Soviet 12.7 mm DShK »Dashka« Machine Gun
Roskopf 1:100 Scale AA Machine Gun Review
The DShK heavy machine gun is available as an anti-aircraft weapon on Roskopf 1:100 scale Soviet armoured personnel carriers, assault guns, and the T-10 heavy tank. Unfortunately, the other two Soviet tanks offered by Roskopf, the T-54 medium tank and PT-76 amphibious light tank, were sold without DShK AA machine gun. Roskopf produced a relatively robust, simplified and oversized rendition of the real thing. The final 4 mm of gun barrel which extend beyond the finned cooling jacket of the Dushka are only 0.5 mm thick, and this section is easily bent during play. This kind of damage is practically irreversible: a drooping barrel cannot be bent back into its original position without softening the plastic even further; the floppy muzzle eventually just falls off.
A DShK with broken barrel is relatively easy to fix: file the front of the cooling jacket flat to remove any excess plastic and, using a 0.5 mm micro twist drill bit, drill a 3 mm deep socket for a new steel barrel. Cut a 7 mm section of 0.5 mm piano wire and superglue it into the socket. Once the glue has fully set, trim the new metal muzzle to 4 mm length. File the front of the muzzle flat with a needle file. The muzzle brake of the DShK M.1938/46 is a 1 mm section of 1 mm polystyrene tubing. After painting, the repaired Dushka looks like new, and it is much sturdier than the original part. The job can be done faster and is much more fun if several damaged DShK machine guns are repaired at the same time.
The Roskopf model of the DShK machine gun shown above represents an unloaded weapon with no ammunition box attached to the receiver.