1:48 MAT 49 Submachine Gun with Folded Magazine

MAT 49 submachine gun with the magazine folded (1:48, Firma49)

This is a modeling accessory from the Czech maker Firma49 — a faithfully reduced French MAT 49 submachine gun in the smaller 1:48 scale. It is not a kit but a single weapon for a soldier figure or for the armament of a vehicle and a diorama. Even in this scale the printed weapon carries fine detail, the front sight and the body of the magazine, which injected plastic cannot manage; the weapons packed with kits tend to be coarse or missing altogether. And it is exactly the period-correct weapon in a soldier's hand that decides whether a scene lives. Compared with 1:35 scale the part in 1:48 is smaller and finer, so it has to be handled that much more carefully.

Use

• Put the weapon into a figure's hands, stow it in a vehicle or place it among the equipment laid aside in a diorama.
• Cut the part carefully from the print supports with a sharp scalpel — in this scale the front sight and the magazine are especially small and fragile.
• Clean the surface up after cutting with fine wet sandpaper and with your airways protected.
• Bond with super glue (cyanoacrylate); cement for plastic does not hold on this material.
• Apply a primer before painting; darken the metal parts with a dark steel shade and pick out the fine edges with dry brushing.

Who the accessory is for

For modelers who build figures and dioramas in 1:48 scale and want to equip their soldiers with an authentic period weapon. The MAT 49 belongs in postwar scenes with the French army. Firma49 makes the same submachine gun in the standard figure scale of 1:35 and in the smallest 1:72 as well — choose the variant according to the scale of your figure or diorama. A smaller scale means a finer and more fragile part, so it suits a more experienced hand. Figures, further Firma49 equipment and modeling paints round the scene out.

The accessory is supplied unassembled and unpainted. Paints, glue and figures are not included in the package. Printed parts are fragile; wear a respirator and ventilate when sanding.