I know the feeling about the 25mm guns on IJN warships... Geez, there are so many!!! I'm working on a 1/125 scale Kongo right now...I count a total of 86 25mm guns in its 1944 trim... Probably the most monotonous task on the whole model.. So it is one that I will tackle first, get it out of the way... My solution was to use stainless safety wire, and masking tape, for the guns themselves.. Results are good, I get more detail by scratchbuilding them, than I have seen on any resin and pe kit... Although I will use pe gunsite rings...
2 pieces of wire, and 4 pieces of tape do the job very well... (for the guns themselves)
Remember, that all of the 25mm guns were identicle, and could be switched out in any of the mounts, single, double, and triple... The guns were contained in their own carrier, which included two recoil cyls, that allowed the gun to slide on rails in the carrier under recoil.. The gun/carrier could be easily yanked out of the mount for service... There was a dedicated shop aboard ship, that did nothing but maintain/service these guns in a shipwide rotation.. These guns were a pirated Hotchkiss design, aircooled, gas piston operated, much like an oversized BAR turned upside down.. So they needed constant maintenance in the marine environment... The only way to do it for 86 guns, would be a rotation system.. Replacing the guns in turn, with a freshly serviced unit... Yeah, The NAVY way!!!! LOL!!! Like painting the golden gate, when ya finish, ya immediately start over... Talk about monotony...
Making the model guns is best done in a assy line fashion.. Gotta watch your quality control, because it is easy to slip off scale... But if you cut your wire, and tape, consistantly, the units stay very uniform...
Darn, wife has the camera... Will post a photo later, of the parts and results...
Tom
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