Meng Model World War Toons King Tiger (Porsche Turret)

[Mike]

World War Toons King Tiger (Porsche Turret)

"Scale is just a number" Meng Model

 

 

In the World War Toons (WWT) universe, things are a bit distorted… in many ways, come to think of it.  Short, stubby and chunky are the new normal, and in case you haven't asked Google yet, the kits are based upon a cartoonish first person shooter that seems to be available on the Playstation 4, and on which you can even play using their Playstation.VR headset if you're lucky enough to own one.  I don't have either, being a PC gamer when I do, so I can't speak to their realism in that universe, but with it being Meng, I'm sure they've done a decent job!  As you can see from the video below, they don't take any of it too seriously which makes something in the back of my brain itch uncomfortably a little.  Still, toward the end you can see some of the tanks that Meng have released, and I'm now wondering whether the game will find its way to other platforms in due course, or if it's just a PS4 exclusive.

 

 

The Kit

Arriving in a short fat box with an end-opening flap, which otherwise fits the usual Meng profile, you notice on the front there are comments about it being able to be built without cement, having a rotating turret, and it being cute.  Ok.  Not something you see often on a model boxtop of a tank, that's for certain.  Moving on.  Quickly.  Inside are five sprues and a lower hull in dark grey styrene, poly-caps, plus two rubber-band tracks and a small sheet of decals.  Much better than stickers, which I was half expecting.

 

 

 

 

 

The instructions round out the package, and are printed in an A5 booklet in glossy black, with each step drawn in CAD format with four language section headers and additional instructions.  Just like a "real" model you start with the idler wheels and drive sprockets, which are both two-part and have a poly-cap secured between them.  The lower hull receives two layers of road wheels on each side, which are fixed with pins on a friction-fit basis, while the drive and idler wheels just push-fit on their poly-caps.  Towing eyes are fixed to the front, and a bunch of pioneer tools are added to the upper hull, along with towing cables and the Kugelblende armoured panel over the bow machine gun.  The tracks slip over the wheels, and the hull clips in place, after which the rear bulkhead with exhausts, towing eyes and jack are pressed into position before the completed assembly is clipped into place.

 

The turret is in two parts, with the mantlet fixed in place by their assembly.  A single part gun with slide-moulded muzzle-brake finishes off the main assembly, with grab-handles, hatches and extra tracks added around the top and rear.  It fits in place with a bayonet connection to the hull, and that's it done!  If you're going to be silly about it, you can either add Zimmerit with filler, or simulate the rolled steel armour texture, neither of which are present (hardly unexpected) on the kit's surface.

 

 

Markings

The decals for one tank are printed in China, and have excellent registration with a red "48" for the turret and four crosses for the hull, plus some yellow chevrons and white lightning bolts for the rear and engine deck.  Just the one option is available, and this has a number plate too, which is highly irregular!

 

 

Build Tips

Use glue for the small parts, as otherwise you'll be hunting round for them at the slightest jolt.  I spent 20 minutes looking for one of the exhausts after the rear bulkhead fell out of my hands during construction and the assembly flew apart, depositing the missing exhaust into my spare parts bin.  Glue the turret halves too, as the front will spread a little due to the mantlet if you don't.  The review sample tracks come out of the box a little twisted, but once installed they have already begun to return to shape, although resting the weight of the model on the twisted section is a good idea.  Incidentally, the detail on the outer face of the tracks is really rather nice.

 

 

 

 

I plan on gluing mine and painting it eventually, so you might notice that some of the smallest parts are missing from the photos (mainly grab handles), and that the wheels are at odd angles because I haven't pushed the axle pins fully home yet.  You can also see a few sprue gates, which have been roughly pared at this point.

 

 

Conclusion

Did Meng even LOOK at a King Tiger when they tooled this?  The shape is all wrong, the gun too short, and the tracks are simplified!  Unbuildable!!!!!!  But seriously, it's cool really.  This is just one from a growing range of appealing and cutesie kit that should attract plenty of folks that will never even hear of the game (unless they read this).  Great for serious and non-serious modellers, and could also be used as a vehicle (geddit?) to attract younger modellers into the fold.  I'm not a big fan of egg-planes, but these I like.  The initial issue are out of stock already, so if you're planning on getting one of these, be quick as they seem to be selling fast!

 

Very highly recommended.

 

 

The full range

 

Review sample courtesy of

[Panzer Vor!!!]

I believe Meng are running a competition on face book with the range of Toon Tanks

 

 

PS

 

TIGERS ARE NOT CUTE   

[Gorby]

Loved the video, thanks for posting that @Mike, cheered me up a bit.

[Panzer Vor!!!]

Some Toon figures would go nice with  the Tanks methinks 

[Laurent]

1 hour ago, Mike said:

 

I'm not a big fan of egg-planes, but these I like.

I don't like Hasegawa egg-planes also but I like caricatures like the ones done by Tiger Models as they are more respectful of the subject.

I hope that the T-34 and Chaffee World War Toons tanks will be made by Meng too.

[invidia]

Got a king tiger for a laugh, nice kit, builds up well. Don't build AFVs normally so don't know if i will get more.