The twin 37mm FLAK Doppel C/30 gun mount was the main anti-aircraft weapon of the warships of the Kriegsmarine at the start of the war. This weapon had a
monoblock barrel with a drawn-on breech ring and a vertical sliding block breech mechanism. The gun was semi-automatic and used eight round clips of high explosive
and tracer ammunition. They also came equipped with gyro-stabilization to compensate for pitch, roll and corkscrew but this proved too weak during sharp turns in
combat. Designed for 160 rounds per minute the weapon’s effective rate was 80 rounds per minute. By late war the C30 guns were scheduled for replacement by the
newer 3.7cm Flak M/42 gun and even newer M/43 on some cruisers. It was not until late war that shielding was introduced to the light AA guns.

The Veteran Models accessory set provides resin and photo-etch parts and turned brass barrels to build four twin 37mm FLAK Doppel C/30 mounts. The resin parts
include the mount and base plate, gunner’s seats, trainer’s seat, trunnions and smaller parts. The resin parts are very detailed but require a little bit of clean up to remove
bits of excess resin film. The trunnions have openings to fit the nibs of the brass barrels. The resin parts all come on casting runners with thin attachment points.

There are two photo-etch frets to detail the mounts. The main fret has two versions of the foot plates, one solid and one with perforations. The fret also has elevation
wheels, control arms, elevation gears and other detail parts. The second fret has optional shields and related parts that were fitted to some late war mounts. A set of
eight nicely done turned brass barrels are included as well. A small double-sided instruction sheet is provided which has clear illustrations showing how to assemble the
mounts. The front side covers the steps on how to build the mounts and the flip side addresses how to assemble the optional shields.
The Veteran Models twin 37mm FLAK Doppel C/30 gun set is excellent and are an improvement to the mounts that come with the 1:200 scale Trumpeter Bismarck kit.
You will need to buy two sets to equip you model as the battleship was fitted with eight mounts. My thanks to Melvin at Veteran Models for providing the review sample.
Felix Bustelo
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