Zvezda 1/72 British Bofors 40-mm MkI/II AA-Gun

Like many of my boondoggles, I blame this one on David M. Knights, Esq. He had mentioned that fellow modeler Mike Baskette was doing a retro build of the recently reissued Airfix 1/76 Bofors 40mm Gun and Tractor. I remember building the kit…in an MPC box..in high school and the discussion reminded me of the, probable apocryphal, story of the Canadian Forces pillaging museums, CFB Baden–Soellingen, and CFB Lahr for Bofors guns to refit Canadian Navy ships during the Gulf War. As much as the idea of building the Airfix kit again was of some interest, I’ve never warmed to 1/76 scale, so I searched out an actual 1/72 Bofors gun. And said search turned up this kit. Quickly ordered, I was impressed with what was in the box when it arrived. I guess it is part of Zvezda’s series of kits for war gamers, but it also looked like a nice model.

Modeled in a softish tan plastic…nothing like those old Airfix soft plastic figures, the kit is somewhat simplified..for example the gun sights are solid…but still a very nice replica of the Bofors gun. Included are four nice figures, a base…reminiscent of Matchbox 1/76 kits…and a rather thick flag. The gun itself is made up of slightly over 30 parts. Molding is pretty good, but there are some mold parting lines to remove and the fastidious will want to drill out the gun barrel. Otherwise, it looks like a nice simple…dare I say...it fun model.

So, to return to the story of Bofors guns defending Canada’s German air bases during the Cold War...it is indeed true. They were 40mm Bofors guns, but on what is called a Boffin mount removed from RCN ships. So I can’t use this kit for that, but I did find a nice photo of a Bofors on exercise on the West Coast to keep Vancouver safe from Japanese air attack. That will be my subject, if only I could find a 1/72 dog to add to the vignette!

City of Vancouver Archives # CVA 1184-629 captioned "Men firing a
Bofors 40 mm ack-ack anti-aircraft gun at University Point."