It was a joy to build the Zwillingssockel 36 kit because of the perfect parts’ fit. I assembled the kit in one session in one day. Painting was easy too. I highly recommend the kit to anyone who wants to have a detailed machine gun set on a mount in their collection. Thank you, ICM, for providing an enjoyable experience.

My sincere thanks go to ICM for generously providing this kit to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it.