Takom British WWI Mark I Tank (two kits) 1:35

[Mike]

British WWI Mark I Tank
1:35 Takom

Following the first foray by the British Army into "Landships", which went by the name "Little Willie", the Mark I was a developmental successor, which saw the first use of the rhomboid track arrangement in an effort to lower the centre of gravity that would enable it to roll up and over German trenches, aided initially by a trailing "limber" that helped it cross wider trenches. It was by no means perfect and struggled with reliability plus the perennial problem of carbon monoxide build-up in the cab, as well as the penchant for the fuel tanks to go afire when hit.

All of these problems were at least partially addressed in later marks, with only 150 built in total, and split 50/50 between Male and Female variants. The Male tanks carried a 6-pounder naval gun in each side-mounted sponson, while the female was equipped with four Vickers Machine guns in the same positions. Both types also had a number of .303 Hotchkiss machine gun in various positions, which varied between types. Due to the rapid process of trial-and-error, the Mark I was replaced by the Mark IV in May of 1917, which is the Mark that everyone thinks of when WWI Tank is mentioned.


The Kit
Takom have produced two kits, one each for the Male and Female, rather than including large quantities of styrene that would never be used in one kit. While the hull is ostensibly the same, the sponson design varies sufficiently for separate parts to be needed. Each kit also has some specific additions to differentiate the variants, as well as adding value to the box. The Male has a trailer for the detached sponsons, sponson crane fittings as well as the trailing wheel assembly, while the Female has the trailing wheels, plus a tent-shaped mesh panel on the roof, which was designed to deflect grenades thrown by the enemy.

The Male boxing has sixteen sprues in mid grey styrene, a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, 190 track links, 8 poly-caps on a small sprue, two lengths of metal chain, plus a small decal sheet, instruction booklet and painting guide. The Female boxing has fifteen sprues, a large sheet of PE, 190 track links, six poly-caps, a small decal sheet, plus the booklet and painting guide.

Common Parts

The driver's compartment is first to be built up with two vision slots and one machine gun port between them on the front, with pistol ports moulded into the sloped sides, and topped off with a riveted roof. This is then added to the hull, which takes shape with the roof, floor, front and rear panels, all of which mate using long shallow tabs and slots in the edges. The Male needs some holed drilling if you are attaching the crane, while the female has them drilled to attach the grenade netting. The hull is detailed with a round hatch on the top, plus the three exhaust outlets and three roof stiffeners running laterally, with three triangular PE parts added over the exhausts to prevent them getting blocked. The rhomboid track sponsons are next, each being a mirror image of the other. The assembly is all done on the inner surface, including the idler, drive sprocket and the myriad of road wheels that must be organised according to type. A pair of inner plates blank off the interior of the sponson, and the outer skin is added last, trapping the wheels in place. Each side takes 90 track links, and you'll be pleased to hear that they are already off the sprue and in a ziplok bag, with only a very slight clean-up required on the traction ridge, which is not going to take very long at all! The inner face of the links will be unseen unless you are doing a "brewed up" diorama, in which case you might want to slice off the raised (and numbered) ejector pins in the centre, at least for any links that will have their underside exposed.

Both kits have the trailing wheel assembly in the box, and this builds up from a fairly well detailed frame with masses of recoil springs at the front, and two spoked wheels at the rear. The wheels have their spokes moulded-in on one side, with the other side as a separate part, and mating these traps a poly-cap in position to allow later removal. A small suspension unit is then added to the rear of the hull with armoured panelling protecting it, while the springs attach to mounts on the inner face of the track sponsons. They weren't particularly effective by all accounts, but they do add a rather olde-worlde charm to the model.

The kits diverge from their core components at this stage.

Male Specific Parts

The breeches of the two 6-Pounder guns are built up first, with breech blocks, winder and the twin-recuperator tubes on top, and the sighting gear on the right side. The mounts are added to the sides, and the rotation of the base is maintained by the addition of a poly-cap trapped between the top and bottom parts. elevation and trigger mechanisms are installed on a panel on the left of the breech. The breech and mount are then added to the gun-shield, with the inner shield a single part, while the outer lateral shield is two parts that mate in the centre. With the shield in place the single part barrel can be glued into the breech, and this has only a moulding seam to scrape away, with a nice deep slide-moulded muzzle added for good measure.

Each gun sits in a box-like sponson with a sloped front, where the 6-pounder sits in a cut-out. The .303 machine gun pokes through a hole in the side, and the base for the gun doubles up as ammo stowage, with a nice thin PE panel perforated to accept shells. Shells that aren't included in the kit, sadly. The walls are built up with a door in the rear, and a reinforced roof added last, repeated for the other side in mirror image. If you build your model with the sponsons off for transport, the detail within will be seen, but if you attach them to the tank, the majority will be lost forever unless you open the door in the sponson rear. More on that later, however.

The Gaza Strip marking option uses a pair of girders mounted on the roof to remove the sponsons for transport, and these are included in great detail, which is what the chain is used for. Styrene hooks, the geared wheels on the ends of the jib, and the attachment bolts are all provided, and these attach to the same holes used on the female boxing for the anti-grenade net. Because of the vehicle's width, the sponsons were removed for travel, and could be carried behind the tank on a four-wheeled trailer. This is happily included in the box, and has the framework chassis, load-bed, and steering axle included, plus a quartet of wide steel wheels that have a poly-cap buried between their halves. A pair of open topped stowage boxes fit over the front axle, with the towing frame, and three PE brackets are added to the flat-bed. The first thing that springs to mind when considering this format is that although the sponsons are well detailed within, the main hull is devoid of any interior, so this would make the project a much more involved affair until you think that canvas covers would most likely be hung over the apertures to keep the weather and snooping eyes out of the tank interior. This would probably also ring true for the sponson backs, so some tarp replicas will solve the problem quite easily.

If you prefer to mount the sponsons on the tank, they simply glue in place on the sides of the hull, and should stay put while setting up with the application of a few pieces of tape.

Female Specific Parts

The Female sponsons contain two "turrets" with armoured Vickers machine guns per side, allowing almost a full spread of fire, with only the direct front and rear lacking cover. Each one has a two-part shield with brackets converging at the centre, through which a two-part Vickers with armoured cooling jacket project. The brackets attach to the base, which incorporates a poly-cap to maintain rotation after assembly, and a strengthening hoop fits at the rear over the gunner's head. Two of these assemblies are placed on each sponson floor, and the walls are built up around them, with a narrow slit allowing for traverse, while extra armour between each turret prevents shot incursion within the sponson. The roof is the last part to be added, after which they can be added to the hull.

The Mark I and subsequent variants all suffered from flat top decks that attracted grenades, which could possibly breach the armour, so crews often added framework pitched rooves that were covered in mesh to fend off the aforementioned grenades. The framework is all styrene, while the mesh is PE and has diagonal stiffening laths etched in that prevented grenades getting caught up due to their weight.


Markings
Each boxing includes three markings options, with a wide variety of schemes that might make a few of you scream at the thought of masking. The decal sheets are tiny, and all the markings are white, so there's no worry about registration, while colour density and sharpness are good. There is no note of who printed the sheets, but they look like Cartograf, but don't quote me on that. The colour profiles have been done by Mig's AMMO, and a small picture on one of the pages advertises the fact that his company have created a paint set specifically for WWI British Tanks, which may be worth looking up if you're struggling to find the right colours in your own stocks. From the box you can build one of the following:

Male Mk.I

• "HMLS Sir Archibald", Palestine Gaza Strip, 1917 – all over Khaki Brown.
• C19 "HMLS Clan Leslie", Battle of the Somme, Autumn 1916 – grey/brown/green/tan camo with black line demarcation.
• C Company, Somme River, Autumn 1916 - grey/brown/green/tan camo with black line demarcation.
  

Female Mk.I

• A Company "HMLS We Are All In It", Somme River, Autumn 1916 - grey/brown/green/tan/black camo.
• Somme River, Somme, Autumn 1916 - grey/brown/green/tan/pink camo.
• Somme River, Autumn, 1916 - grey/brown/green camo.

An addition page on the Male guide shows the correct colours for the trailer for the sponsons.


Conclusion
Apart from a full interior, there's not much more you could want from these early tanks, and speaking as a fan of WWI armour, it's great to see the first active tank being kitted in such detail. The only problem is, which one to get? The answer there is both of them of course!

Highly recommended.

Review sample courtesy of
UK Distributors for

[fatfingers]

More for the wish list! 😯

Look like great kits and thanks for the review.

Regards

Steve

[Murdo]

Looks great! Thanks Mike.

[Shar2]

They look great, we really are being inundated with WWI kits this year.

[Sjherridge]

Good review - can I ask a favour and request the size of the footprint of this model. I am co-building a diorama and have not seen the model yet but need to know the width and length of the tank touching the ground. Many thanks in advance.

[Chris B]

My Mk 1 female arrived today. (i've already made 3 Mark IVs)

The lozenge body is the same overall length as the Mk IV - 9 inches. From the parts, the twin steering wheels will add c. 2.5 inches to that.

The length of the track that actually touches a flat surface should be more or less the same as the Mk IV at a little under 2 inches. I see from reviews that the female steering tail either may, or can only, be attached in the slightly raised position.

The outside to outside width of the track on the Mk IV is 2.75 inches (without the spuds attached) and here again this should be the same as the Mk 1.

Chris