Landships II

Date: Apr 18, 2014

Plastic Mark IV Female and Male from Takom

Rectalgia · Legend

www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/newkitnews/takom.html

compound eye · Colonel

Tamiya just got bent over and reamed out. Takom kits are ace. Note the grousers also...

BC312 · Colonel

Excellent, quality kit, shame it's not 1/16 scale.

compound eye · Colonel

46cms long in 1/16th... That'd be a hell of a slab of plastic, not to mention the dent buying one would make in your plastic.

PDA · Legend

BC312 wrote:
Excellent, quality kit, shame it's not 1/16 scale.

Excellent, good quality kit, shame it's not 1/72 scale.

Agamemnon2 · Private

Looks like it's going to be a cracker of a kit. It even has those doohickeys on the track (what are those for, anyway?)

28juni14 · Hero

Here's more on these kits. Female coming in June.

Lothianman · Colonel

You may want to go to www.perthmilitarymodelling.com to view Mr 28juni14's attachment properly - doesn't work for me at least.

Suvoroff · Corporal

Doohickeys = spuds?

TeeELL · General

Hi Agamemnon, the Doohickeys, variously described as 'spuds' or 'grousers' where perceived as a way of improving traction without the expense of fitting significantly wider tracks. The lack of suspension added to the problems of mobility over rough terrain ( caused by shelling and people inconsiderately digging trenches!). The devices where fitted about every 6th track but photos will show that different crews had their own ideas on spacing. These devices could be fitted on all the 'mark' tanks, photo evidence even shows then fitted to a Mk1 which must have created additional noise as each one hit the wider drivers cab!

James H · Legend

ITIRIS that the doohickeys in question are grousers. "Spuds" were the rectangular blocks carried by, and designed to be fitted to the tracks of, the Medium Mk A.

I think grousers were first introduced on the Mk II.

TeeELL · General

James, whilst I fully agree, the truth is that the devices attached to the tracks or Doohickeys are referred to by either name in different references. Further, the fitting of grousers on a Mk1 should not be possible, but I have seen a Mk1 so fitted ( and I was in the company of Mk1 Nut at the time - so my confidence in correctly identifying the Mk is very high.

BC312 · Colonel

compound eye wrote:
46cms long in 1/16th... That'd be a hell of a slab of plastic, not to mention the dent buying one would make in your plastic.

Certainly will but worth the money.

James H · Legend

TeeELL wrote:
James, whilst I fully agree, the truth is that the devices attached to the tracks or Doohickeys are referred to by either name in different references.
Hmmmm. I have a horrible feeling that this is an example of the Wikipedia effect: if enough people get it wrong, it becomes right.
Further, the fitting of grousers on a Mk1 should not be possible, but I have seen a Mk1 so fitted ( and I was in the company of Mk1 Nut at the time - so my confidence in correctly identifying the Mk is very high.
Well, that's an exceedingly powerful argument. If Helen is on your side, I must give way. An explanation of the circumstances would fascinate, I'm sure.

TeeELL · General

I am sure Helen will be able to supply the reference to the photograph as, if I remember correctly, it appeared either in one of her reference books or was one of many photos she has on her computer. Like you, there was much head scratching as you say, it shouldn't be possible.

James, the references pre date Wiki.

-- Edited by TeeELL on Saturday 19th of April 2014 11:10:41 PM

-- Edited by TeeELL on Saturday 19th of April 2014 11:16:02 PM

BLOWHARD · Lieutenant

IT'S A DREAM COME TRUE!!!! I should give up my Whippet build, Takom will get there soon enough!

Roger Todd · Legend

PDA wrote:
BC312 wrote:
Excellent, quality kit, shame it's not 1/16 scale.
Excellent, good quality kit, shame it's not 1/72 scale.

I'm very angry that it's not 1/27.583 scale.

PDA · Legend

Roger Todd wrote:
PDA wrote:
BC312 wrote:
Excellent, quality kit, shame it's not 1/16 scale.
Excellent, good quality kit, shame it's not 1/72 scale.
I'm very angry that it's not 1/27.583 scale.

Splitter! The one true scale is 1/74.1417. I'm not one to get cross at this sort of thing, but this sort of thing really gets me cross!

Roger Todd · Legend

PDA wrote:
Roger Todd wrote:
PDA wrote:
BC312 wrote:
Excellent, quality kit, shame it's not 1/16 scale.
Excellent, good quality kit, shame it's not 1/72 scale.
I'm very angry that it's not 1/27.583 scale.
Splitter! The one true scale is 1/74.1417. I'm not one to get cross at this sort of thing, but this sort of thing really gets me cross!

Name your weapon, sir!

Rectalgia · Legend

Somehow that reminds me of Ewoks. There's a thing, is the Ewok Battle Wagon - http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ewok_battle_wagon - a landship?

Agamemnon2 · Private

BLOWHARD wrote:
IT'S A DREAM COME TRUE!!!! I should give up my Whippet build, Takom will get there soon enough!

I know what you mean, I only just bought aftermarket tracks for mine last weekend. Ah well, it'll be good practice.

compound eye · Colonel

Anyone seen these puppies on pre-order yet? Neither the Japanese biggies or ITA are showing anything. June is not so far off, but Takom do seem to do short notice releases like this.

piet71 · Major

compound eye wrote:
Anyone seen these puppies on pre-order yet? Neither the Japanese biggies or ITA are showing anything. June is not so far off, but Takom do seem to do short notice releases like this.

http://www.boystownmilitaryminiatures.com/TAKOM_135_WW1_ANNIVERSARY_COLLECTION_MKIV_FEMALE_TANK_PRE-ORDER_JUNE/p1144420_12099245.aspx

compound eye · Colonel

Thanks for that...

BUT

They want people to pay up-front for pre-orders, and not at the time of availablity/despatch?!

Yerright...

I like their prices - £10 a pop cheaper than ITA, but I think I shall be giving HLJ.com, 1999.co.jp or Hobby Easy a chance to list their offers yet. If the price for these two is going to be similar to the Chammy or the MEXAS then that is £33 equiv each, plus about £12 shipping by SAL.

-- Edited by compound eye on Saturday 3rd of May 2014 09:39:43 PM

Paul Bonnett · Hero

I ordered the St Chamond, the MB tanks and some figures from boystownmilitaryminiatures.com in Jan this year and finally received the last item from my order at the end of April. This was after emails etc chasing them ! My advice would be to shop elsewhere.
Paul

piet71 · Major

compound eye · Colonel

Thanks for the insight.

There's no way I'd be tempted to stump up cash before release.

Luckily, I have a credit sitting on my account from one overseas shipper which will cover the cost of one kit :)

Lothianman · Colonel

Compound Eye - don't forget you will be due to pay 20% VAT to HM Revenue and Customs through the Royal Mail who will charge you £16 per parcel for the privilege (and import duty may also be payable over £135). The VAT is calculated on the kit price plus P&P and if this is (I think) £16 it is ignored. However, Takom and Tamiya kits will usually be well above this.

In the old days HMRC were very relaxed about what they stopped and the odd customs charge was well worth paying as most parcels got off scot free - the net prices were still much lower than UK model shops. In recent years, however, HMRC have been much harder worked (no doubt to pay for the corporation tax foregone because of ******** cosy lunches with **********) and I have had to pay up every time. I have therefore recently tended to buy Oriental kits within the UK/EU (especially if I could get a discount or free P&P), except where there is a big enough difference with UK prices (e. g. Tamiya) or the kits aren't easily or reliably available in the UK (e.g. the Fine Molds artillery pieces).

One other hint - the HLJ private warehouse system is very useful for ensuing as far as possible that kits are sent in sensible lots to minimise net costs. However, Chinese suppliers will often be cheaper for Chinese manufacturers.

Roger Todd · Legend

Lothianman wrote:
...In recent years, however, HMRC have been much harder worked (no doubt to pay for the corporation tax foregone because of ******** cosy lunches with **********) and I have had to pay up every time.

wink

compound eye · Colonel

Lothianman wrote:

One other hint - the HLJ private warehouse system is very useful for ensuing as far as possible that kits are sent in sensible lots to minimise net costs. However, Chinese suppliers will often be cheaper for Chinese manufacturers.

I use HLJ a lot, for other modelling needs. Their PW system is ok, not brilliant but...

Do you have any particular Chinese suppliers in mind, for Takom kits? I am sure any recommendations/URLs would be gratefully received by all.

:)

Lothianman · Colonel

Chinese suppliers? No, not really - I have only used Chinese/HK suppliers two or three times but went off them and have not used them for a while, largely because of their idiosyncratic websites (poorly translated, in particular) and payment methods, so I was never very sure I had not perpetrated the modelling equivalent of ordering curried snails and chicken feet for lunch (which I have been known to do).

Also, that happened to be the time when I had my credit card details stolen and charged for things like an escort service in Washington state (and that was the card I only use for the net). So I became very reluctant to use any companies of any kind - ie not just modelling - with which I was not familiar and which looked at all odd. Now it's more usual to use Paypal as an intermediary, etc., perhaps I ought to look at them again.

I recall one idiosyncracy: one company claimed to have goods 'available' or something like that when what they really meant was not that the goods were in stock, but that the goods were in production and might turn up in a month or three when the maker delivered ... not at all helpful when trying to minimise the number of parcels and Post Office £16 fees. Can't remember which it was, so I don't know if they still do it, but it's something to check for sure!

-- Edited by Lothianman on Wednesday 7th of May 2014 05:09:11 PM

-- Edited by Lothianman on Wednesday 7th of May 2014 05:09:58 PM

-- Edited by Lothianman on Wednesday 7th of May 2014 05:12:09 PM