Lion Roar

United States Navy 20mm Oerlikon AA Guns 1:350 scale Photoetch For US Navy WW2 warships in 1/350 scale.

Stock Number: LE350014

Reviewed By  Luke R. Bucci, PhD, IPMS# 33549

MSRP: $20.00 Thanks to Dragon USA for supplying the kit. (www.dragonmodelsusa.com) Bottom Line: Lion Roar has produced fine 20mm singles for US Navy WW2 warships in 1/350 scale. 20mm Oerlikon AA gun The US Navy used single .50 cal machine guns as the primary light, close-in antiaircraft (AA) weapon onboard its warships before WW2. This was quickly found to be inadequate after seeing British experiences, and in November 1940, approval to build 20mm Oerlikons for Britain was secured. The gun was licensed from the Swiss, and was a free swinging, 70-calibre, air-cooled, blow-back design. Muzzle velocity was 2700 feet per second, and a high-explosive shell weighing 0.27 pounds was usually fired. Mounts elevated from +87 to -5 degrees for Marks 2 and 4, the most common mountings. American 20mm guns were first delivered in July 1941, and ships were in the process of replacing .50-cal guns with 20mm guns before Pearl Harbor, but only 379 guns were ready. Replacement was expedited after December 1941, and the 20mm Oerlikon in various marks and mountings became the primary shipboard light AA weapon during WW2. Double and even a few quadruple mounts were developed by 1945, but most mounts were single. Larger warships carried from 113 (Shangri-La) to 55 barrels (battleships). 20mm mounts were found on almost every US warship. However, in 1945 it was realized that 20mm shells did not have the disintegration power required to stop kamikaze attacks, so its use declined quickly after WW2. Interestingly, 20mm mounts were reinstalled on modern warships when suicide boats and terrorists became a problem. REVIEW: Lion Roar has been taking the photoetch market for warships by storm lately, producing high quality, easy to use sets for major navies, including must-haves such as AA guns, railings and radars, but also the esoteric pieces such as davits, cable reels, and even porthole covers that really make a model look more realistic. LE350014 is another timely addition to the growing 1/350 scale photoetch sets. This scale, unlike 1/700 scale, has the potential for photoetch pieces to be truly to scale, and this set comes close. 40 20mm single guns with shields and stands are provided on one brass fret. 20 are the solid pedestal mount (Mark 4), and 20 are the open pedestal mount (Mark 2). For each type of mount, there are three pieces per gun (gun, shield, pedestal). The gun itself is made by folding two halves together, giving it thickness lacking in single-thickness photoetch pieces. The resulting seam can be filled with cyanoacrylate glue to hide it without adding bulk. The guns have relief etched details, and gunsights. The solid pedestal is solid brass, supplied in a separate pouch. The open pedestals need to be folded, but this is a simple process. The shields are relief etched, and have specific attachment points to the guns. Construction of each type of mount is simple. Be sure to use the guns with hand wheels for the solid pedestals (the guns without a hand wheel are used with the open tripods pedestals). After folding, I dipped the barrel into cyanoacrylate glue to ensure they stayed together and did not splay open. Following the instructions means bending the shoulder supports and the gunsight, which is delicate. The shields fit fine, but make sure they are lined vertical to the deck. For the hand wheels, I found it was easier to cut off the hand wheel and reinstall it after the gun was glued to the solid pedestal. I found that using CA glue accelerator made a big difference with these pieces. I added a piece of plastic rod cut to shape for ammo drums, and glued them on the right hand side of the mount on the vertical support just forward of the gunsights. It took me about 10-15 minutes to assemble each gun - less with practice. Comparing the finished guns to photographs of 20mm mounts shows good accuracy, except for missing cartridge bags, a feature no aftermarket set has. Compared to the original kit 20mm guns from Trumpeter's Ticonderoga 1/350 kit (previously reviewed in IPMSUSA's website) with Tom's Modelworks shields, the Lion Roar guns look more to scale and are superior, even with other photoetch embellishments (I was in process of using Tom's Modelworks 3530 WWII Essex Class Carrier set to upgrade the kit guns). About the only complaint I have is the ammo drums are vertical, thin slabs, when they should be cylindrical. This can be somewhat rectified by cutting plastic rod and gluing it to the slabs. Of course, live ammo drums where usually not loaded onto 20mm guns until ready for use, so depending on the state of the model, it could be argued that these guns are fine as is. Normally, a cartridge bag was placed just behind the shield to catch fired cartridges, but this is seldom seen in scale models, and represents a difficult feature to model. Also, check references to make sure the proper stand (pedestal) is being used for your model. Compared to the kit 20mm guns for the Trumpeter Ticonderoga kit, the Lion Roar PE mounts are deeper - in fact, they do not fit on the midships port 20mm gun galleries (even after the platforms were widened), but the mounts fit fine on the foremost and aft galleries. Plan ahead with using these guns - you may need to drill new mounting holes (for the pedestal stands) or reposition the guns in order to make them fit into their tubs or galleries.

Summary Lion Roar has produced a fine example of the ubiquitous 20mm single Oerlikon gun with shield, suitable for all US Navy warships shipping this weapon, as well as other navies. Assembly and manipulation is simple, and the finished weapon looks accurate. The value of this set is good, about $0.50 per mount, an important point in the expensive world of 1/350 ship models, where aftermarket sets can end up costing more than the kit. If you only need one type of pedestal, then the cost per mount jumps to $1.00. For a large warship carrying 50+ mounts of one type, you can easily ring up $60 to supply all the correct 20mm mounts - about ½ to 1/3 the cost of a typical 1/350 plastic kit. These can be further accurized by adding plastic rod for the ammo drum, and I recommend you plan ahead to make sure they will fit on your model. Highly recommended. Reference: Campbell J. Naval Weapons of World War Two. Conway Maritime Press, London, UK, 1985. 0-85177-329-X

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