Hi fellow modellers,

I am looking for some advice. I want to build an early WWI allied tank (1/35) and am not sure which kit to build. I realize that I am quite limited in selection but am wondering if anyone has any recommendations? Are the EMHAR kits as bad as everyone says? Is one better then the other? I would appreciate anyone’s opinion.

Thanks

Snaff,

I just picked up both the Emhar Male and Female Mk. IV's (?). They aren't too bad...much like Tauro (WWI German A7V). There's flash, soft detail, et cetera...but with some extra time and effort I've seen them come out wonderful. I did pick up two sets of Accurate Armor "link and length" resin track tho...

There really isn't too much out there in 1/35th. Some of the resin kits I've seen look pretty good from the pictures, but I'm not a fan of the price.

Again, some time and effort can do wonders.

Mike

I have three Emhar kits (Mark IV Male, Female and Whippet). Started one of the Mark IVs a while ago. With patience, lots of putty/gap filler and preferably extra rivets to replace lost detail I think they'll build up pretty nice.
Also check out: www.landships.freeservers.com for reviews, etc.

Thanks for the advice. I think that I will start with the Male and see how things go. With a couple of good refference photo's I think that I will be able to pull something together.

I am not above building an old kit, or challanging kit, I just didn't want to waste my time.

Three suggestions I have:

1) test fit
2) test fit

Then when you're done test fitting,

3) test fit

For example, the side turret tops are rather thick. In order for them to fit flush you'll need to sand them so they're a bit thinner.
I haven't really found an easy way to fill gaps without losing rivet detail. Although short of sanding them off and replacing them, the putty and nail polish remover on a Q-Tip seems to work fairly well.
I've heard less than favourable things about the kits, but I think the subjects are so great that any extra work will be worth it. Like Mike said, there have been many great builds of these kits. Looking forward to seeing yours!

Barry

Hi Shawn,

I built the Emhar 1/35 Whippet last year. Despite it's somewhat bad reputation for being ill-fitting it's actually not a bad kit to build. I used the Airwaves PE set to replace grab handles and pistol ports, but in retrospect it would have been just as easy to make these myself from brass sheet. You can see me blog here: https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/75285&page=1

HTH

Rudi

Thanks Barry and Rudi for the advice.

I plan on picking up a kit shortly and starting it this weekend.

I certainly know about test fitting, gluing, filling, sanding, and riveting. I was building the old Dragon V2 kit (thinking it's a rocket! I can build this thing in an hour) and experienced nothing short of a nightmare. I was finally painting my camo scene when I dropped it for the second time. I broke into many of the original pieces. I said "screw it" and chucked it. It is the first model that I chucked. There was no way I was going to re-glue, fill, sand, and re-drill.

Anyway, these WWI tanks are so interesting (historically and design) that I have always wanted to build one.

Thanks again,

Shawn

P.S. Rudi - great idea about putting the dirt on first before you paint. I have always been so nervous about mucking up a model that was more or less completed. I look forward to reading the rest of your blog.

There isn't a lot out there. RPM has a series of Renault FT-17 kits, which are basic, but buildable, particularly if you get Aber's very comprehensive photoetch update sets. There are three aftermarket track sets (the kit's vinyl tracks look dreadful). RPM offers their own styrene set, which works, but looks a little chunky. Friul has a white metal set, which is more dainty in appearance, though the tracks are not handed, so one side has open holes on the outside where the pins are inserted. Model Kasten has a brilliant styrene set, which is two parts per link, but the links snap together--no pins at all. Very cool.
Interus offers a British Mk V Hermaphrodite, which is well detailed with individual link tracks. However, the track width is wrong, splitting the difference between the early narrow tracks and the later wide tracks. Plastic is a little brittle, so cut the parts from their sprues carefully.
Emhar offers several Mk IV kits. They are very basic, and the clearances between the moving parts of the gun shields are far too large, so shim these openings with sheet plastic. The track tensioning bolts are molded in profile. An easy fix is to cut these out and substitute small brass nuts and bolts, and back the opening with .005" styrene. The Mk V kit released this year has better tooling on the replacement parts for the later features, but many Mk IV parts are unchanged. Their Whippet is similarly simplified in detail. Worst aspect of all the Emhar kits is the glueable soft styrene track, which doesn't articulate like the real thing, and the joins of the track sections are in the middle of the track blocks instead of at the edges of the links--what could they have been thinking? Panzer Shop and Accurate Armour offer resin replacements. Model Cellar once offered styrene replacement tracks, but they have not been available in years, and were much too thick, at any rate.
Tauro offers a Fiat light tank, though technically it is a postwar tank from the 1920's, derived from the Renault FT series. It is very basic, and the turret roof should be thinned so it doesn't appear to be two inches thick. Tracks are fiddly. Tauro also offers a German A7V kit--very basic, with an interior that is mostly imaginary, a strange, workable suspension, and individually pinned plastic link track (looks good, but fiddly, with wire pins, and the plastic is very fragile). Underbelly is a fictional flat plate (real thing had an open girder chassis). Machine gun ports need inner mantlet armor added from sheet styrene. Up to you if you want to correct the interior, as little is actually visible.

I liked the Emhar kits.

The only thing that annoyed me was trying to glue the tracks together. I seriously considered nailing them in place!

Gerald,

Great Point! "

The track tensioning bolts are molded in profile. An easy fix is to cut these out and substitute small brass nuts and bolts, and back the opening with .005" styrene."

I did this on the weekend and it looks great! I will look so much better when I insert some mud in there a detail the area.

Any other tips?

Thanks for your help.

Shawn

I have my eyes on the Emhar 1/35 Tadpole WWI Male tank and the Emhar 1/35 Mk 1A Whippet. Both look great.

Too bad there isn't a Gelandwagen kit! (More useful to the Germans than the A7V had been.)

Have to echo the others comments about test fitting, as I've managed to get the male sponsons wrong on both of the tanks I've built, and had to dismantle them. On the subject of tracks, Revell's Contacta Professional in the dispenser with the needle has held mine together perfectly well for about the last decade.

And if you're building any of the Mark IVs (and probably the Mark V), get rid of the small square hatches on the rear of the hull roof. They weren't a feature of the original tank, besides getting in the way of fitting the exhaust.

David