History

During the early years of WWI, many experiments were made to drop bombs from airplanes to the ground. The first projectiles were thrown by hand while the latest were carried under the aircraft and released mechanicaly, very much like during WW2.

Stielhandgranate M1917: favourite amongst German airmen in WWI. One of the modifications of this hand grenade in 1917 was to add the star-handle at the end of the trigger pin cord cover. This allowed to arm the grenade even while wearing the thick air crew gauntlet.

Würfgranate 15: Grenade (made by AEG) for the Granatewerfer 16 light grenade launcher. The favourite weapon of Schlachtstaffel air crew during WWI due to the hitting power of its splinters. Grenades of this type were also used by polish airmen during the 1920 Polish-Bolshevik war.

P.u.W. (Prüfanstalt und Werft der Fliegertruppen - The Test Institute and Workshops of the flying troops) bombs, were the principal weapon of German bombers in WWI. Stocks of these bombs captured at Poznan-Lawica were subsequently used by the Polish Air Force until the outbreak of WWII...

Polish wz.29 and wz.31 bombs were developed in the 30's to replace the obsolete P.u.W bombs.

(Source: kit instructions)

German WW1 & Polish WW2 Bombs Max set

Mirage Hobby's 1:48 scale German WW1 & Polish WW2 Bombs set comes in a small top opening cardboard box. On the cover it is writen "Max Set" because this reference (848401) comprises both German WW1 & Polish WW2 Light bombs set (248001) and Polish WW2 & German WW1 Bombs set (448001) which are also available separately.

The content of the set is the following:
- Four sprues of medium grey injected plastic, each cut in two to fit inside the box.
- Two A5 sized instruction sheets.

One thing I've noticed is that three sprues are mentionned in the instructions while in fact there are four provided in the "Max Set".

Here is a list of the bomb types included in the box:
Used by the Germans in WW1 for their D,C,CL,J,G,R etc... aircraft types (set 248001)..
- 50 kg P.u.W. bomb (X8)
- 12,5 kg P.u.W bomb (X32)
- Stielhandgranate M17 (X16)
- Würfgranate 15 (X16)
Used by Germans in WW1 and by Poland for their PZL P.23 and PZL P.37 aircraft types (set 448001).
- 300 kg P.u.W. bomb (X4)
- 100 kg P.u.W bomb (X24)
- 50 kg P.u.W. bomb (X12)
- 100 kg wz.31 bomb (X12)

The quality of the plastic parts is good even if the surface of the bombs are a little bit rough and if there is some flash here and there. But this is not really something to worry about. The thickness of the fins on some of the bigger bombs will need to be reduced a little. However, don't try to get them straight! Indeed they were designed like that most probably to make the bomb rotate during the fall. This can be clearly seen in the accompanying reference photos of the intructions.

Two small A5 sheets printed in color are provided in the box with assembly instructions, a useful painting guide (Vallejo paints) and some reference photos. A bomb layout diagram for the PZL P.23 is included as well with two possible bomb load combinations.

This set is obviously primarly destined to the Mirage Hobby PZL P.23 and PZL P.37 and of course their new Halberstad CL.II kits, but they can be used on other aircraft (especially WW1) or for diorama purposes.

Conclusion

It is a nice idea from Mirage Hobby to provide this extra sets to the modeller, since the inclusion of the bombs to a German WW1 model or a Polish WW2 bomber offers plenty of display possibilities.

Please remember, when contacting retailers or manufacturers, to mention that you saw their products highlighted here - on AeroScale.