1/35 scale Takom Mk IV Male Tank - COMPLETED

[Skinny_Mike]

Hi guys –

I just found out that the Space Coast IPMS show is planned for early April. For some reason I was thinking its later in the year and finally looked this week only to discover that its sooner then I thought. I planned to have a few other projects finished in time, but they are just not going to make it. I needed to get something together.

The contest theme this year, probably very consistent across the board, is World War 1 and hey, we have a campaign too! Looking at the stash, I have a couple of WnW kits and a Takom Mk I female tank. No way I’m getting a WnW kit done in 2 months, but I think I have a shot with the tank. Weathering will be the challenge. With that in mind, the kit is down off the shelf and we are off to the races.

Here is the appropriate start up photo.

After about an hour's worth of effort we are through step 2.

Each hull plate is a separate piece held together with a butt joint along the edge. I was really worried about this step, but everything went together really well with no issues. I drilled out the end of the machine gun before I installed it in what I think is the driver’s location. I also installed it in a bit of an odd angle as I intend to display this tank on a base with a broken track and a few of the doors propped open, abandoned on the battlefield. It didn’t end up quite as I envisioned it, but its good enough.

I was concerned about this assembly not being very sturdy as I continue assembling parts so I decided to reinforce the seams from the inside using plastic stock. This really served to solidify the hull assembly.

That’s where I am as of right now. I’m going to let the hull fully cure before I move on. I’ll be working hard on this and another build I started a few weeks ago, over the next 8 weeks. Modeling on a clock, trying to achieve contest quality… What could possible go wrong? Wish me luck!

Mike

 

[Iron Mike]

1/35 scale Takom Mk I Female Tank

Good luck. B)

 

[moon puppy]

1/35 scale Takom Mk I Female Tank

Git'er one.

 

[jknaus]

1/35 scale Takom Mk I Female Tank

Looking good. I like the extra support you added. When I built mine I used the inside sponson walls as guides to line up the hull parts. Got to be careful not to get glue on them though as I found out the hard way. Watching with interest.
James

 

[Skinny_Mike]

1/35 scale Takom Mk I Female Tank

Good luck. B)

Thanks Mike!

 

[Skinny_Mike]

1/35 scale Takom Mk I Female Tank

Git'er one.

I'm trying! I'm trying!
:frantic

 

[Skinny_Mike]

1/35 scale Takom Mk I Female Tank

Looking good. I like the extra support you added. When I built mine I used the inside sponson walls as guides to line up the hull parts. Got to be careful not to get glue on them though as I found out the hard way. Watching with interest.
James

That would have been a good idea, didn't even think about that. :hmmm

 

[Skinny_Mike]

1/35 scale Takom Mk I Female Tank

Hi guys! Well, I owe you all an update on this build. Hopefully I'll get one up this weekend. But first I need some help. I'm working on the camouflage. This is a four color scheme that is not intended to replicate anything historical. I have only finished one side, but I'm in need of some outside opinions before finishing the rest of the tank.

How does this paint scheme look? Any place that could be fixed up to make it look better?

This is one of those time when I want some honest feedback.

Thanks for the help!
Mike

 

[lupanzer]

1/35 scale Takom Mk I Female Tank

Beautiful camo job...very well executed

Luiz.

 

[ij001]

1/35 scale Takom Mk I Female Tank

Cannot help with 'accuracy' feedback, Mike, all I can say is that aesthetically it looks fine to my (middle aged) eyes. Of course under the weathering layers it will calm-down massively. Honestly, I'd kee running with what you have, matey...



Ian.

 

[Jeeves]

1/35 scale Takom Mk I Female Tank

I'm no expert, but I've been delving deep into WWI armor as I've lately been collecting every Meng or Takom kit I can (just the Hobby Boss Schneider left to grab ). This looks pretty spot on to what I've been researching- it's a Solomon scheme, yes? Ammo of Mig did an excellent special on WWI that has an extra section in the back on different schemes-and there was a Make version with a scheme like this. I think Ian is right- once weathering begins it won't be so bright, but the colors blend nicely now.

 

[moon puppy]

1/35 scale Takom Mk I Female Tank

Looks plausible to me.

 

[jknaus]

1/35 scale Takom Mk I Female Tank

It looks fantastic and once you weather it I am sure it will look even better. Although you arent going for historical accuracy it does look kind of like the Bovington example. You might get some more ideas here http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww1/gb/tank_MkI.php
Now having said that to me the grey is dominant and I would think it would be less so. The earthy colours should probably be more dominant. Maybe a bit more green and or brown? It might look better when dullcoated and all the scheme becomes one. Hope that helps somewhat. Looking forward to seeing more.
James

 

[Skinny_Mike]

1/35 scale Takom Mk I Female Tank

Thanks for the feedback guys. I have been using this image as a guide:

Which yes, is the Solomon Scheme. The basic history is that the tanks arrived in France in preparation for the Battle of the Somme in a single color which I assume is gray, as the navy had a big role in the development of these beasts. The crews were then ordered to paint the camo scheme in the field. They were hand painted in the four colors. I intended to follow suit and hand paint this because masking using tape, which would allow me finer control over the pattern, would not work well due to all the lumps and bumps. Unfortunately hand painting just wasn't working for me, I had a hard time getting the brush strokes out, which killed my mojo a bit. So I went with masking putty and the airbrush to get here.


Overall i think I agree with you guys, a little more brown and green, a little less gray. Weathering is defiantly on the table for this build to really tone the colors down. And I've noticed a could of improvements to the pattern that will help.

Thanks!
Mike

 

[Skinny_Mike]

1/35 scale Takom Mk IV Male Tank

Hey guys – been a long long time since I posted here. As you all may remember, I was working on a Mk I Female for this campaign, but I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the camo, the rear steering trail is a giant pain in the butt and I started to notice a number of flaws with the construction that I just wasn’t happy with, so that kit has become a paint hog.

I still want to participate in this campaign, so I started a new build. Honestly, I started it a few months back, but I waited until I got through painting, to make sure that I was happy with the build before I posted anything here. Since I am past paint, its time for an update. First the start up photo;

Terrible photo I realize, if you could read any part of it you would see that I started back in June. The kit, following the theme, is the Takom Mark IV Hermaphrodite. I've had this kit in my stash for a long time. Good excuse to get it built.

So a little history for those that don’t know, The Mk I through Mk V tanks all came in two versions, a male version which had 6 pound naval guns and machine guns, or the female version which was armed with all machine guns. The side sponsons containing the armament were interchangeable and bolted on. The female tanks were intended to attack infantry positions and not engage in tank vs tank engagements. Germany ended up capturing a large number of British tanks which they used against their former owners and it became clear that the female tanks were basically defenseless against other tanks. To remedy this, a number of the female tanks had a male gun sponson fitted to one side. This new version was called a composite tank or more commonly a hermaphrodite (it was a less PC time in 1918). The problem with the Mk IV hermaphrodite depicted in this kit, is that only Mk V tanks were converted. There’s no evidence of Mk IVs in this configuration. Fortunately, for the modeler Takom includes almost everything you need to make a male or a female in this kit. The only missing part is a 6 pounder gun barrel for the second gun. Since I decided to build a Mk IV male I purchased a set or Aires gun barrels to go with this kit. This set includes turned metal 6 pounder gun barrels and a set of turned brass Lewis guns as well.

Enough carrying on, lets get caught up. I chose a different assembly method this time around. I assembled all the pieces that make up the hull by attaching them to one of the side plates. This helped make sure everything was aligned and provided some rigidity to the assembly.

Next up, I modified the Lewis gun mount by adding a piece of plastic stock over the inside of the mount hole with a hole drilled in the center. This will allow me to slip the Lewis gun barrel in from the outside near the end. The kit gives you full guns but this won’t be seen and I was trying a avoid damaging the gun, or worse – knocking it into the body of the tank later.

I pretty much just followed the directions from here. Added pieces to the top;

completed the rear of the tank;

I did primer and paint the rear before adding the extra armor and bits because that was going to be difficult to paint around later. As you can see I went with an overall Green Moss color scheme using Ammo MIG paint.

Next up, the dreaded wheels. There are a lot of wheels for this kit, each one is made up of three separate pieces. These pictures are just for one side.

Both types assembled;

and the wheels, as well as the other parts for the interior, installed;

I struggled a little more getting this version put together as opposed to the MK I. Not sure what was different. I did all the work on the wheels for both sides at the same time to easy assembly later, and finally got it all together.

I finished adding all the detail parts to the hull and then moved onto the sponsons. I found the instructions for the MK IV male kit and printed a copy of the instructions for the sponson that was not supposed to be built with this kit, and then I assembled them both using the supplied parts. I intend to place the tank on a small display base with the doors open, so I did some basic finishing of the interior. First I painted everything in Ammo German interior ivory. I have no idea if this is correct, but I saw another build inline that used this color, so I followed suit.

Then I detail painted the guns, and added some dirt and mud to the interior. WW I battlefields were notoriously dirty places I’m sure that the crews tracked all sorts of mud into these beasts.

I’m not thrilled with the outcome, but its all a learning process for me at this point. It should be noted that I had to remove the mounting posts for the guns because they didn’t fit properly. So I snipped off the post, aligned the gun with the opening and glued them to the base.

Then I just glued them into place, basically ending the major assembly.

After a coat of Tamiya primer, the tank was base coated in Green Moss, then post shaded with a darkened version of the base color along the rivet and panel lines, and a lightened version in the center of the different panels.

Next I made a lighter version of the green color and I highlighted all the raised details. Yes – that’s right, all the raised details, including all the rivets! I spent about a week doing it to try to keep from going insane. Its not as obvious in these pictures, but it turned out well.

Once I got to this point I started really getting nervous. Tank weathering is a skill I do not yet have a handle on and I typically ruin the model at this point. I finally bit the bullet and got started. But that my friends, is a story for another time.

Hope you like the build so far, and I hope I can get this done in time.

As always comments and critiques are always welcome.
Mike

 

[moon puppy]

1/35 scale Takom Mk IV Male Tank

Nice Mike! You like the Ammo paint?

Got 2 weeks to wrap this up.

 

[Skinny_Mike]

1/35 scale Takom Mk IV Male Tank

Nice Mike! You like the Ammo paint?

Got 2 weeks to wrap this up.

Yup - 20 days, but whose counting? :frantic It's going to be tight.


In general yes I do like the ammo paints. I don't agree with their interpretation of all of the colors, but that isn't exactly unusual. They do take some getting used to though. I have found that they spray much better thinned with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner but that sort of defeats the benefit of going fully acrylic.

 

[moon puppy]

1/35 scale Takom Mk IV Male Tank

I'm using their branded thinner, no issues I've seen. I've even sprayed some right out of the bottle. I'm diggin' it.

 

[Skinny_Mike]

1/35 scale Takom Mk IV Male Tank

I'm using their branded thinner, no issues I've seen. I've even sprayed some right out of the bottle. I'm diggin' it.

I usually use that thinner and yeah it does work well. I have had a few issues with some of the paints. I get, what I can only describe as what looks like surface tension circles in the paint. Kind of like when you spray directly on resin that hasn't been cleaned. Apparently there was an issue with some of the early colors that has been fixed in the formulation. If you run into that problem, use the Mr Color Levelling thinner. It fixes the problem.


What's your thinning ratio? I've been using 50/50 and it seems to work really well. Lots of thin coats to build up the color.


:drinks

 

[ij001]

1/35 scale Takom Mk IV Male Tank

I'm using their branded thinner, no issues I've seen. I've even sprayed some right out of the bottle. I'm diggin' it.

My latest AFV builds are all painted with Mig acrylics straight from the bottle with no thinning, I am a serious convert !!

Love this build, Mike, could be a kit that I buy for myself aswell... but not for a while !



Ian.