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  1. Here is my Takom Chieftain Mk 10. I was pretty impressed with the kit overall - the tracks work well but I still managed to get them wrong around the rear sprocket. The camo scheme is not accurate but I was losing the will to live with all of the masking needed. I matched to Tamiya colours as best as I could as I 100% trust them not to clog my airbrush unlike some other brands. The turret baskets looked a bit empty so I got some Value gear tarps and the excellent Meng water bottles. It's probably a bit over weathered but looks really toy like once you've finished all the masking so it needs something. I think the real ones were pretty well looked after from the photos I found. Any comments or feedback would be appreciated. Thanks for Looking
  2. Russian T-54B Takom 1:35 History The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet main battle tanks introduced just as the Second World War ended. The first T-54 prototype appeared in March 1945 and entered full production in 1947. It became the main tank for armoured units of the Soviet Army, armies of the Warsaw Pact countries, and many others. T-54s and T-55s were involved in many of the world's armed conflicts during the late 20th century Production of the initial series of T-54s began slowly as 1,490 modifications were made. The Red Army received a tank that was superior to World War II designs and theoretically better than the newest tanks of potential opponents. The 100 mm gun fired BR-412 series full-calibre APHE ammunition, which had superior penetration capability when compared to the T-34 that it replaced. The serial production version, designated T-54-1, differed from the second T-54 prototype. It had thicker hull armour (80 mm on the sides, 30 mm on the roof and 20 mm on the bottom). As production ramped up, quality problems emerged. Production was stopped and an improved T-54-2 (Ob'yekt 137R) version was designed. Several changes were made and a new turret was fitted. The new dome-shaped turret with flat sides was inspired by the turret from the IS-3 heavy tank; it is similar to the later T-54 turret but with a distinctive overhang at the rear. It also had a shorter bustle. The fender machine guns were removed in favour of a single bow-mounted machine gun. The transmission was modernized and the track was widened to 580 mm. The T-54-2 entered production in 1949, at Stalin Ural Tank Factory No. 183 (Uralvagonzavod). In 1951, a second modernization was made, designated T-54-3 (Ob'yekt 137Sh), which had a new turret without side undercuts, as well as the new TSh-2-22 telescopic gunner's sight instead of the TSh-20. The tank featured the TDA smoke generating system.. In the beginning of the 1950s, the personnel of the OKB-520 design bureau of the Stalin Ural Tank Factory No. 183 (Uralvagonzavod) had been changed considerably. Morozov was replaced by Kolesnikow, who in turn was replaced by Leonid N. Kartsev in March 1953. The first decision of the new designer was to fit the 100 mm D-10T tank gun with the STP-1 "Gorizont" vertical stabilizer. The new tank gun received the designation D-10TG and was fitted into the T-54's turret. The new tank received night vision equipment for the driver and was designated T-54A (Ob'yekt 137G). Originally, this had a small muzzle counter-weight, which was later replaced with a fume extractor. It was equipped with an OPVT wading snorkel, the TSh-2A-22 telescopic sight, TVN-1 infrared driver's periscope and IR headlight, a new R-113 radio, multi-stage engine air filter and radiator controls for improved engine performance, an electrical oil pump, a bilge pump, an automatic fire extinguisher and extra fuel tanks. The tank officially entered production in 1954 and service in 1955. A new version, based on T-54A, designated T-54B (Ob'yekt 137G2), was designed in 1955. It was fitted with a new 100 mm D-10T2S tank gun with STP-2 "Tsyklon" 2-plane stabilizer. It entered production in 1957. During the last four months of production, the new tanks were equipped with an L-2 "Luna" infrared searchlight and TPN-1-22-11 IR gunner's sight, and OU-3 IR commander's searchlight. Modern APFSDS ammunition was developed, dramatically enhancing the penetrative performance of the gun to keep it competitive with NATO armour developments. The Model We must be getting pretty close to having every single Russian/Soviet tank type being released in injection moulded plastic. At least this kit fills the gap between the JS tanks and the T-62s, and there werent too many versions of this vehicle when compared with the T-62 series onwards. Contained in a nicely illustrated box are nineteen sprues and two separate parts in grey styrene, a bag of individual track links in the same material, two poly caps, and mantlet dust cover made of a rubberised material, a smallish sheet of etched brass and a small decal sheet, oh and a length of wire. Takom appear to making a reputation for themselves in producing great kits, with a good amount of detail and this one is on exception. The moulding is superb, with no sign of flash or other imperfections, just a few of the usual moulding pips to clean up. The fact that the individual links are already off the sprue and ready to use is an additional plus. I find the instructions are really clear and easy to read, but I understand that some modellers dont like the photo/render style format that Takom use, although Im not sure why that is. Construction begins with the removal of a number of details fromt eh lower hull section, before the lower glacis plate is attached to the front, the sprocket gear covers to the rear and the idler wheel assemblies to the front. Each idler wheel, actually looks like a modified sprocket, something Ive not noticed before on other tanks, and each on eis made up form seven parts. Each road wheel is made up from two wheels and two separate tyres, which will at least make it easier to paint, whilst the sprockets are just two parts, the inner and outer hubs. The slightly confusing bit is that there are three different styles of suspension arm per side, and up to three parts per arm, so take care when assembling and fitting each arm to ensure you are using the right parts for each particular side. As stated above, each individual track link is all ready to be used, unfortunately they arent the click together type as seen in Takoms Mk.IV and Mk.V Heavy Tanks. They are easy to fit and glue, but it might be an idea to make up lengths of them to match the point in the track and any associated sag required before joining them up around the sprockets and idlers, you will need around 92 links per side. The upper hull decking is made up of front middle and rear sections, which, when joined together is fitted out with the drivers hatch, PE grilles, six piece headlight cluster, fastening strips, hooks and other sundry items. With the wheels and tracks fitted, the upper hull decking is attached to the lower hull, followed by the rear bulkhead and inner sprocket gearbox fairings. Before the track guards are fitted several holes of various diameters need to be drilled out. The starboard guard is then fitted with the various storage boxes, angled support arms, spare fuel tanks, plus the front and rear mudguards. The pioneer tool rack and tools is fitted to the port track guard, along with the barrel cleaning kit tube, and more storage boxes. They are then fitted to the hull and the fuel tanks pipework attached to the appropriate tanks. The rear bulkhead is fitted with the mounting brackets for the two four piece auxiliary fuel drums and the unditching beam. The build then moves onto the turret, with the single piece upper section being fitted with the hatch rings, internal co-axial machine gun, various brackets, stowage eyes, sight doors, and hand rails before the gunners hatch, which is made up from no less than twelve parts, is attached, along with a sight. The six piece main gun fitting is the attached to the lower turret ring before the ring is glued to the upper section. The much simpler, (only four parts), commanders hatch is glued into position, as is the rubber mantlet cover, eleven piece searchlight, and twelve piece heavy machine gun. The main gun barrel is made up from two halves split longitudinally, so care to minimise the seam will be required, or wait for an aftermarket company to release a metal barrel, the barrel is fitted in place and finished off with the separate muzzle end piece. The completed turret is then fitted to the hull at which point the build is ready for paint. Decals The small decal sheet provides markings for no less than nine different vehicles. The decals are very well printed, in register with good opacity. Afghanistan, in overall Russian green Egypt 1967, in overall sand yellow Egypt 1973, overall sand yellow with red brown and matt black splotches Iran, overall yellow with red brown splotches Pakistan, in overall yellow with green camouflage. Operation Danube, The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, in overall Russian green with white stripes on the turret. Syria, along the Sinai Peninsular , overall sand yellow with green and grey camouflage. Vietnam, in overall Russian green Russian, in overall Russian green with a light white distemper over the top. Conclusion This is a really nice kit and looks like it will go together without too much hassle or drama. Its not a difficult kit by any means, although the track links may cause some modellers issues, even though they are much nicer than most. It certainly makes a change from the multiple T-62s and T-72s that have been released recently. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of UK Distributors for
  3. Chieftain Marksman SPAAG 1:35 Takom The Marksman system was developed by Marconi to be a drop-in solution to the need for mobile, radar-targeted anti-aircraft gun platforms for close-in support of troops, installations and other valuable assets. Although the turret could be mated with many different hulls, the British chose the Chieftain tank for trials of this twin 35mm cannon equipped system. The second prototype was mounted on a Chieftain, and have the vehicle a top-heavy look, with the crew hatches perched high on the top of the turret, overshadowed by the radar dish that made it so accurate to its maximum range of 4,000m. Sadly, the Chieftain installation never progressed beyond prototype and it didn't see service with the British Army. The turret did see limited service with other operators such as Finland who mounted it on an uprated T-55 chassis. The Kit This is a re-tooling of the new Chieftain kits that were released late last year and were reviewed here. Some of the previous turret parts have been included through necessity and because of their placement on the various sprues, but the majority of the new plastic is SPAAG related. Inside the nicely decorated box are five large sprues, two hull halves and track parts that are common to all the Chieftain boxings, plus three new sprues, three of which are small, specific to the Marksman, with six parts on their own spruelets. The Photo-Etch (PE) is common with the Mark 10/11s, and the decal sheet is new for the kit, with one factual number plate and a couple more for hypothetical, or "what if" schemes. The common parts are identical to the previous issue, and the building of the lower hull proceeds in exactly the same way as before, which you can read about in the previous reviews. The new parts have the same level of detail, and portray the slab-sided Marksman turret nicely, including the turret ring adapter, which hints at the inclusion of the Marksman parts in possible future projects… maybe a T-55M? Speaking of the turret ring, the height of the cylindrical section seems just a shade too short in the vertical. A shim of plastic card between the ring and the bayonet insert should be able to make that good though, if you agree and feel up to the task. Assuming you have the hull completed, there are four bullet-splash protection strips to remove, which are replaced by raised sections that fit to the hull via pegs that fit into holes drilled from inside beforehand. After that the turret adaptor ring is inserted and that's the hull changes covered! The turret is then started, with the guns built up first from two halves that have some lovely moulding that results in a hollow flash-guide as per the real thing. These then fit onto a five-part breech fairing that has an axle for joining to the turret body. The two interlock in the middle of the turret, but as there is nothing to provide a friction-fit braking on the pivot-points, you will have to either fabricate your own, or glue them in position, or they will flop. The lower turret with moulded in ring closes up the turret, whilst providing the floor of the bustle that is added later from a single part. A number of sensors and vision devices are installed on the top, along with an insert that contains the two crew hatches and forms the base of the radar installation. The top section of the insert flips up on a pair of hinges for stowage of the radar during travel. More small parts such as smoke dischargers and antennae mounts are added on the sides of the turret and then the tapered radar base is inserted on the hinged panel along with the motor housing. The radome and receiver are put together with some additional sensors on the head-unit, which must again be glued in position. The turret ring then has its bayonet-fitting added to the bottom, which is where the shim of styrene would go if you wanted to raise it a little. When dry the turret is fitted to the hull and twisted to engage the bayonet lugs. Markings As is now traditional with a Takom release, there is a separate concertina-fold booklet for colour and markings instructions that has been done in conjunction with AMMO of Mig Jiménez. There are five schemes in the box, and all bar the green one are fanciful, assuming the Marksman equipped Chiefy had gone into service. From the box you can build one of the following: NATO Green/Sand Yellow camo. NATO Green/Black camo. NATO Green all over. Sand Yellow all over. Green, Grey Blue, White, Olive Drab Berlin Brigade urban scheme. Colour call-outs are in AMMO codes, but the common names are also provided, so if you don't use them or can't source them, you can easily convert the colours. The decals are printed anonymously on a small sheet, but are to a high standard with good registration, colour density and sharpness. They've even printed two small Union flags, which are the right way up… just don't apply them upside down after they went to all that trouble! Conclusion A good use of the existing tooling to create a nice canvas for a What-If, or just a bit of fun with different schemes. Overall the shape of the turret seems good, with the aforementioned narrow band around the bottom, and the quality of the parts matches perfectly with the common parts. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of UK Distributors for
  4. Built this for the 80s GB that's been going on for a while now. The kit was relatively easy to put together except for the applique armour panels on the turret as they had no guides to assist in placement. It was painted with Gunze acrylics and weathered with oils, enamels and pigments. Hope you enjoy the photos. Mark
  5. Chieftain Tank Mark 5/5P, Mark 10 and Mark 11 kits 1:35 Takom The Chieftain tank was Britain's first main battle tank to have composite armour added, in the shape of the well-known, but not so well known about Chobham armour. It was a development of the highly successful Centurion tank, and continued the work done by the Centurion in addressing the apparent under-armoured and under-armed reputation of WWII British tanks. The result was one of the most impressive tanks of its day, and when it reached trials service in small numbers in 1959 they began ironing out the wrinkles, which resulted in a steady increase in all-up weight. As the design progressed beyond initial service with the Mark 2, further upgrades giving rise of the Mark 3, then skipping Mark 4 to reach the final production variant, the Mark 5, which carried NBC gear in the form of an over-pressure system, and a more powerful engine. Further small upgrades led to the Mark 10, which was the recipient of the Stillbrew up-armour package, which resulted in a much altered turret profile, particularly at the front. The Mark 11 was the last minor upgrade with the Thermal Observation and Gunnery System (TOGS) replacing the searchlight. Any further versions were cancelled in favour of the Challenger series of MBTs, which came on stream in the early 80s. The tank saw action in the Middle East only however, in the service of Jordan, Oman, Kuwait and Iran, who used it extensively in their long-winded war with Iraq. Kuwait's stocks of Chieftains were almost exhausted due to attrition during the Iraqi invasion in 1990, where they fared badly against more modern tanks for various reasons. The Kit There have been rumours of new Chieftain models in 1:35 for quite some time now, with various manufacturers in the frame, but now we have three variants from those nice people at Takom, which share the same basic hull, but with turret, fixture and fittings changes to differentiate. Because of the broad similarity of a good 60%+ of the parts in the box, we'll deal with those common parts first, then deal with the differences, hopefully avoiding confusing myself as I go along. First impressions? A nicely presented raft of kits, in top-opening boxes with attractive artwork that will doubtless sell quite a few off the shelves on impulse buy. Each box contains seven sprues in mid-grey styrene, plus six more with track-pads, and 200 track-links. There are two turret parts, two hull parts, the latter being standard across all three kits, as are the clear parts. The package is rounded out by the inclusion of a couple of poly-caps, a fret of thin brass Photo-Etch (PE), a gun mask, and a decal sheet. The instruction booklets are A4 landscape with a colour printed cover, and the painting guides are separate A5 booklets, again in colour. The parts are all bagged separately apart from the roadwheel sprues, and the PE could do with a piece of card behind it to save it from damage, as the sheet is rather flexible. Construction begins handily (for me) with the common parts, starting with the road wheels, of which there are twelve pairs, the outer being well detailed from four parts, while the inner wheel is a single part. Two idler wheels are constructed and placed on their stub-axles, and two simple two-part drive sprockets finish off the initial task. The Chieftain mounts these paired wheels on bogies with a return roller on the top-side, with two axles per bogie. These are well-moulded with thick coiled springs visible from the outside, with stand-off brackets holding the lower edge of the skirts under the paired return rollers. Three bogies are fitted to each side of the lower hull, with the idler at the front and drive sprocket at the rear, at which time towing shackles are added to the lower glacis. Tracks are always an important part of any AFV build (the tracked ones, at least!), and here you have two hundred links to build up two runs of 97 links, so not too many spare if the bag count is accurate. Now for the good news. The links are loose in a ziplok bag, and each one has only one apparent sprue-gate, which is on the inner face, and should take only a fraction of a second to deal with. The track pads are separate, and each one has only two sprue gates to shave off, so again; minimal clean-up. They aren't click-fit however, so you'll need to build a run alongside a straight-edge, then drape them over the wheels before they are properly cured, and set their shape by wedging and taping them in place. If you want to paint them off the vehicle you can leave one or two links un-glued, cementing them once you're happy with your work. The upper hull goes on next, and here you have to drill a few 1mm diameter holes unless you're building a Mark 5. The rear bulkhead holds the exhaust box and pipes, as well as some spare track-links and some tools hung off the back. A pair of stowage boxes are built up and installed over the rear fenders. Back to the front of the hull and the light-clusters with clear lenses are made-up, installed and then covered by their protective cages, while some PE strips are wrapped around the front mudguards, and a PE bow-wave deflector is attached to the front of the glacis. The driver's hatch can be posed open or closed by adding the cylindrical upstand and hinging the hatch to one side. The Mark 5 has just the vision block added, while the Stillbrew equipped 10 & 11 have an armour package added each side of the rear hatch area. The sideskirts are attached to the fender edges, and held rigid by the stand-off brackets, while on the rear deck stowage bins, towing cables and a set of PE grilles are applied to the engine deck's louvers along with a number of PE grab-handles. All marks have extra shaped stowage boxes added to the front fenders, plus a pair of large wing-mirrors just forward. From here in the build, each mark differs, with the Mark 5 showing substantial differences in the shape of the turret due to the lack of armour the Stillbrew package. Mark 5/5P The Mark 5 turret is bereft of addition armour on the turret front, so a different turret upper and lower is included in the box, with the majority of the fittings such as the commander's cupola, gunner's hatch, smoke dischargers and the sighting unit on the top of the turret are shared between all marks. A covered stowage bin is added to the right side of the turret along with an open basket made up from styrene tube with a PE floor, with another larger basket on the other side. Another large box containing the NBC pack sits on the turret bustle, and the must-have item for all Cold War tanks; the great big infra-red searchlight sits in a box on the left of the turret, with a clear lens in case you wanted to pose it open, in which case you'd need to create the illusion of the irising infra-red filter (glossy black will do) or the reflector and bulb behind if the filter is retracted. The barrel is split vertically with a two-part muzzle (with a choice of two types – use the smooth one if your references leave you guessing), which slots into the simple hinged sleeve, trapping a small flexible "gun mask", which is the cover that prevents dirt ingress into the breech area. The two radio antenna bases (BAE) fitted to the rear turret deck & forward tight stowage box are actually the latest Clansman bases, so will need to be consigned to spares and replaced with appropriate Larkspur bases, and the armoured box containing the tuning unit should be left off. The antenna sits on a bracket with the cable going straight in through the hull, and the fire extinguisher attached to the bottom of the Clansman tuning box should be cut off and attached to the hull side inverted, if that's the level of accuracy you're going for. As always though, check your references to see which antenna your vehicle had. This picture shows the difference between the two antenna bases, gleaned from unknown sources on the internet Twist the turret into place on its bayonet lugs and you're done. This is a 2-in-1 kit, allowing you to build the vanilla 5, or the 5P that was sold to the Iranians before the revolution. From the box you can build one of the following: Unknown unit BATUS 1991 – Sand/NATO Green camouflage, 11B and 001 on the sideskirts with 11B on the turret rear. Iranian Mk.5P Battle of Shalamche, 242nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 21st Infantry Division, May 1983 – All over yellow grey with Iranian roundels on the turret sides and rear bulkhead. Iranian 5P recaptured from Iraqi army by Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp - All over yellow grey with green and black symbols on the sideskirts. Iranian 5P Army Day Parade, Tehran, 2001 – Yellow Grey/British Brown camouflage. Iranian 5P Battle of Shalamche, 242nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 21st Infantry Division, May 1983 – All over yellow grey with Iranian acript in red on the turret sides and rear. Kuwaiti Mk.5K Martyr's Brigade, Operation Desert Storm, 1991. All over desert sand, with three white stripes on the sideskirts. D Squadron, 4/7th Dragoon Guards, Berlin, 1983 – White/grey blue/medium brown "Berlin Brigade" urban block camouflage with a NATO green engine deck. The Kuwaiti K was externally similar to other Mark 5s. There's a little conjecture over the BATUS scheme as by 1991 all Mk.5s had been upgraded, so check your references in case it's not appropriate for a Mk.5, given the assumed time period, when no Mark.5s should have been in service. Mark 10 The Mark 10 uses different turret parts to accommodate the Stillbrew armour package, and has a large insert on the left side to get the shapes right. There is a small raised part to the rear left of the turret that you will need to remove, as per the diagram included in the box. The hatches, smoke dispensers and sighting box on the outside of the turret are common, with the addition of a clear convoy light on a pedestal in the rear of the roof. The barrel fits in exactly the same way, except it ignores the smooth muzzle section which was only seen on early marks. A small additional part presses onto the hinge-point, sliding over the "breech" as the upper turret is installed on the lower. Turret baskets on the right side are unchanged, as is the crew-served machine gun, but on the left where the Stillbrew package sits, a new fully open basket of similar construction to the earlier one hangs from the side. The NBC box is unchanged, and the searchlight is still there with its clear lens. Twist the turret into place to finish. Decals provide markings for three real-world options, plus one from the hit TV show The Walking Dead where it was used to portray an M1 Abrams (it fooled me at the time!), which can be depicted with a few modifications noted in the accompanying text. From the box you can build one of the following: The Zombie Tank, Atlanta – US Marine sand, with a black V on each sideskirt. A Squadron, 1 RTR, BATUS 1991 – NATO Green/Sand camouflage with 22 in a black box on the turret and side skirts, plus a large white chevron on the front of the turret. Hard Target Chieftain at Warcop Range – NATO Green/Black camouflage with yellow 32 on the sideskirts. C Squadron, 14/20 King's Royal Hussars, Berlin, 1988-91 - White/grey blue/medium brown "Berlin Brigade" urban block camouflage with a NATO green engine deck. For ultimate accuracy on the Zombie tank you'll need to check the remaining equipment fit and replicate some additional stencils on both the sides, front and rear of the tank, so check out the end of episode 1 season 1, Days Gone Bye and the beginning of the following episode. Keep your finger near the pause button around 10 minutes from the end. There's also a good shot of Rick crawling under the tank showing some detail of the underside to good effect. Mark 11 The Mark 11 is broadly similar to the Mark 10 including the small raised part to the rear left of the turret that you will need to remove, as per the diagram included in the box. The ultimate Chieftain adds two small covered stowage boxes aft of the open baskets, plus the deletion of the searchlight in favour of the TOGS unit, which occupies the same space. This builds up into two linked boxes from a fair number of parts with a clear lens at the front if you elect to open the protective cover. A small PE mesh vent on the top rear finishes off the detail, and the unit is spaced from the hull at the top by a large flat bracket. Finally, just twist to finish. Five decal options are provided with this boxing, some of which are partial echoes of the mark 10. From the box you can build one of the following: Unknown unit, BATUS - NATO Green/Sand camouflage with white 10 in a black box on the turret and side skirts, plus a large white chevron on the front of the turret. A Squadron, 1 RTR Tofrek Barracks, Hildesheim, Germany, 1992 – NATO green/black hard-edged camouflage. 5th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, BATUS, Canada - NATO Green/Sand camouflage with white 21 in a black box on the turret and side skirts, plus a large white chevron on the front of the turret. 5th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, BATUS, Canada - NATO Green/Sand camouflage with white 30 in a black box on the turret and side skirts, plus a large white chevron on the front of the turret. Royal Scots Dragoon Guards – all-over NATO Green, with yellow 31 on a black background on the turret rear. Markings Please see the last paragraphs for each kit for details of the individual markings. The decals well-printed and sealed in separate bags with a thin cover sheet to prevent them sticking to anything. The sheets are small as you would expect, but the registration, colour density and sharpness are up to standard, although as always with yellow and red, do check for translucency before committing yourself and allowing the decals to set up. Conclusion There is a sound being heard across the nation. A scraping of boxes being moved to the back of the stash. The old Tamiya Chieftain that couldn't make up its mind what it wanted to be is now out to pasture, although of course you can still make good use of one if you have the time and after market sets to do it justice. This though, is a thoroughly modern tooling of a truly iconic British Main Battle Tank, which built upon the reputation of the Centurion, and was in turn built on by the succeeding Challengers. Detail is excellent, and it looks to be an easy build, with nothing to trip you up. Take your time to test fit parts, check your references, and paint it well, and you'll end up with a great model or three. One last point – it looks like an error was noticed late in production, and a new part D18 is included in the box along with a small addendum sheet. Make sure you ditch the old part immediately so you're not tempted to use it in error. You can see the replacement part on sprue D in the common photos above - yes, I did stick it in place. Review sample courtesy of UK Distributors for Kagero's Photosniper on the Chieftain was useful in researching this review, and you can find our review from some time ago here.
  6. French Light Tank AMX-13 Tracks for Tamiya/Heller (with & without rubber) 1:35 Takom After their work on their recent range of AMX-13 kits, Takom have used their research to create two aftermarket styrene sets of tracks for the new Tamiya and older Heller kits that came before. One set has standard tracks with the usual pattern, while the other has a different design with rubber track-pads for use on tarmac and hard ground. Each set comes in a small cardboard box with the contents tucked inside in a ziplok bag, and a small slip of paper forming the instructions for the track-padded version. Conveniently, there is just enough space to advertise the three AMX-13 variants offered by Takom on the back of the box in case you want more variants of this French Light Tank for your collection. AMX-13 Tracks with rubber (03.01.2061) These tracks are provided on short runs, some of which have been folded over to fit in the box, others having snapped at the weakest points – the sprue gates. The track links have their rubber pads separately on the same sprue, so in total you will be cleaning up five sprue gates per link. The pads have two pins on the back that locate into the link, with the pins offset so that it would be difficult to get them the wrong way around. The good news is that there are no ejector pin marks to remove, so once you've got the sprue gates dealt with, it should be plain sailing. There are ten sprues in the box with 180 links in total, give or take a few for my poor maths. AMX-13 Tracks without rubber (03.01.2060) These are different links without the rubber pads, so the detail is portrayed across the full width of the track instead. Again there are ten sprues containing 180 links, no ejection pin marks, and only three sprue gates to clean up per link. Conclusion A useful upgrade to your Tamiya or Heller kit's rubber-band tracks, although the new ones aren't of the easier click-link type, so you'll need your glue handy. Simply construct a run with liquid glue, and while it is still malleable wrap it around the sprockets and hold the run in place with tape or by packing the spaces to achieve the correct shapes. Having built up short runs of both sets for this review, I can confirm that as long as you keep hold of the small parts firmly, the clean-up and construction process isn't too difficult, just time consuming as you'd expect. They do look good once built up though, so it's worth the effort. Review sample courtesy of UK Distributors for
  7. Hi all! This month I started a new challenge, my very first kit in 1/16 scale and on top of that from World War One, the Takom 1/16 FT-17 Renault! At first I was reluctant to choose this kit, since I have no experience on that scale and I have read about WWI in the past, but never work a kit from that era, so I'm on uncharted waters in many ways. I order the kit with a book reference which I receive from Spruebrothers in just 4 days! (consider that I’m out of the States in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico). Started right away to look at the parts and get familiarized and also look at the information and pictures of the reference book. So I started now calling this a Char, not a panzer, not a tank, that’s the word for tank in French. Also found that this tank was call during WWI just as FT! The FT-17 name was later after the war due to the amount of variants and other French’s projects related. This Char was considered the first tank ! and was used in many conflicts and many countries, so I found a lot of references for the colors. I started right away with the engine, at first the pictures were difficult to find, and even I confuse the American version with the french one. The engine its just called 4 HP Renault engine, the American one is the BUDA HU engine. The building its very straight forward, some cleaning is needed, but is minimal, the fitting is perfect. I added the cabling, the sparks plugs and some metal tubing to represent it as much real as possible. Primer was next in black and for that task I used Krylon black color in a can. The cover is great and its dries in 15-20 minutes. (sorry for the bad pictures).
  8. Hello! I'm a Fairly recent returnee to to the hobby, and was keen to try out all these new techniques. Please excuse this rusty Chieftain, I got one of those Tank Art books, and it's easy to get carried away practicing all those techniques. I could say it was a very lucky range target, but I don't suppose they'd leave the baskets and GPMG on... Anyway, I had fun making it (Apart from the tracks, that wasn't fun) and learnt a lot about chipping, oil paint and such. Cheers!
  9. German Feldumschaggerat FuG 2.5T Takom 1:35 History In the field the (FUG) is an all-terrain forklift with a max lifting capacity of 2.5tons. Produced by Stein Bock, this field handling equipment was provided by the logistics associations of the Bundeswehr into service in 1983. The main areas of operations for the vehicle, as proposed by the Bundeswehr were the field supply depots. But due to the FUGs excellent all-wheel drive with differential lock and levelling, they have also been used out in the field, helping with the building of secure FOBs. The levelling system allows the vehicle to be used on uneven roads, paths and in light to medium-Heavy terrain. Although generally transported to user areas by truck it is also approved to be driven, with a load along roads at up to 50kph. The two-man crew, the driver and passenger sit in separate booths. The FUG, can carry a load up to 2.5t and lift it up to 3.7 m in height. In addition to use as a forklift, the forks can be removed and fitted with a snowplough blade for light grading or snow removal or a crane arm with up to 1t load. The vehicle has proved to be very popular in service. The Model There doesnt appear to be much in the way of history or details on this vehicle on the interweb other than what I have found above. It certainly is a very unusual kit to bring out, although it will be a useful item to have in a suitable diorama. The kit comes in a very attractive, glossy top opening box, which is quite small, but is full to the brim with seven sprues of dark green styrene, one of clear and five rubber/vinyl tyres. The A5 landscape instruction booklet is nicely laid out, but the use of CAD style diagrams takes a little bit of getting used to even though they are very clear they are not always the easiest to see where each part is fitted. The build centres around the single piece lower hull, onto which the front axle frame is fitted, followed by the centrally mounted two piece transfer box, plus the front and rear differentials. The front differential is a simple three piece assembly, whilst the rear differential starts of as a simple two piece affair, but is then fitted with the two pivoting ball joints, the steering rack and two hydraulic rams. The two driveshafts are then fitted between the differentials and the transfer box, after which the wheels hubs and brake discs are fitted to the axles. The two panels that go between the front and rear wheel arches are attached, along with the front differential protective plates are glued into position. The two rear light clusters are each made of three parts and fitted to the rear wheel arches followed by the rear of the large eye panel between them. The outer face of the towing eye panel is then attached along with the towing eye itself. Three protective panels are then fitted over the driveshafts and differential, followed by the right side central panel and the rear mounted spare wheel, which consists of the tyre, plus inner and outer hubs. The remaining four wheels, complete with inner and outer hubs are attached to their respective drive shafts. The whole model can now be turned right side up, so that the topsides can be assembled. To begin with, you will need to carefully fold the PE storage basket and fit it to the rear left upper wheel arch. Up front, the headlights are assembled from one green styrene part and the clear lens, over which the PE grille is fitted, then glued to the front wheel arches. Three Jerry cans are then assembled, each of three parts and glued to the right side running board. The front end is then kitted out with the fork upright extender strut, a switch/lever beam and a spare set of forks. A two piece footstep is then fitted to the left hand running board, whilst the four piece spare wheel hoist is fitted to the rear bulkhead. In the centre of the vehicle the three piece fork manifold and cover is fixed into position, followed by the rear mounted engine cover and two part air intake. Each of the crew cabins is made up of four panels into which the clear screens are added along with the windscreen wipers. The rear screens have the option of being posed open with the addition of two gas struts. Each seat is made up of a four piece support frame, two piece back rest, and the single piece squab. The cabins are also fitted with wing mirrors, and handles, plus downward looking periscopes for the front panels whilst only the left hand cabin has the steering wheel and binnacle. The completed cabins are then attached to the front hull, one each side of the fork mechanism. The exhaust is then assembled from eight parts, which includes the PE protective cover. With the main body of the vehicle complete its onto the fork assembly. Firstly, the uprights are built up from nice parts, to which the elevating frame, made up of eight parts, along with the elevating hydraulic ram are then slid into position. The main fork framework is built up from three parts and fitted with the hydraulic ram, and cover plate. The assembly is then fitted to the front of the main body. The modeller has a choice of fittings to fit to the fork frame, short forks, long forks, each with a five piece suspension bracket, a seven piece hook beam, for crane work. This can be assembled folded and attached to the left hand running board when not in use. Lastly the model can be fitted with a sixteen piece snowplough. Decals The small decal sheet has markings for four different vehicles, two in overall green schemes, one in three colour camouflages and one in an overall white UN scheme. The decals are well printed, in good register and a clear enough to read without a magnifier. Conclusion This is certainly a bit leftfield, even for a Takom release, as these sorts of vehicles are largely forgotten or have any interest taken in them, as they arent the big frontline vehicles that usually get released. That said, without these vehicles the supply train couldnt work. The choice of the four different fittings is a nice thought. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of UK Distributors for
  10. A small selection of Hobby Boss and Takom brand kits for your consideration: Includes two highly detailed 1/35 post-WWII German and Soviet SPAAG Models from Takom and two 1/35 military models from Hobby Boss. Check out the full range of Hobby Boss and Takom kits online or grab an item from our great Sale! For full details, please see our newsletter.
  11. AMX-13/90 Venezuelan Army Takom 1/35 This is Takom's new AMX-13 fitted with the 90mm main gun (they also do it with the original 75mm and one fitted with SS.11 ATGM's). It's a nice little kit, but there are some fiddly bits in the construction. In particular, I didn't get on with the indi track links which are tiny, and I'd rather have seen link and length versions instead, or at least a jig to set the sag on the upper run. It's also a shame that the oscillating turret, which is the most prominent aspect of the tank, can't be used if the vinyl dust collar is fitted. There's probably no way round this, as you couldn't really have a flexible collar that would look in scale, but it would have been nice if Takom had supplied separate collars for a depressed and elevated position on the gun. The turret will work if you don't fit the collar, but you'd need to add the mounting strip where the collar attaches, as that's not included as a separate piece. Thanks for looking Andy
  12. Mk.I Male H.M.L.S. Pincher Takom 1/35 This is Takom's new Mk.I, finished as H.M.L.S. Pincher from the Palestine front in 1917. It's a nice kit, with some nice additions like the sponson trolley. That's hard to use for it's intended purpose, as the tank doesn't have any interior, so you can't really show it with the sponsons removed. A bit off fuss has been made about the cab being too narrow, which it is, but once the tracks are on, it doesn't really show that much. The decals for Pincher came from New Penguin from Russia, who do a set that covers all the Mk.I's sent to Palestine Thanks for looking Andy
  13. Chieftain Mk.5 Takom 1/35 I finished Takom's Mk.5 last December (having started it all the way back in September) It's a nice kit, although the BATUS markings supplied should in fact be for a Mk.10. I think Mig J. was a little lax on his research for this one. Built OOB apart from the MG and smoke discharger covers. The base used one of the AMMO branded model scene grass mats. It'll be nice to see how it stacks up against the Meng one, but that seems to have disappeared again, after having a brief revival late last year Thanks for looking Andy
  14. Mk. A Whippet Takom 1/35 I've just finished this, Takom's new Whippet. It's finished as A322, one of the Whippets supplied to the White army during the Russian civil war, then captured by the Reds in 1920 and put into service with the 1st Tank Detachment in Ekaterinodar, before seeing action against Polish positions at Stolpshch. It's a lovely kit with very nice surface detail and great parts fit. No interior which is a shame as the rear door can be posed open. It'll be interesting to see how it stacks up against the Meng version when it's released. I suspect the Meng one might have the edge and might well be slightly cheaper. Thanks for looking Andy
  15. IN STOCK NOW, NEW TAKOM We have had in today the new releases from Takom Takom 1:35 - AMX-13/75 Light Tank IDF 2 in 1 Takom 1:35 - AMX-13/90 French Light Tank Takom 1:35 - AMX-13/75 French Light Tank with SS-11 ATGM 2 in 1 Follow us on Facebook for all the latest news https://www.facebook...eativeModelsLtd Check out the website for all new releases www.creativemodels.co.uk
  16. T-14 Armata Russian MBT 1:35 Takom First seen at the 2015 Moscow Victory Day Parade, with its turret and gun shrouded for secrecy, but it has now emerged from the shadows, although some aspects of its performance are necessarily unclear at this time. It is based upon the Armata chassis that is to be a common base for Russian armour, which simplified maintenance, spares and familiarity of the crew, as well as saving on development costs. The turret is unmanned, which obviates the need for a fume extractor on the barrel, as the crew are salted away in an armoured compartment in the forward hull. They are connected electronically to the auto-loading 125mm smooth bore cannon, sighting equipment and even a remotely operated 12.7mm Kord machine gun, so the turret can be that much smaller. The gun can fire quicker than it could be manually loaded, although barrel heating would mean that the maximum rate of 10-12 round per minute couldn't be sustained for long, even if shells continued to be available. A new discarding Sabot round of almost 1m in length is being developed for the gun, which has a horrific penetrating power over long distances, and it can also fire guided missiles, making it a true fifth generation tank. It is in its early service days, so likely to undergo many changes before it reaches the definitive variant, but even without the planned upgrade to a 152mm gun, it looks to be a formidable opponent on any battlefield. The Kit Takom must have friends in high places, spies in Russia or some serious crystal ball technology, as we only saw the initial vehicles in the summer of 2015, and it's still autumn as I write this. However they did it, the kits were flying off the shelves at Telford this year, which is a good sign for all involved. The kit arrives in a by now familiar white themed box with an attractive painting of the T-14 on the front. Inside are eleven sprues in mid-grey styrene, plus two hull parts, turret top & skirts in the same colour. There is also a small clear sprue, a run of six poly-caps, a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, and a small decal sheet. The first thing that strikes is the size of the hull. It is a substantial vehicle, although it doesn't look that large from a distance, which is perhaps down to the smaller turret. Detail throughout is crisp and nicely done, with a fairly straight forward build process that naturally starts with the lower hull and suspension arms, onto which fourteen paired wheels are added, plus the three part drive sprockets (2 of) and three-part idler wheels (2 of). If you don't like painting rubber tyres, you'll be groaning when I tell you that all the road wheels (28 of them) have rubber tyres to paint, unless you go down the heavy mud route. An appliqué armour panel is added to the rear bulkhead onto which extra track links and tow rope are added, plus a pair of short mudguards and some pioneer tools. Tracks! You'll be making two runs of ninety-five links each, and they're all individual links with separate guide-horns, so you will need to nip each of the five sprue gates off the links, and two from the guide-horns, clean them up and then glue them together into a long run using liquid glue. Drape them around the wheels while the glue is still curing, and hold them in place with whatever you have to hand until they're dry. If you leave a link unglued, you could paint them off the hull if you prefer. With the tracks on and hopefully dealt with, the upper hull can be added, after the exhaust port is pushed through from the inside of the lower hull wall. Mud guards, vision blocks, light clusters and hatches are added to the upper surfaces, with the ERA block encrusted side-skirts attached to slots and pins on the sides of the hull. At the rear a set of slat-armour panels protect the engine compartment, which fix to the sides on hinging brackets on the real thing, but these look to be non-functional on the kit. Gaps in the slats allow the baffled exhaust to exit the sides of the vehicle. The turret is a mass of angles to reduce observability and accommodate ERA armour to protect the delicate mechanisms inside, so the turret top has a number of small sections added before it can be joined with the lower turret, which has a separate turret ring, and houses ten Afghanit hard-kill dispensers for the self-protection system low down in a recess on each cheek of the turret. It also has the 125mm gun installed, which splits vertically and has a separate hollow muzzle and two shroud parts at the rear, which link to the simple breech part that hinges on two poly-caps to give you a poseable gun. This is enclosed in a sharply angles mantlet and dropped into the lower turret, which the upper turret traps in place. With no hatches to add, sensors and aerials are added to the turret roof, plus the two NII Stali upper hemisphere protection turrets, which house twelve missiles each. Two more packs are set into the roof with only the tubes showing. The main sensor bin looks one-part Dalek, one-part upturned waste-paper basket, and sits right of centre to the rear of the turret, and can be left to rotate by the use of a poly-cap. The 12.7mm machine gun with covered ammo stowage sits on a ledge to the rear of the sensor bin, and turns in unison, without blocking the view of the crew. The turret bustle has an integrated stowage basket that has hard sides, and a tubular rear frame that is covered with a PE mesh panel, with a couple of spare track-links stowed inside in a semi-folded position. Add a rearward facing searchlight to the back corner, and twist the turret into place to lock it on the bayonet fitting. Markings Mig Jimenez's AMMO have provided the colour profiles and paint codes for this release, as is becoming the norm for Takom, and due to the newness of this vehicle, Only one of the four markings options are factual. From the box you can build one of the following: WWII Victory Day Parade, 9th May 2015 – Russian Green with the new dynamic red star and orange/black stripes on the side skirts. What-if Desert pattern – Sand, mid brown and dark brown splinter camouflage. What-if T-90 pattern – Sand, mid green & dark green camouflage. What-if pattern – sand, mid green and mid brown camouflage. The paint codes are from the AMMO range as you'd expect, and the decal sheet caters for three of the schemes, including that of the May parade, with 143 and 623 turret codes in white, and the outline red star with black/orange stripes to the sides. Registration is good, but the orange seems to suffer from a little bleeding at the edges on my review sample, but that can be cured by either a sharp scalpel or not getting too close to the model when finished! There are also a pair of decals labelled (5), which aren't mentioned in the instructions, but I suspect are there to depict LED lamps inside the headlamp lenses. Conclusion It's difficult to know at this stage just how accurate this kit is, or will be when the vehicle reaches service units in large volumes, but if you want a T-14 Armata, this is a good-looking kit with plenty of external detail, and a certain appeal to it (to me at least). No doubt we'll see some of the sprues being used in other Armata based vehicles down the line. If Takom are listening, I'd also like to see them keeping pace with the development of the T-14, updating with new parts where appropriate. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of UK Distributors for
  17. 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
  18. British Mk.V Heavy Tank 1:35 Takom - 3 in 1 kit The British use of Tanks in WWI was very much a work-in-progress, starting from scratch, with numerous hold-ups due to the immature technology that resulted in the Mark.IV tank being a bit of a compromise and built on the Mark.III instead of being its own design. The Mark.V was originally a totally new design of tank that suffered from similar technical delays, so the Mark.IV was modified to accept the new more powerful 150bhp engine and renamed as the Mark.V, while the original project was dropped in order not to delay production too much. As well as the new engine, steering had been developed sufficiently to reduce it to a one-man job, freeing up crew-members to man the guns, with one machine gun added to the rear. A rear cupola was designed with hinged sides to give the crew protection when releasing the unditching beam or fascine bundle without having to leave the tank or expose themselves too much. The V features three different armament styles. The Male features two 6 Pounder main guns with four Hotchkiss Mk 1 Machine Guns, the Female featured Six Hotchkiss Mk 1 Machine Guns; while the Hermaphrodite (or composite) was fitted with one Male Sponson on one side, and one Female Sponson on the other side. This measure was to ensure that Female tanks were not outgunned by captured Male tanks, or indeed German A7V tanks. The V arrived mid 1918, but in sufficient numbers to be used in several battles where it performed well. After the war 70 were sent to Russia to support the White Russians in the civil war. Most were then captured by the Red Army four were retained by Estonia, and two by Latvia. Some were given to France, and they found themselves dotted all around, which explains why there are so many still to be found in museums. The American 301st Heavy Tank Battalion was equipped with and used Vs in WWI and at least one was taken back to the US and is now in the National Armour and Cavalry Museum at Fort Benning. There were surprisingly some uses of the V in WWII. The four Estonian examples were used as dug in fortifications during the defence of Talin in August 1941. In 1945 two damaged tanks were found in Berlin. It would appear they were ex Russian Civil war examples brought back to Berlin. It has never been verified if these took any involvement in the Battle of Berlin. The Kit The 3 in 1 part of the kit means that you can build a Make, Female or Hermaphrodite tank from the box. A fairly large box contains and impressive 11 plastic sprues, a small sheet of PE, a small length of brass chain and a bag of 190 track links. Constructions starts with the main centre hull section. The front machine gun and drivers area is built up and this is then fitted into the roof of the main body. The front, bottom and rear plates are then added. The rear plate also has its machine mount added. A towing shackle is fixed to the very front of tank. The rear roof box is made up and installed. Next to be fitted to the roof is the exhaust system, and then the semaphore signalling system is built up and installed. The last part to be added to the centre section is the rear box and carrier which is held in place by two short lengths of chain cut from the one length supplied in the kit. The side structures containing the tracks and wheels are the next items to be constructed. The front idler wheels, and rear drive sprockets are added along with the internal structure to carry all the parts. 27 small axles are then built up for each side. There are 11 type A axles and 16 type B axles. Each consist of a centre axles to which 2 wheels are added. It is important to follow the placement diagram for these parts when installing them into each side. Once these are made up the tracks can be linked and attached. There are 90 links per side which just clip together. The sides can now be attached to the main hull and the supports for the un-ditching beam rail added to the top. The modeller then needs to decide which of 3 versions to make as they will then need to make up the appropriate armament sections. The Female side sections contain two machine guns each. The guns themselves are in a circular copula with each of the 2 guns per side having 8 parts per copula. The two individual copulas are then mounted to a base plate and the external armour units added on. For the Male copulas each one contains a 6 pounder gun and a machine gun. The 6 Pdr units are complete units to be built up. The breaches are first built and these contain handles, blocks and sighting telescopes. A gun shield is then added before the external circular armour is added. The gun sponson is built up and then the 6 pdr and machine gun can be added to that. Before the gun sponsons can be added to the tank the modeller may have to remove some of the side rivet detail to match which type of armament selection has been made. The last stage of construction is to make up the un-ditching beam and secure it with tow small lengths of chain, again cut from that supplied. Markings Mig Jimenez's AMMO have provided the colour profiles and paint codes for this release, as is becoming the norm for Takom. The decal sheet supplied is small, there is no printer mentioned but the decals look in register and are of a matt finish. From the box you can build one of the following: MkV Hermaphrodite Shown in Berlin 1945 MkV Female Red Army Defense of Talin 1941 MkV Female Russian White Army 1920 MkV Female Shown in the battle for Berlin 1945 MkV Male Red Army Defense of Talin 1941 MkV Male France 1918 MkV Male H41 preserved at The Tank Museum, Bovington MkV Hermaphrodite Red Army 1920 MkV Hermaphrodite Captured White Army 1920 The paint codes are from the AMMO range as you'd expect. Conclusion This is a great looking kit and it is good that the modeller is given a choice of three different tanks to build. The parts count is high, and the inclusion of a small PE fret, chain and workable track links is good. The links in particular go together quite easily. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of UK Distributors for
  19. Another upcoming release from Takom. The American M9 ACE Armored Combat Earthmover. It'll probably be impossible to over weather this one Andy
  20. The New Takom Chieftains Are Now In Stock Takom 1:35 - Chieftain Mk 11 Main Battle Tank MBT Takom 1:35 - Chieftain Mk 5 Main Battle Tank MBT Takom 1:35 - Chieftain Mk 10 Main Battle Tank MBT Click on the image or visit our website for all new releases. www.creativemodels.co.uk
  21. Mk.A Whippet Medium Tank 1:35 Takom Arriving in 1917, the Whippet was engineered to complement the new heavy tanks that were making inroads into the German lines, on the basis that the faster, lighter tanks could exploit the openings made by the Mark IVs and Vs. They were equipped with two engines and whether this is a coincidence or not, had double the speed over the field than the heavies, at an eye-watering 8mph. Armed with a quartet of Hotchkiss .303 machine guns shared between the commander and gunner, they could technically cover all-round, but this involved a lot of multi-tasking and hot-seating, which must have been difficult within the cramped crew compartment, which was at the rear of the vehicle. The engines were set in the centre of the hull, with the fuel at the front in an armoured tank, which although exposed to enemy fire meant that there was a safety margin between the conflagration and the crew if it was hit. The Whippet's abilities were demonstrated well, even though it was late to the fray, but losses were quite high. There are a number of stories of derring-do by Whippet crews that demonstrate the British fighting spirit of the time as much as the tank's abilities, although it was of course vulnerable to shell fire due to the lack of heavy armour. After the war some were exported to Russia and Japan, and one even turned up in Germany as a mount for the Freikorps. The exported vehicles were reputed to still be in service in the 1930s. The Kit It's a long time since we've had a new kit of the Whippet in this scale, the only other being the old Emhar kit, which is fine as far as it goes, but suffers from "horrible track" syndrome and old-age. This is a complete new-tooling from Takom, following on from their Mark IV and Mark IV Tadpole kits that we reviewed recently. It carries on in the same vein providing a full exterior but no interior, and individual click-together track links, which should please most folks. It arrives in a slightly smaller box than the other kits, as you'd expect, and under the lid are seven sprues in mid-grey styrene, a small Photo-Etch (PE) brass fret, a bag of styrene track links in a mid-brown colour, small decal sheet, instruction booklet, and a separate concertina-fold painting & markings booklet that has been produced by Mig's AMMO for Takom. There is also a limited edition of 2025 boxes that includes a resin figure of a Japanese soldier saluting, a small sprue of Japanese machine guns, and some suitable decals. Where you'd get those from though, I have no idea, as the text around the pictorial information is all in Chinese/Japanese (I'm sorry I don't know the difference). As you'd expect the build begins with the running gear, which consists of a run of sixteen pairs of small wheels of four types, idler wheels and drive sprockets. The road wheels are built from two wheels with a short axle in between, while the rest are two-parts each. You will need to keep a watchful eye on each type to keep them separate during construction, and add them to the inner sponson part carefully, to ensure they're in the correct positions. They are glued in place, and are then joined by mud-shedding panels and the internal bulkheads top and bottom, plus a quartet of return rollers that are again paired wheels on a short axle. Before the glue sets on this assembly, you'd be wise to test-fit the outer sponson wall, as it will make any adjustments easier down the line. At this stage only the idler and drive sprocket will still spin in the sponson if you've been careful with the glue. The instructions then tell you to add ten small j-shaped hooks to the sides, but I'd leave those 'til later in case they get bent or lost. The same process is repeated in mirror image for the other side, with both hull sides having a line of track-grousers added, plus the engine louvers and exhausts for the engines. The floor panel and fuel tank are built up next, and added between the inner walls of the sponsons along with a rear armoured bulkhead panel. The angled roof on the engine compartment and the asymmetric lower plate for the superstructure are glued on, followed by the bulged port wall to the crew compartment and the rear deck. The Hotchkiss MGs and their ball mounts are fitted to the sides of the crew compartment, and another fits to a small panel in the front, while the final mount is in the rear crew door, which seems a little ungainly if you are trying to exit in a hurry. The roof is added with an angled section at the front, a crew hatch on the top, and a PE strip along a prominent join, with the whole assembly placed on the top, closing the empty interior save for the rear door that can be posed open or closed. Two open-topped stowage compartments are attached to the rear corners of the hull, with PE bracing wires added to an eye bolted to the hull. The final act of construction (sounds a little religious!) is the making up of the track runs and fixing them to the hull. Each link has the tail of a sprue gate on the raised edge, which should be easy to remove cleanly, and a single ejector pin mark in the centre of the inside surface. Unless you are modelling your Whippet in a "tracks peeled-back" diorama state, you'll not need to remove these as they won't be seen. Happy days! Once you realise that the styrene is quite flexible they go together quickly, but take your time and don't force it. Markings Takom are usually quite generous with their decal options, and this kit is no exception, having a rather impressive eight in total, or nine in the special boxing. There are four British options with a variation on overall green with red/white identification stripes, while the Russian tanks are plain green with the appropriate symbols. The captured "beutepanzer" wears a three colour scheme, and the Freikorps a plain grey. From the box you can build one of the following: British Whippet A321 near Acheiet-le-petit France, Aug 1918. British Whippet A326 Biefvillers France, Aug 1918. British Whippet A347 "Firefly" 6th Battalion Tank Corps. B Company, Amiens France, Aug 1918. British Whippet A378 "Golikell" Irish Civil War, Dublin, Jan 1919. German Beutepanzer A Repair No. 111 at Lieu-Saint-Armand training ground of the 17th Army, Sept 1918. German Whippet in Freikorps service, Berlin, Jan 1919. Russian Whippet in Red Army Service, 1920. Russian Whippet in 2nd Tank Platoon White Army Service, 1920. There is also the Japanese option if you're one of the lucky ones, but other than the code A3390, and a serial of 4637 the rest is unintelligible to this reviewer. The decals are printed in-house, have good register, colour density and sharpness, with a thin, matt carrier film cut closely to the decal edges where possible. Based on past experience with Takom decals they should go down just fine. Conclusion It's a welcome release to any WWI modeller, which gives you all you need in the box, save for an interior that some might look out for from the aftermarket folks. The individual tracks are a huge positive because these old clunkers really did have an exaggerated faceted effect round the track ends, so rubber bands just wouldn't have cut it. The detail on the skin is good, and a lot of care has gone into the design to make it simple to construct. Perhaps this might make a good introduction to the joys of WWI armour modelling if you've ever been tempted by their quirkiness? Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of UK Distributors for
  22. Skoda PA-II Turtle 1:35 Takom This unusual looking inter-war four wheel drive armoured car was part of the Czechoslovak republic's development of an armoured car that would be used by the Czechoslovakian army, although this offshoot didn't do too well, and was used mainly by the Czechoslovakian police, and the Germans who pinched some when they marched in. The original PA-I was an angular beast, but had the same two drivers and ability to be driven just as well in forward or reverse. In fact, looking at the vehicle it is difficult to tell one end from another. The second version was an attempt to gain more room within the vehicle and keep the weight low, so it was fashioned from 5mm steel by panel beaters, which resulted in an organic look to the shell. It was bolted to the same chassis as the I using an angle-iron frame, and had four Schwarzlose machine guns with over 6,000 rounds on board, manned by two gunners. The final crew member was the commander, who had a little hatch in the roof through which he could pop out to direct operations. It must have been very cramped and hot in there with five men plus a large Praga RHP 6 litre engine dragging round the seven ton bulk of the vehicle. The Czechoslovakian army were unimpressed by the finished article, as although it had four-wheel drive, it had unsuitable suspension, low ground-clearance, and its wheels were thin and poorly suited to off-road driving. Add a top speed of just over 40mph on good roads, and they turned up their noses. The Czechoslovakian police had a few on strength, and the remaining few were soaked up by the army some years later – probably at a much reduced price too! When the Nazis arrived, they took a number of them, removed the guns and added a radio antennae "bed-frame" above the roof, with a three-man crew, which allegedly continued in service to the end of WWII. The Kit Previously only available in resin at this scale, the Turtle is an interesting organically shaped armoured car, and I was pleased when Takom announced its impending release, as I've wanted one for a while. It arrives in a small glossy box with its subject matter on the top, sporting a Czechoslovakian flag, and all the guns pointing skywards, presumably under the weight of their breeches. Inside are four sprues of grey styrene, a grey body shell, four rubbery wheels in black, a small clear sprue, decal sheet, instruction booklet in black & white, and of course the painting and markings booklet, which is in full colour and folds out to quite a width! The moulding of the body shell is super, although you'll need to scrape off a couple of seamlines around the body where the sliding mould components met, but that's the work of moments. There's no interior and no opening crew doors, but the top hatch can be left open by adjusting the hinges accordingly. The four sprues are actually two that are repeated, as the vehicle is so symmetrical that it is difficult to tell one end from the other, apart from a moulded-in hatch on the driver's area and small protuberance from the bonnet/hood area. It is a simple model and shouldn't take long to construct, especially compared to how long it'll take to mask off all those camouflage schemes! Construction begins with the transmission and suspension units, which are as you'd expect for the era, with rather skinny looking leaf springs. You make two of these assemblies, which are mated to half of the floor pan along with the swept ends of the chassis rail, before they are joined in the middle, such is the extent of the symmetry. There are mating tabs strengthening the joint, and three beams are added laterally, one of which runs across the seamline, so things should stay where they are, on balance. The wheels are added to each corner by way of the aforementioned rubberised styrene tyres that are sandwiched between the outer and inner hub parts, the inner one having an axle stub inserted before gluing so that the wheels will rotate once completed. Attention then shifts to the upper body, which is made up from four quadrants to form the cylindrical crew section that blends into the body. Four cups are added for the guns, which are made up from two parts with a ball-mount at one end, and the gun's muzzle at the other. The muzzle is not hollow, so get your mini-drills at the ready. The guns are just glued in place, so choose how you'd like to set them up, as they won't be moving once the glue sets. If you are modelling one of the German operated vehicles, the guns should be cut from the ball-mount and the centre hollowed out with a drill to show where they should slot in. The two hatches on the roof are hinged toward the centre of the "roof" under an armoured dome cover, and these are dropped in place and glued down unless you fancy altering them to have one or both lifted for crew figures. The light clusters are added to each end with clear lenses, an optional domed cover, and a single centre-mounted towing eye. The top and main body are then glued together, taking care to align everything to minimise seam filling, and the body is then flipped over to add the wheel-arch inner covers to prevent a see-through body. The chassis and body can then be clipped together, the body being held at the right height by ledges on the inner faces of the wheel well parts. If you are modelling the German variant with the armament removed, there is a bed-frame aerial assembly to add to the roof of the vehicle, although there is at least one picture I have seen where this isn't present, so it's up to you. That's it! You're done. Now to paint and weather the thing, which might take a little longer, depending on your markings choice. Markings Once you have opened the paper concertina that is the painting guide, you are presented with five markings choices, most of which are of the "crazy paving" school of camouflage. Only the German vehicle is in Panzer Grey, which I'm suspecting will result in a lot of German ones on the tables at shows! From the box you can build one of the following: Police HQ Moravska Ostrava, 1937 – five colour crazy paving scheme. Training Squadron of armoural (sic) cars, Milovice, 1932 - five colour crazy paving scheme, with larger patches. Assault Vehicles Regiment, Milovice 1925-1932 - five colour crazy paving scheme, largest patches. Assault Vehicle Regiment, Milovice, 1925-32 - five colour splinter scheme. Panzerspahwagen Skoda PA II (Fu) 4Rad, French Campaign, May 1940 – all over Panzer Grey. The camouflaged options have sand, grey, light khaki green and brown patches, and all bar the splinter pattern have dark green "grout" between each colour patch. It does lend itself to brush-painting, although it could also be done using very thin sausages of Blutak or similar. The decals are on a small sheet and have good register, colour density and sharpness, and a nice thin matt finish on the carrier film. You even get a couple of undocumented Czechoslovakian flags in case you feel like replicating the scene on the box top. Conclusion A great little kit of a horrifically weird-looking armoured car that I wouldn't have set foot in if you'd paid me! It's simple, so as long as you don't approach it expecting wonders such as interiors and opening body panels, you'll be fine. It'll certainly be an interesting talking point when it's on display. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of UK Distributors for
  23. Krupp 21cm Mörser 10 Takom 1/35 Hi guys, this is Takom's new Krupp howitzer, finished as the short barrel 1910 model (you can build the longer barreled model 1916 from the box too). A very nice kit with great parts fit and a quick and easy construction. I did have a couple of parts break due to the fragility of some of the components, but they were easy fixes. This one's done with the markings of a gun captured by Canadian troops at Vimy Ridge in 1917. Thanks for looking Andy
  24. Trumpeter and Takom New Releases Now In Stock. Trumpeter New Releases TRU01672 - Trumpeter 1:72 - Su-24MR Fencer-E £33.99 TRU02895 - Trumpeter 1:48 - De Havilland Sea Hornet NF.21 £27.99 TRU05542 - Trumpeter 1:35 - Soviet 1K17 Szhatie £55.99 Takom New Releases TAK02021 - Takom 1:35 - German Feldumschlaggerat Fug 2.5T (Forklift) 4 in 1 kit £44.99 TAK02022 - Takom 1:35 - Ukraine KrAZ-6322 Late £47.99 TAK02023 - Takom 1:35 - German 12.8cm FlaK 40 Zwilling £53.99 TAK02024 - Takom 1:35 - Skoda PA-II 'Turtle' WWI Tank £27.99 TAK02025 - Takom 1:35 - British 'Whippet' Mk A WWI Medium Tank £47.99 TAK02032 - Takom 1:35 - Krupp 21cm Morser 10/16 2in1 £33.99 Visit the website for more information www.creativemodels.co.uk
  25. 128mm Flak 40 Zwilling Takom 1:35 History The 12.8 cm, (128mm if using si units), FlaK 40 was a German anti-aircraft gun used in World War II. Although it was not produced in great numbers, it was one of the most effective heavy AA guns of its era. Development of the gun began in 1936, with the contract being awarded to Rheinmetall Borsig; the first prototype gun was delivered for testing in late 1937 and completed testing successfully. The gun weighed nearly 12 tonnes in its firing position, with the result that its barrel had to be removed for transport. Limited service testing showed this was impractical, so in 1938 other solutions were considered. The eventual solution was to simplify the firing platform, based on the assumption it would always be securely bolted into concrete. The total weight of the system reached 26.5 tonnes, making it practically impossible to tow cross-country. In the end this mattered little, since by the time the gun entered production in 1942, it was used in primary static defensive applications. There were four twin mounts on the fortified anti-aircraft Zoo Tower, and they were also on other flak towers protecting Berlin, Hamburg, and Vienna. Approximately 200 were mounted on railcars, providing limited mobility. The gun fired a 27.9 kg (57.2-pound) shell at 880 m/s (2,890 ft/s) to a maximum ceiling of 14,800 m (48,556 ft). Compared with the 88mm FlaK 18 & 36, the 128mm used a powder charge four times as great which resulted in a shell flight time only one-third as long. This meant that it could be used more accurately against fast moving targets. The Model Whilst it is great to see this kit released, I do feel for the resin manufacturers who seem to be having the rug pulled from under them by the injection moulding companies, in that subjects that would normally only be produced in resin are now being picked up to be produced in styrene. Its a great time for the modeller, but I still feel for the cottage industry that has served us well for many years. Still, its a kit Ive always fancied and now we have one that is not only easily accessible, but relatively cheap. The kit comes in quite a large portrait orientated box with an atmospheric depiction of the guns in a night setting. Inside, there are six sprues of light grey styrene, a separate base and turntable, a small sheet of etched bras and a small decal sheet. As there are two guns, the sprues that contain them have been doubled up and the build sequence is the same for both. All the parts are well moulded, with no sign of flash or other imperfections and only a few moulding pips. The kit has been designed so that any ejection pin marks are on the insides/undersides so there is little additional clean up required other than for the sprue gates. The instructions are very clear and easy to read, in fact they have to some of the clearest instructions Ive seen in a while. Construction begins with the first of the two guns, in particular the slide, which comes in four parts, left and right halves, top panel and a small crosspiece. To this the elevation quadrant is attached, along with two fixing to the rear of the slide underside. The slide piston end cap is then attached to the front, whilst four mount fixings are fitted to the rear. Each barrel is made up of nine parts, with the rear section of the barrel, including the breech and the front section each in two halves split longitudinally. The end of the rifled barrel is sandwiched at the breech end between the two halves and the curved section of breech is attached to the left half. With the front barrel section assembled, the front and rear sections can be joined together via a single piece transition joint. The completed barrel is then slid into the previously assembled slide. The breech is then detailed with the hinged breech block, breech opening ram and associated cogs and the breech block itself, made from three parts. The recuperator tube is now assembled, from two halves to which the end cap, valve and shaft are fitted, this is then fitted to the top of the barrel and connected, by two rods, to the slide. Each of the two trunnions are made up of five parts, to which a pad, and grab handle are fitted to the left hand unit, while the right hand unit is fitted with a four piece elevation gearbox housing. The eight piece shell cradle is then attached to the rear of the slide along with a three piece connecting beam. To the top of the gun there is a complex series of fifteen parts the function of which I cannot find, other than it looks like they make up into something to do with the recoil and spent cartridge removal. The two elevation springs are assembled next, each one consists of the inner shaft, outer cylinder and three piece end cap, and they are then fitted to the underside of the gun. With both the guns assembled its on to the mounting and the assembly of the middle trunnion mount, which consists of five parts. This is followed by the upper gun mounting base unit which consists of a single piece base, to which the elevation shafts, with added cogs and poly caps are fitted after which the shaft cover is attached. At the front of the base are to storage boxes and two cover plates. Before fitting the guns to the base four hinges need to be affixed to the lower ends of the elevation spring tubes, these are not to be glued, only snapped into position. The inside trunnions are then slid into the central trunnion mount and the whole assembled fixed to the base. Each gun is then fitted with what looks like an elevation motor and a fuse setting to the outside trunnion mount panel which are fitted before these assemblies are attached.. Each elevation motor is made up of nine styrene and two PE parts, whilst the fuse setter machines are each made up of sixteen parts. The lower base unit is fitted with and end plate, on which there is a small three piece platform with associated PE grating. Each side of the base is fitted with the fighting platforms with handrails and inner edge parts plus two four piece tread steps, each with additional PE mesh grating. Each side is fitted with a crew station consisting of a seat, foot pedals and associated support frame, the right hand side station is also fitted with the training gearbox casing and control wheel. With all the platforms attached the lower base unit is attached to the underside of the upper base section. The modeller is given a choice on how to mount the zwilling, either on the hexagonal base, via a small turntable, for a fixed gun battery, or a smaller round base, also via the small turntable, which can be used on a flatbed rail wagon or the like. Takom do provide a couple of shells to display with the guns, but, unfortunately no crew. Decals The small decal sheet has markings for three guns although none are exactly covered in them with just the Hamburg gun being provided with anything different such as the kill markings on the barrels. They are well printed and quite thin, with little carrier film to worry about. The three options are:- G-Tower, Caesar gun position, Tiregarten, (zoo), Berlin 1945 in overall Panzer Grey. G-Tower, Anton gun position, Stiftskaserne, Wien, 1945, in Panzer Grey with yellow squiggles all over. G-Tower, Caeser gun position, Heiligengeistfeld, Hamburg 1945 in either overall Panzer Grey or overall Olive Green. Conclusion As I said at the beginning of this review, I do feel for the Cottage Industry and their fabulous creations, but to actually get a subject like this in injection moulding is quite incredible and something that I never thought would happen. I love big guns so was thrilled to hear of the impending release, and the wait has been worth it. There is nothing to difficult with the build, just a bit repetitive with two of everything except the base. It will certainly look great in any collection. The only downside is that, once again we are given a great gun system, but no crew to man it, perhaps it is here that the resin guys can come to the rescue. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of UK Distributors for
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