Scale: 1/700
Set includes 10 mounts (turrets). No barrels.
A set of 4 Montana class 16"/50 cal. turrets is available separately.
Recommended for:
- Blue Ridge Models 1/700 scale USS Montana BB-67
- Blue Ridge Models 1/700 scale USS Ohio BB-68
- Blue Ridge Models 1/700 scale USS Maine BB-69
- Imperial Hobby Productions 1/700 scale USS Montana BB-67
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
- integrated trunnions with slots for barrels (barrels not included). Trunnions set at +5 degrees, the loading angle
- 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
These 3D-printed models are original designs developed from official US Navy drawings of the Mk.16 mount. They are not 3D-printed copies of any plastic or resin kit's parts. Therefore, they may be differently sized and shaped than the parts in your plastic or resin kit. Some adjustment to your plastic or resin kit's parts, or other aftermarket parts such as photo-etch, may be necessary for best fit.
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.