All of the world’s navies developed heavier AA armament during World War Two. The prewar machine gun AA armament was woefully deficient as an AA system. Almost every country tried a 20mm ordnance system and while the RN and USN fielded the Oerlikon 20mm guns, first in single and then in twin gun mounts, the Kriegsmarine developed their own weapon. In 1940 a new mount was developed to further increase armament. Designed by Mauser and produced by Rheinmetall, the weapon was the very effective quad 20mm. Known as the 2cm Flak 35 im Vierling L/38, the new mount had four C38 guns on a new mount. This quad mount was fairly small and compact in direct contrast to the USN quad 20mm designed called the Thunderbolt. The USN quad 20mm system was tested on a few ships, such as the USS Massachusetts but proved excessively heavy and complex. However, the German Vierling was an excellent light AA system and was used by not only the Kriegsmarine but also the Wehrmacht. Lion Roar has produced a two fret set of photo-etched Vierling in 1:700 scale, set LE700013.

This set consists of two frets of relief-etched parts. The larger of the two frets is off brass and contains five different types of parts to assemble the chassis of the mount. The smaller fret is of stainless steel and contains the gun barrels and gunners seats. A total of 16 quad 20mm mounts can be assembled from this set but only 11 can have gun shields on the front, as the brass fret provides only 11 shields (part #2). However, not all quad mounts were equipped with the front shield. The gun chassis goes together in a series of layers so the finished mount will be three-dimensional. The two sides of the main chassis are one part (#1) that folds together over a separate center layer (#3). Then two gun mounting plates (#4 & #5) fit on the upper chassis. The gun shield (#2) then fits on the front. Sixteen copies are provided for each of these parts other than the shields, which have 11 copies. On the stainless steel fret, there are 25 sets of barrels (#6) and 48 gunner’s seats (#7). As only one set of barrels and two gunner’s seats are needed for each mount, you’ll have a substantial supply of spares in these areas. The guns fit on the outside of the gun mounting plates (#4 & #5) within relief-etched recesses, so the final mount will actually be seven layers thick. Each gunner’s seat consists of foot platform, seat and back rest, which are bent to shape. The Lion Roar 2cm Vierling 1:700 scale set, as well as other Lion Roar sets, is available from Georgetown Hobbies.

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