Kit Review

[Dan Morton]

Now this is impressive! This is the first Firing Line kit I’ve bought, but it won’t be the last. Firing Line, a David J. Parkins company, is based in St. Davids in Wales, UK. The Vickers 0.303 machine gun and tripod mount in lead and etched brass parts in 1/15th scale or 120mm. Where to begin? This kit has 38 separate numbered parts and many extras! Everything from a 5 piece tripod to an etched brass (canvas) barrel cover. There are even WWI machine gunner cap badges for figures that you might add. You can build it in WWI or ‘WW2 and after’ configuration – the only change seems to be a different barrel apparently. Something to keep in mind is that the Vickers saw service from 1912 to 1968 (I believe…) and everywhere from the Western Front to Aden and the Brits were not the only nation to use it.

The kit comes in the plastic bag with 5 individual plastic bags, some reinforced and taped down to prevent damage. I saw no damage to any of the parts. Most of the parts have no flash. A few have a little, but nothing major. Nothing was warped or misshapen.

The 3 pages of instructions are outstanding. There is a 5 color line drawing showing and numbering every part. The other two pages contained detailed text instructions of the 12 steps of assembly. The best set of instructions I’ve seen on any model I’ve bought – period.

$38.00 for the kit and, I think, a great value! If you’d like a wonderful reference book to go along with it, check out Machine Guns of World War I by Robert Bruce, ISBN 1859150780