MG34

MG34 on Lafette

Good MG34s are a rare breed in 1/72. The only ones I am aware of are those that are included in some of Preiser's infantry sets (which are notoriously hard to find), the metal one by Miniworld and now the set marketed by Tracks and Troops (which has been cast by JK Resin). While set TT071 represents the standard MG34 with bipod, set TT072 represents the MG34 on a light Flak mount. As far as I remember, this is the first time the latter has been offered in Braille Scale.

Set TT071 actually gives two identical MG34s. The body, bipod and ammo drum are in black resin, while the barrel is a metal part. All parts are very delicately cast, and the body even has a surprisingly fine alidade on top (which I managed to break almost instantly). I would have loved to have had a stowed bipod as well, but perhaps this can be scratchbuilt by the modeler using the legs of the deployed bipod.

Set TT072 includes a single MG34. Again body and ammo drum are in black resin and the barrel in metal. No bipod is provided, which is slightly disappointing as it seems that the (folded) bipod stayed with the gun when the MG was used as an AA gun (e.g. see here); on my gun I used a left-over bipod from a Preiser set. What is equally missing is the circular AA sight, which might be found in a Brengun set.
A delicate tripod is included in the set however, which has the most delicate hooks I have ever seen on any part, be them resin, metal or injection styrene.
It seems that, when using the MG34 in the AA role, a different type of ammo box was often used, called PT-34 (e.g. see here), which is not included in the set. Fortunately for the modeler the standard drum was also used (cf. here), or even banded ammunition (cf. here, here or here). In the latter case, a big ammo box could be suspended from the hooks on the tripod.

In all, a very nice set, although measurements show that the set is about 12% overscale.
I hope that TnT continues to expand this range of MGs and will offer us an MG34 on an sMG mount in the future, or even a Zwillingsflak or this weird contraption.

Contents of Set TT071 on the left, of set TT072 on the right.

The finished and primed sets. Note that I might have installed the AA gun sight on the left gun too much towards the tip of the gun, compared to period pictures.

Sample kindly provided by Tracks and Troops as a bonus with an order.

Tracks and Troops kits can be purchased from