Search the Community

Hi all, here is my latest, the Chieftain Mk.10 Tank using the 1/72 Takom 1+1 kit and was built as part of the NATO 75th GB. A lovely kit with lots of detail and comes with some PE although some parts were so small and were easily lost to carpetland. The lower hull with wheels were built and painted first before adding the PE side-skirts, then the rest was painted. AK paints were mainly used and the Mk.10 was painted in the Berlin scheme dated 1988-1991. The figures were from Wee Friends. A simple road base was made using insulation board, sandpaper for the road, some railroad street lights and other stuff. Build log here: Stuart

Hi all, here is my latest, the Chieftain Mk.11 Tank using the 1/72 Takom 1+1 kit and was built as part of the NATO 75th GB. A lovely kit with lots of detail and comes with some PE although some parts were so small and were easily lost to carpetland. The lower hull with wheels were built and painted first before adding the PE side-skirts, then the rest was painted. AK paints were mainly used and the Mk.11 was painted in the 1 RTR scheme in Germany dated 1992. The figures were from Wee Friends. Build log here: Stuart

As if I haven't got enough builds on my plate, what with two mustangs entering their paint stages and a float plane moving along, I thought I'd get another on the go. This time a Chieftain Tank Mk.10 that will have the Berlin scheme and hopefully alongside it I'll build a Mk.11 in a slightly later scheme. The kit is the Takom 1+1 in 1/72. Haven't built a Takom kit before, so... Boxart. Lots of plastic. PE and decals for two and a nice instruction booklet. Stuart

Good afternoon, Gentlemen Here’s my “what if” Kanonenjagpanzer 2 (KaJaPa 2) “Eber”. It’s a Takom VT 1-2 in a “what-he-could-have-looked-like-in-1985-configuration”. I mainly added some (modified) Leopard 1 side skirts from Perfect Scale Modellbau but also pioneer tools, a stowage box, two antennas, jerry cans, MG mount and MG, smoke dischargers, towing cables as well as a modified/scratch built periscope (because the driver would not have seen something because of the smoke dischargers … ) and a few parts other from the spare parts box (IR searchlight, spare tracks, grab handels, ice cleats for the tracks). Hope you like this what-if beast … Roger

Here is the second project I was doing for the Tiger GB. Just finished about a month late. Takom JT, Atak and homemade zim, Friul tracks. The WIP: Thanks all for viewing and have a great weekend.

For my second build I will attempt to replicate the following JT, an early one with Porsche suspension. I will be using Takom's one but, having started this a long time ago, it is well over the 25% build stage so I won't post any final pictures in the gallery. I also have some Atak zim and I think the right tracks from Friul. Cheers again.😁

Hi friends, Type 69-II Takom with Aber barrel : build finished

This was the first kit by TAKOM that I built - and I have to say I was pretty impressed. Instructions, crispness, fit ... all good! Although, I bought the kit on sale for about half price. At full price, I probably would have passed. Partly, I hope that TAKOM will release more weapons systems in the future besides their Russian/Sovjet and WWII lines, if the modern weapons sell well. I am especially hoping for Sea Sparrow, Ram or similar ... I also was lucky to be at our Naval Academy in Flensburg, when the first Sovjet task group visited Kiel/Germany in 1990. We were able to get a very extensive tour on board (I was even running around alone for a bid) on the Sovremenny class destroyer Bystryj. By the time we were ready to go to the Krivak class Nieukrotimyj, public Open Ship had started and there was a line all the way down the pier up to the gate of the base, so we bailed. Here you can see said launcher behind the 130mm... I took some liberties here. First I am unable to build a model without opening at least one door or hatch. Unfortunatley TAKOM made all the hatches as separate pieces, but provided no interior. As all the research (including this forum) didn't result in any usable info, I just made something up (litterally ). As soon as this post is forgotten, no one will ever know that it is fake. So: I am good with it The laucher is in reality not sitting directly on top of the (redbrown) deck. However as the pear shaped original decking was not provided, I painted the hexagonal part in that brown, as for me that always had a big part in the looks of Sovjet ships of that time. No weathering. The warshot (SA-N 7 on the rail) should anyhow be pristine, the training round (SA-N 17 green, last pic) shows a little bit of handling. The launcher might get some rust or salt water residue after extended periods at sea, but any bosun worth his (back than only male) money, would try to have that cleaned up while still at sea or latest painted right after coming into port (especially for an important visit as mentioned above). So short story long.... here it is With the SA-N 12 training round And the fake interior up close... Some time after that port visit, I started my 1/700 Sovjet navy collection with a Sovremenny and a Krivak. I might have to restore the Sovremenny now to go with this launcher (It survived about 10 moves in the years in between and show significant wear and tear). Finally, as always, thanks for looking and any comments welcome. Cheers

Hello everyone Here's my latest work, two cold war brits! I mostly only do WW2 era subjects so this was an interesting sidetrack for me. Modern era stuff doesn't usually interest me that much but I enjoy the look of the Chieftain a lot. I say 'modern', this is a 1960's design afterall... 😅 This is my first experience with Takom, I have to say I was slightly disappointed with this kit overall. It has great detail but for some reason also tons of flash, and the overall fit isn't really that good. Some odd design choices and ridiculous amount of parts for all the stowage boxes, made this building process a little tedious. At least the detail level is good so it was worth the effort I think. One big plus point is that the wheels and tracks can be built as a separate assembly for easier painting. Also every hatch can be opened and has good inside detail. If you want to do a full interior FV432, this kit should be a great starting point. The figures are 3D printed by Peddinghaus. They are supposedly Bundeswehr, but looks close enough I think. There was not a lot of options when it came to British cold war tank crew in 1/72. My reference photo is a BAOR Chieftain from ca 1983, with a camo net. The camo net is made from elastic medical gauze and wine bottle tinfoil cut into small strips. Brush painted with Humbrol enamels, weathering with AK splatter effects "Dry mud" and some dust pigments. Thank you for checking them out!

I recently gifted myself the Takom SA n 7 kit for my birthday. I saw a video with someone rendering the interior. The kit allows 4 doors to be opened, but does not provide any material for the interior. Research on the net didn`t come up with something (neither NATO name nor Russian nor Indian or Chines version). Any of you guys have something to help me out? Thanks a lot!! Cheers

Hi all! Since finishing the previously started models was impossible, I had to start another one. And oddly enough, this is not the first time this has happened... So, at this time It is Hetzer from Takom: About the kit Pros: This kit has no interior and is pretty basic. All the pieces fit together perfectly so far. Cons: The plastic is very soft and elastic, carving it is a real pain! I want to make this Hetzer look seriously beat up, so I started with the fun and most enjoyable - destroying the model's well-made and accurate parts. One wheel damaged by an explosion: Damaged front fender: The damaged rear left fender and toolbox: I decided to make the right rear fender heavily battered. To do this I glued on a few pieces of excess plastic: Carving the damages. Beginning: The right fender is finished : The same right fender from another side: I added a more raised texture to the casted parts and front panel and glued a number. The numbers from the Tamiya sprue label: Vytautas

Hello, just finished building the Takom's Hetzer (without interior) great kit, very precise. I just paint the interior just for the commander hatch. a great figure from CMK for commander.

Started in December last year (sooo long ago! 🙄), this project has now rolled off the line ... It's my first Takom kit and proved to be an enjoyable build. I've added extra detail to the engine ... fuel lines and wiring along with the usual wathering. Painted with Vallejo and Ammo acrylics, weathered using pastels, oils, environment 'mud' that has grass in it and enamel effects. This represents a vehicle of the 117th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, VI Corps in Germany during April 1945. So,on with the pictures .... Thanks for dropping by ... your comments and feedback are welcome! Keith 😁

Hello all! The Hetzer project is coming to an end and so it's time for something new on the workbench. 1914-2024 is a year that symbolises the beginning of the primeval catastrophe of mankind and therefore reason enough for me to dedicate myself to this topic: the great war I had been planning to build an MK IV for some time and bought the female version on ebay for a lot of money (the 2 in 1 kit was not available at the time). Knowing that the tracks are a punishment for any modeller, I ordered AM from Masterclub. So far I can say that the casting quality is good and there are hardly any offsets or skins on the parts. Given the manageable number of parts and the simple construction of the tank, you would think that this could be a weekend project. If it wasn't for the very dodgy assembly instructions - although they are error-free, they are more than illogically structured and the steps are nonsensical in places. Anyone who has ever built an Churchill from AFV will be familiar with the fiddly assembly of the 2 drive sides. Although Takom uses fewer parts for this, it seems to have relied more on the modeller's intuition when it comes to assembly. Here one wishes for Tamiya's cleverness, which is almost unbeatable when designing a kit. But enough bitching 🤭 I really like the kit itself, even if the rule should be applied here: think twice before gluing. Beginners in particular should be careful, as models with lots of bolts and rivets don't like being messed up with glue. MD PS: more on the correct reproduction of the original in the course of the build. Judging by the look of the box, the item had been on the shelf for a long time. The content is straightforward. Only masochists should let off steam on these tracks. Masterclub offers salvation. The construction plan and a correction sheet. Takom starts with the centre section in their plan, to which the left and right drive sides are then to be glued. However, I recommend making these assemblies first and then attaching the centre section. I will show this in the next post. The frame structure shown consists of several panels, which have a groove for orientation, but have to be glued together at an angle at the ends. A dry fit is essential here to prevent air gaps. Here you can see the grooves. The funniest part comes at the end: once the rollers have been fitted, Takom's idea is to simply put the outer frame segment on. However, nobody thought about the fact that you have to put all the rollers, wheels and the frame segment into all the holes and grooves at the same time! So first test the frame parts without the rollers for accuracy of fit and only then insert the rollers and fix everything in place. These are all my clamps. Everything holds without glue and you can still push and press until everything fits. Then put the glue on, open the beer and switch off the light 😋 See you!

After finishing my recent epic build, I looked at a Tamiya Panther as the next victim project, but decided I needed to do something that hasn't got tracks and lots of wheels so I released this from the grip of the not-a-stash stash .... This is my first foray into Takom, although having seen many of you build their products, I can't foresee any issues (I have my fingers crossed now as I've pre-ordered the 'Big Box' Tiger kits'!) and a first with 1/16th too. The nice thing here is the chance to have go at adding some extra details, such as wiring and brake lines ... Opening the box reveals this pile of goodies .... At first glance the parts look relatively flash free and crisply moulded, so off to a good start. And after bit of cleaning up, I have the three chassis parts ready to go together .... As always, comments and feedback welcome ... Keith 😁

Well first build of the year completed granted not many parts but a bit of fun building it after real life issues getting in the way. Time to get back to some of my stalled stuff and clear that shelf will need my dust mask some have been lying around that long. So anyway this is the 1/35 scale Secondary Bismarck Turret painted using Colour Coates enamels and various oils for weathering and a Italeri figure from the Pibber sub kit for scale and lots of coffee stirrers for the decking from various outlets. WIP https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235134645-bismarck-turret-15cm/ Stay Safe beefy

Takom/Snowman Model is to release a 1/35th Mil Mi-28N Night Hunter/"Havoc" kit - ref. 2610 & SP2610 Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02NjYWBjfzR5kXBio9ohEhmkvYBZBKi7QnV2LvSrJwZudfkHpGNgvhTMEJ1sn7ZZQKl&id=100057593795167 V.P.

Hello friends, New build : M114 A1E1 CRV from Takom Great model, some photos

dear all inspectors! to your attention is another my build. It is a tank Pz I Ausf.A from 10th PzD, back in 1940 somewhere in France. This is Takom kit #2145, a great kit that allows us to build two Pz I out of one box, both Ausf. A and Ausf. B. Accuracy and fit of parts are very good. Gives you 8 painting options. I have chosen to build Ausf. A in version #3 which contains some field modifications, like - armored air intake and exhaust; smoke grenades. Enjoy it! At the finish of assembling: Main colors applied: Panzer grey by Tamiya XF63 + few drops of XF1 and even a drop of blue XF8. The camo brown by XF64+XF1. By the way in the painting instruction is misleading information. The panzer Dark grey (Dunkelgrau) is named as Olivgrun!!! Dont paint in Olivegreen 🙂 And here it is:

Afternoon all. Finally found some time to start a new thread. Been a bit in a rut recently with many ongoing projects and hit a brick wall on a few so decided a nice simple build is in order to get back on track. Decided on a King Tiger (my first) from the stash. I chose this one as on the whole they seem to have minimal detail really, even with the PE upgrade set. Based on some research, many had little left of detail by wars end like fenders and side mudguards etc.....so going that route. Here's the kit itself..... The kit has the option to build a type with a larger gun and night vision that was never actually built......not realy one for "paper panzers" myself, so stuck with the 88mm version. Now here's an interesting point. The 88mm barrel in the kit has a larger diameter that the Voyager one in the PE upgrade set. Curious..............so thinking Voyager is more accurate, it'll be the metal upgrade one to use. Here's the PE set I went with. It's for the Tamiya/Dragon KT's....but can't imagine the Takom being that much different. And of course my favourite track upgrade option, R-Model. Can't fault these, so easy to throw together....all complete in under an hour, both sides. As you can see, the set comes with new drive wheels as in fact later KT's had more teeth and the tracks had no non guide horn links. Later models had a guide tooth on all links. I can't imagine it's too much of a stretch to say by war's end with lack of supply of parts to switch back to the earlier drive wheels and tracks.....so that's where I'm going with this one. I ploughed into the build late last week and it flew by, so haven't got many early build pics. So intend to post where I am tomorrow as I've just finished the re-texturing of the armour. Overall, there's isn't much to a KT build, very simple so a speedy build so far. Anyway, that's all for now. Cheers Simon.

It's one of the "what if..." builds of mine. What if Object 279 actually went into service and received a tri-color camouflage? What would it look like advancing through the fallout with Geiger counters going crazy? Its 130mm/L70 cannon is just disproportionally long. Almost the size of my 1/16 Abrams' 120mm/L44 Rheinmetall! Kit used: Takom 2001 Object 279, with Aber 130mm/L70 metal barrel and Masterclub metal tracks. Parts don't go together too well, so if you're planning on building one of these too, time to invest in some putty and get your sanding sponges ready. Among all the 3 kits (Panda, AmusingHobby, and Takom) however, I think the Takom one's still the best, having built all these 3. AmusingHobby's kit is just simply horrendous. Neither the turret nor the chassis looks anything even close to an Obj.279: The turret is more like a T-10M bought from wish.com, and the chassis looks like a mutated boat hull. The sprues don't even seem like injected plastic but rather die-casts gone wrong. Most garage kits in the 90s by enthusiasts probably have better quality than the sprues, and the only things that have cast texture are the runners. PandaHobby's kit is not that bad, but still pretty tricky to build. Many of the pins and holes don't go together and have to be filled or removed, and the final outcome is not very proportional to the real thing either. The Takom kit's got quite some issues here and there too, but nothing serious enough to stop a seasoned builder. I've basically given up on the AmusingHobby kit and I'm planning on using it for dioramas or spare parts, and the Pandahobby one's still lying on my shelf waiting for me to paint it, whenever I feel motivated enough.

Here is my build of Takom's 1/35 Kv-5 heavy tank, you can find the work in progress thread here. The kit was a fun simple build without any problems, I made a few modifications most notably replacing the 107mm main gun with a 152mm which looks IMO more in proportion with its large turret. I added the tow rope & various bit of stowage from the spare box (German tools & American Jerry can!) along with some 3D printed wooden crates & brackets for the ditching log, which was a random bit of twig from the garden. It took me roughly 10 months to finish this build, slowly working on it a bit at time with some large gaps at points. I'm glad I got there in the end tho as this is the first model that I've managed to finish in the past four years, not for a lack of trying mind you as my shelf of doom will attest to 😅 Hopefully I can keep the momentum going a get some of those unfinished builds done too.

This is Takom's 1/35 scale model kit of the Soviet Kv-5 Heavy Tank, the design of the tank was finished in 1941 & preparation for constructing a prototype was started but the siege of Leningrad put an end to it's development. You can find more information & photos of the kits's sprues in Mike's review here. I started making this several months ago while house/pet sitting for a friend & wanted a simple low part project to keep me busy while I was there. It turned out it was a bit to simple for my liking though & after constructing the basic hull & turret I spent most of my time rescribing all the weld seams, along with adding several missing ones. I also added flame cut marks along the edges of the armour plates to help bring some life to the textureless kit. Speaking of texture that brings us to today where I though I'd grab this back out of the box & stipple on some thinned down Mr.Surfacer to add a mottled armour texture to the large flat vertical surfaces of the hull & turret. Another change I made to the kit was the two large rectangular hatches on the engine deck, they originally extended all the way to the edge of the deck. I carefully scraped the ends of the hatches off so they are a more accurate size & then scribed a missing panel line along the edge. Someone didn't know when to stop The kits many wheels have also been cleaned up & put together ready for instillation. Before that though I need to finish redoing all the weld seams on the hull & turret.

This kit arrived on my desk via my own pocket this week, and I couldn't resist opening it up and having a look at the parts. You get models of a Mk.I, II & III in the box, and some confusing instructions to go with them, mainly confusing to me because they don't seem to differentiate the model you're working on very clearly. After many splinters in my fingertips, I figured out which steps related to the BIG one, and had a quick snippy-snip, and some quick test-fits later, I was disappointed by the total lack of gear bays on the biggest and most impressive kit in the box. All they supply is some flat inserts with a slightly raised box in the centre to which the twin gear legs fit. If you've ever followed anything I've built or sort-of built, you'll know that I like shiny things, and sometimes get carried away 20 minutes later I found myself with a faulty set of calipers in-hand, measuring the headroom inside the bays and imagining what sort of a bay would really be in there. I decided that I couldn't be bothered to make a curved roof for the bays, as life is too short, so I imagined a square bay with one tapered end that is clearly gonna be in the outer edge, with the thick bit inboard where there's more space. I built up a box using the dimensions I measured, but since I took the photos, I've had to trim 1mm off the outer corner of the box so that things fit better. I clipped off the attachment lobes from one of the blanking plates, making sure the holes would line up later, and glued them on with some stiffeners so they wouldn't just fall off later. If you're wondering what I'm going to do with the landing gear, see those two diagonal lines on the back of the gear bay box? Those are some tests of the positioning of the retraction jack, and where it would meet with the bay wall. The main gear legs will just be extended by a pair of brass tubes, and the retraction jack will be extended by some aluminium tubing slipped over the existing short strut. Here's a quick comparison of a strut cut from the sprues and the extended one with the tube tacked into position. Since writing all this post, I've had a bit of a re-think whilst typing, as I'd like to think that this thing was powered by esoteric particles that would need to be stored in tanks before combustion/reaction/fairy dust or whatever, so I am now wondering whether I can change my mind and use the top surface as my roof to the bays, and add some hemispheres on either side that give the impression of the industrial light and magic that's going on under the bonnet/hood. I've got a ton of 6mm BBs in stock, but I quite fancy a larger one too, maybe 10mm with perhaps an 8mm dome in between sizes. Could look nice alongside some structural members and a bit of ribbing, wiring and the like. I'd have to link the gear leg bases to some kind of pivot against the roof, which could be interesting, and I'd need to mount the side details on a sheet so there's no see-thru nonsense, so there might be a bit more thinking on the horizon. I'm open to any ideas of course

Hey all, This is Takom's T-55AM2b. This project had resided for a good long while as a shelf queen before dusting it off whilst looking for something else. In that time I had managed to lose some of the running gear and the tracks for it! One set of Miniart running gear and track from T-Rex later, I painted the vehicle using Mr. Colour and Tamiya Acrylics with some Humbrol Enamels as well. The model was then drybrushed and had filters/washes applied using oil paints. The decals were a combination of the kits offerings as well as some nicked off a Tamiya T-55 to make up the numbers. The kit only supplied the DDR Roundels otherwise. The T-Rex Tracks were built straight out of the box with no need for any cleanup, just plug and play. I did dip the tips of the track pins in CA Glue however just to ensure they didn't come out again. The tracks were amazingly well detailed, my only slight criticism is that the material was slightly brittle and a number of links were broken straight out of the box. Thanks for looking! Sam