Allow me to quote from the information sheet. " The British MkI 6-pdr (57mm) anti-tank gun was developed in 1938 and adopted in the British Army in 1941, when it turned out that existing systems were not able to destroy German tanks. In November 1941 the MkI saw combat for the first time during the British offensive in Libya. The gun was compact, and weighing only 1135 kg, could easily be handled by the crew of 6. It featured a high rate of fire - up to 15 rounds per minute- and its 2.9kg shell could penetrate 79mm armor at a distance of 825 meters. The 1.47 armor piercing shell could penetrate 146mm of armor at 400 meters distance, making the MkI real trouble for German Tiger and Panther crews. This made the gun quite popular.

The US Army adopted the MkI in 1944 as the M1 57mm anti-tank gun. The gun also served in the Russian Army. In January of 1942, the Soviet Union started taking delivery of what was to be 500 guns. The Red Army also used the US M3 half-track equipped with this gun. "

This was a very popular gun and just the other week, I spotted two of these outside the county courthouse in Paris, IL.

Not sure just how old this kit is, but the date on the box is 1996. It reminds me of the Italeri 105mm gun in the way it is designed, but there much of the similarity stops. Molded in Olive Brown plastic, it suffers quite a bit from sink areas and ejector pin marks. Both of the trails are festooned with these and removing/filling them will basically destroy the detailing on these pieces. If a part is of any additional thickness, it has sink areas. If it is largish (like the gun shield) there were be myriad ejector pin marks. Some will be easy to fill/sand, but most will not. A shame, but I guess that is the way things are.

The level of detail and parts complexity is very much similar to the Italeri 105mm I built a few years back. I'm not sure if this one has the range of motion the Italeri kit has as I don't see any gearing at all for traverse and elevation.

Instructions are totally pictorial and on the back of the box. No painting guide is provided aside from the box art, though there is a parts diagram on the back of the information leaflet provided.

August 2006

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