Reviewed by: Luke R. Bucci, PhD, IPMS# 33549
Base Kit: All WW2 Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) warships mounting 14cm (5.5in)/50cal guns
What You Get
A 2 3/4 by 5 1/8 inch 2-piece cardboard card wrapped in clear plastic containing a small Ziploc bag with
Instructions and another card with a small plastic bag holding 20 barrels taped to the card (Figure 1). For
no blast bag mounts (-058), each barrel is 7mm long with a 1mm tab at the end. For mounts with blast
bags, each barrel is 4.5mm long with a 1mm tab at the end (Figure 2). The tip has a fine hole that is
difficult to see, but it's there.
These barrels are intended for Ise and Nagato battleship classes (secondary armament), Hosho aircraft
carrier, Tenryu, Kuma, Nagara, Sendai, Yubari, and Katori light cruiser classes, and tenders Nisshin,
Itsukushima, Okinoshima, and Jingei (Figure 3). Other auxiliaries and armed merchant cruisers carried
this weapon as well. Be sure to check your references since Hosho, light cruisers and auxiliaries were
refitted, sometimes removing or altering the number of 14cm gun mounts. And of course, check
references to see if blast bags were fitted on your build. Another way to determine whether or not blast