| Panzerkaput | 09 Apr 2015 1:37 p.m. PST |
Today is tank day for me, well its about a tank anyway and its the British Mk1 Tank from the Great War. Now the first thing I have to say about this is it is all not as it seems as it is not made of the usual stuff like plastic or resin but it is made from something else. To give you a clue the tank is by Warbases.
Now before you think that I have gone mad and wondering what I am doing with a Great War tank well it is for my Very British Civil War games and in particular for the Partizan game in May, yes I am going to be fielding some tanks, as well as infantry. Now the premise for this is quite simple as a lot of these Great War tanks ended up as war memorials after the war, with all the bits and pieces removed like engines and guns, etc, but with a little bit of planning, source equipment, engineering know how and a lot of time and effort you have a serviceable tank. Just how good a tank you would have would be debatable but you would have a tank none the least and it would strike fear into the hearts of the enemy, especially if they did have anything to counter it. Well thats the theory.
The actually kit from Warbases is a simple enough kit, well I say simple you do need the instructions which Warbases will email you and the thing is made from MDF, yes thats right it is a MDF tank, how suitable for VBCW. I must say that the instructions for the kit are wonderful to follow, easy to use and a good step by step guide. In fact the tank only took me about an hour to build and that included letting the glue dry before going on to the next part. Now the kit does come with the steering wheels at the rear but I have not attached them as frankly I am not a big fan of them.
Now as I have said it is a simple enough kit to build and paint and there is quite a bit of detail on it some in my opinion it looks the part. As for just how accurate it is I have to admit that I am not totally sure but looking at pictures of this tank it looks spot on to me. I think the only thing that I would change on it are the guns, they are a little too square but really thats a minor thing and something I can live with. All in all it is a good kit, its in 1/56th scale and it is the right size for my 28s, being 205mm x 90mm x 55mm. I find it totally amazing what people can do in MDF these days and the level of detail that they can get and the best thing about this kit is the price which is a steal at £14.00 GBP. |
| Legbiter | 09 Apr 2015 2:54 p.m. PST |
Your justification is sound, apparently the Soviets fielded at least one war-memorial tank of this type against the German invasion of the Baltic states, though probably as a dug-in static thing rather than actually moving. Thank-you for the notification. I bought one, and also a Lancia Armoured car/lorry kit. |
| Panzerkaput | 09 Apr 2015 3:09 p.m. PST |
Legbiter I have the Lancia and it is a nice kit too |
| J Womack 94 | 09 Apr 2015 3:24 p.m. PST |
Why are the bloody gun barrels bloody square? |
Phillius  | 09 Apr 2015 3:47 p.m. PST |
Because it is laser cut out of mdf which makes it difficult to produce tubes.
Although it might be possible to replace the square barrel with something roundish. |
| Peachy rex | 09 Apr 2015 4:08 p.m. PST |
Another company that does laser cut MDF supplies little plastic tubes for gun barrels – I'd try something like that, because the squares *are* rather distracting. Nice model otherwise. |
| Maddaz111 | 09 Apr 2015 4:56 p.m. PST |
yes.. a number of towns had these tanks in them until the general strike.. when they vanished (taken by Government to stop little scamps getting them going and stopping the machine gunners from killing the strikers…) So in My VBCW, the little scamps did get the Mansfield tank going.. and its coming to Bolsover.. |
| IainAF | 09 Apr 2015 10:46 p.m. PST |
Maddaz – I think it might have been to stop the strikers from getting them going again, after all they were the ones who used to work the things when they were active. |
| Maddaz111 | 10 Apr 2015 4:29 a.m. PST |
That's what I said.. taken away by the government … to stop the scamps from getting them going again.. |
| IainAF | 10 Apr 2015 7:59 a.m. PST |
Sorry Maddaz, I completely mis-read your post. I'm in the pointy hat in the corner! |
| Maddaz111 | 10 Apr 2015 5:17 p.m. PST |
yes the picture of the Mansfield tank is in the osprey book, and I worked at an office just around the corner.. I met a woman whilst working there who as a young lady acted as a runner reporting to the local communists and trades councils about the presence of machine guns, and where they were being set up.. reality is oftimes stranger than the fiction.. |
| Maddaz111 | 10 Apr 2015 5:18 p.m. PST |
and because I am a bit of a nutter, I built mine without waiting for the instructions… Mine is still awaiting paint.. however.. |
| Panzerkaput | 11 Apr 2015 3:42 a.m. PST |
I look forward to seeing your completed and painted Maddaz111. Its weird but in reality a lot of these where removed from the memorials long before WW2 and just sat in scrapyards waiting to be cut up and it was not until WW2 that they were finally. So more of these could be about :D |
