Battlefront 8th Army 40mm Bofors

Back to the desert, this time for some AA guns.

As my Desert Rats force expands, it is time to add some anti-aircraft guns. What better way to do this then the ubiquitous Bofor. This will be my third unit of Bofors. I already have some USA ones and a unit of Late War British Bofors. I think the Bofors have always been one of the best AA units in FOW. In the new MW book, the AT has been upped to 7 and the ROF reduced to 3. Overall coupled with a save of 4+, these are a very versatile unit.

The Battlefront Blister - BR541 8th Army Bofors 40mm Gun contains 2 Bofors and a command stand. These blisters have been around for a while and are designed for version 3 and possibly version 2, where gun units had a command stand. I will just concentrate on the 2 guns themselves as I am painting them up for version 4. 

Battlefront have released a new box set which contains 3 Bofors, which is far more useful than the blister as three is the amount required for a minimum sized platoon. Looking at the BF store, the models in the new box are the same as the blister. The box also contains a unit card and has the new brown bases rather than the old grey ones. The new box is listed as US$37 and the blister US$22. So per gun, the blister (if you can still find one) is slightly cheaper. However if you need to buy 2 blisters, the box is cheaper and comes with the new V4 card.

Anyway, enough economics, onto the review.

Review:

Opening my blister, I found that all included parts were nicely cast and free of damage. Laying the pieces out though, I quickly found that I was missing 2 of the firing crew. There are 2 in the pack, not 4. I  fired off an email to Battlefront who responded quickly that they will provide a replacement. I have painted up what I have and will add the extras when they arrive.

Pieces of one gun less 1 crewman

Like all the old school metal guns, these models arrived with a little flash and a few mould lines. Nothing that 5 minutes with a hobby knife couldn't sort out. The Bofor assembly is not difficult but it is fiddly. The blister didn't come with instructions but there is a good one on the Battlefront website. 

These have always been nice models and Battlefront I think have been wise not to mess with the formula. I cannot imagine that enough would be sold to justify a plastic mould and the metal ones do the job nicely.

Assembly:

I started by laying down the feet that the gun would sit on. This is in three parts and the 2 short legs are connected with locating pins. The only important point here is make sure they are straight. I used the grid on my cutting board for this. I then glued the crew to the base. At this point, I applied some filler before the rest of the model was attached and it became more difficult. I used a spare plastic crew figure in place of one of the metal ones that came in the blister for increased variety.

Guns Assembled

Next I glued the base plate to rotating base. I had to splay the arms on the rotating base to get a good fit. I then glued on the gun and the tailpiece. Finally the sights were glued on. To finish the base, I pushed the ammo boxes into the wet putty. I left the firing crew off and will attach them after painting (and when the remainder arrive)

Painting Progress. Base coat and wash complete.

Painting:

I saw no reason to move away from my current British desert theme. You can find a description of that paint scheme and the steps I followed in my Battlefront V4 6 Pound Platoon Review.

Conclusion;

I really enjoyed working on this platoon. The models are well detailed and painted up well. I think the Bofors are a must have platoon for the MW Desert Rats. They provide one of the best AA umbrellas in the game and are very hand as low range anti-tank.

Roll Photos.

I hope you enjoyed this review.