Scale 1/144
Set includes 2 mounts (turrets) with barrels.
The 5"/54 caliber Mark 41 twin-gun mount (turret) was a proposed, late World War II–era dual-purpose naval gun mount to be installed aboard the never-built Montana-class battleships. Using two 5"/54 caliber Mk.16 cannons, they were intended to replace the 5"/38 caliber secondary gun batteries then in widespread use with the US Navy.
No official plans, drawings or photos of mock-ups of the proposed 5"/54 cal. Mk.41 twin-gun mount's gunhouse are known to exist. This 3D-printed design is a theoretical enlargement of the very real Mk.16 single-gun mount fit to Midway-class aircraft carriers and later installed in the Japanese Akizuki-class and Murasame-class destroyers from 1958 to 1959. Sources indicate that the Mk.41 twin-gun mount would have carried the same gun as the Mk.16 single-gun mount.
Some have argued that the 5"/54 cal. Mk.16 gun would have been installed within the same gunhouses enclosing the 5"/38 cal. guns fit to the Iowa class, South Dakota class and North Carolina class battleships. A 3D design study shows that the 5"/54 cal. Mk.16 gun does not fit in that gunhouse. The 5"/54 cal. Mk.16 gun's breech extends so far to the rear of the trunnion that there is insufficent space behind the breech in the small 5"/38 cal. gunhouse to load the gun. Additionally, when fully elevated, the 5"/54 cal. gun pierces the 5"/38 cal. gunhouse floor. Only a new, larger gunhouse can accomodate the 5"/54 cal. Mk. 16 gun, hence the need for a Mk.41 gunhouse.
Features:
- detailed mount captain blast hood
- separate trunnions with integrated barrels to allow the modeler to choose any realistic elevation from +85 degrees to -15 degrees
- crew access hatches and maintenance hatches with hinge and bolt-head details
- accurately sized and located bolt-heads, consistent with the Mk.16 mount
- detailed traverse limiter on the lower glacis, consistent with the Mk.16 mount
- integrated barbette
To assemble the mounts, insert the barrels through the open bottom.
Montana Class:
- BB-67 USS Montana
- BB-68 USS Ohio
- BB-69 USS Louisiana
- BB-70 USS New Hampshire
- BB-71 USS Maine
© Model Monkey Book and Hobby. This 3D-printed item may not be copied or recast.