German Machine Gun MG 34 (Maschinen Gewehr 34)
Customizing a Cotswold MG 34
With the arrival of the Schwimmwagen from 21st Century I hoped that it would have a nice MG34, but unfortunately, the sculpt of the MG is terrible (IMHO). The only thing usefull is the 50 round magazine which looks ok.
Here a picture of the MG from 21st.
Well, what else do we have? The Cotswold MG 34, still not very detailed, but it looks better then the one from 21st.
I know that I probably should wait until Dragon comes with a MG34 but until they do, I decided to customize the one from Cots ( which I just happened to have :o) )
As you can see, it looks more accurate, however there are a few things that I didn't like about it. So what can be done here.
First : I wanted the barrel housing to look better. So I tool a little saw and cut it in half.
Then take a small drill ( 1 mm to start with ) and drill away the pieces as shown in the diagram. Ofcourse this is a difficult job so be carefull to start exactly in the middle.
The 3 mm hole is for the barrel
Then take a 2 mm drill, and drill away the cooling holes.
It's difficult to drill in a straight line, so that's why I cut the front piece of the barrel in half. This way it was easier to drill.
Once you drilled al the cooling holes (2 mm) it's time to put everything back together.
For the barrel I took a little rod with a 3 mm diameter and a length of approx. 8.5 cm
Then glue the first piece back on (with super glue) and let it dry thoroughly.
Now it's time to put the last part back on.
It's hard to see it on the pictures, but I assure you, it looks a *lot* better :o)
Now....., it's time to put on some details here.
The Bipod that comes with the Cotswold MG isn't looking to good, so I decided to rebuilt is completely.
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