Meng Britsh Heavy Tank Mk.V Female. 1:35

[Shar2]

Britsh Heavy Tank Mk.V Female
1:35 Meng Models

The British Mark V tank was an upgraded version of the Mark IV tank, deployed in 1918 and used in action in the closing months of World War I, in the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War on the White Russian side, and by the Red Army. Thanks to Walter Wilson's epicyclic gear steering system, it was the first British heavy tank that required only one man to steer it; the gearsmen needed in earlier Marks were thus released to man the armament.

The Mark V had more power (150 bhp) from a new Ricardo engine (also ordered by Stern). Use of Wilson's epicyclic steering gear meant that only a single driver was needed. On the roof towards the rear of the tank, behind the engine, was a second raised cabin, with hinged sides that allowed the crew to attach the unditching beam without exiting the vehicle. An additional machine-gun mount was fitted at the rear of the hull.

Production of the Mark V started at Metropolitan Carriage and Wagon at the end of 1917; the first tanks arrived in France in May 1918. Four hundred were built, 200 each of Males and Females; the "Males" armed with 6-pounder (57 mm) guns and machine guns, the "Females" with machine guns only. Several were converted to Hermaphrodites (sometimes known as "Mark V Composite") by fitting one male and one female sponson. This measure was intended to ensure that female tanks would not be outgunned when faced with captured British male tanks in German use or the Germans' own A7V.

The Mark V was first used in the Battle of Hamel on 4 July 1918, when 60 tanks contributed to a successful assault by Australian units on the German lines. It went on to take part in eight major offensives before the end of the War. Canadian and American troops trained on Mk Vs in England in 1918, and the American Heavy Tank Battalion (the 301st) took part in three actions on the British Sector of the Western Front in late 1918. The Canadian Tank Corps, however, did not see action and was disbanded after the war's end. Approximately 70 were sent to support the White Russian forces in the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War and in the British North Russia Campaign. Most were subsequently captured by the Red Army. Four were retained by Estonian forces, and two by Latvia.

The Model
The last year or so has been great for those who have been hankering for some new British WWI tanks. What with the Mk1’s from Takom and IV’s from Takom and Tamiya. Meng have previously released a Mk.V Male with full interior which has been reviewed HERE, they have now followed that up with the Mk.V Female, unfortunately without the interior. The kit comes in a deep box with a depiction of the vehicle on the battlefield. Inside there are seventeen sprues of beige styrene, four in black styrene ad sheet of etched brass and a small decal sheet. The kit has been designed with the co-operation of the Bovington Tank museum and there is evidence of this tie-up on the boxtop and on the beautifully laid out instructions. Naturally, being a Meng product the parts are all superbly moulded, with no sign of flash or other imperfections, just gorgeous detail.

It is interesting, having built the Takom Mk.IV, to see the way different companies design, what are very similar vehicles. In a way the Meng kit is quite a bit simplified in comparison to the way Takom went about it. That’s not to say that the Meng kit is inferior, just different. The simplified points in the build are mostly concentrated around the areas that won’t be seen, such as the rhomboid structures and wheel fittings. Talking of wheels, that is where the construction of this kit begins. The idler, sprockets and two variations of road wheel are each made up from two parts, with the sprocket drive chains, including a section of chain and the chain box, are made up from five parts. The ammunition storage racks, which make up the internal angled faces of the gun compartments are each fitted with a pair of fire extinguishers. The track runs between the two faces of the rhomboid structures are much simpler than in the Takom kits with each of the top and bottom runs being single lengths, with just the end plates being separate. The drive chain assemblies are then attached and the road wheels slid onto the axles moulded to the rhomboids outer half. There is a small hatch fitted just in front of the sponson opening and an internal grille to the inside rear. The rhomboid halves are then closed up and fitted with a chain oiler and shackle mounting.

The armoured fuel tank is made up from seventeen parts, but this does include the rear bulkhead of the tank and the ball mounted Vickers machine gun. This assembly is then glued to the rear portion of the hull floor before being sandwiched between the two rhomboid assemblies. The two top mounted cabins are each assembled from separate plates, to which the pistol port covers are attached. The forward “command” cabin also has a ball mounted machine gun fitted to the front plate and separate viewing hatches. The completed cabins are then fitted to the top hull plate, along with two more hatches, and the unditching beam rail attachment points. The exhaust and silence, which are of a completely different design compared with the earlier versions, is made up of six parts, whilst each beam rail is made up from four parts. The kit has the option of fitting the semaphore mast, which is positioned just aft of the rear cabin. The mast is fitted two rings from inside, allowing it to rotate should the modeller wish. With two semaphore arms attached on the top of the mast and two handles on the inside the completed top deck can be fitted to the rest of the hull, followed by the beam rails and exhaust assembly.

The build then moves onto the sponsons. Each side having two dustbin style mountings with a machine gun in each mount. Each mounting comprises of eleven parts and each pair is fitted into the nice piece fixed sponson. Alternatively the modeller has the option of build the kit with two separate sponson ends which are then able to fold into the hull. Beneath each sponson there is a large panel with two hatches fitted to the outside and two crew seats fitted to the inside. The hatches can be posed open if required, although with no other internal detail there doesn’t really seem much point. With the armament fitted the rest of the hull is detailed with various pieces of PE to make up strengthening beams, brackets and intake grille shields. The rest of the parts, such as access panels are also added at this point.

Coming to the end of the build and the tracks can finally be tackled. Each link is attached to the sprue by four gates which will take a while to clean up, but when they’re done it’s just a matter of clicking them together to make each ninety one link length. With the tracks fitted, the unditching beam with added chains is attached to the beam rails, followed by the large fascine, made up from fifteen parts and attached to the front of the tank, above the command cabin, with another pair of chains.

Decals
The smallish, well printed decal sheet provides markings for three vehicles, all of which are painted in brown, which I still have yet to see any definitive proof of use, except at the Tank Museum. Still, Brown it is, for now. The three vehicles depicted are:-

• Mk.V Tank A6 of the 1st Battalion, tank corps, British Army, France 1918. This vehicle has the red and white stripes on the outside front of each rhomboid.
• Mk.V Tank, of the 10th Battalion, Tank Corps, British Army, at the Battle of Amiens, France, August 1918.
• Mk.V Tank found in use by the German Army, Berlin 1945
  
  

The decals are well printed, with good register.

Conclusion
Well, they’ve been a long time coming, and now modellers have a raft of British WW1 tanks to choose from. Fortunately the modelling companies only seem to have clashed on the Mk.IV, thus giving the other versions a fair crack of the whip. This is an excellent looking kit, which looks like it will go together without too much fuss and will look great in a diorama or amongst its sisters in a collection. Very highly recommended

Review sample courtesy of