Hi, All!

Anyone know anything about or have any opinions on the Takom WWI Heavy Battle Tank Mk. IV Hermaphrodite "Limited edition kit" 2010 with workable tracks?

How do these Takom Mk.IV stack up to other similar - subject kits?

The "hermaphrodite" seems like it could be a pretty interesting first 1/35 scale WWI build project and I have a shot at one shipped for $41 USD...

Thanks in advance for any opinions and views that you might care to offer!

Bob

Hi Bob,
I have Takom's Mk IV Female kit and it's really nice. Good detail and not too bad fit. Not as easy as Tamiya's Mk IV, but a little more detailed. Not sure about the Hermaphrodite though. If it's like the Female kit, it'll be nice! And if you can get it that cheap shipped, go for it!!

The kit is pure fictional since no MKIV Hermaphrodite was built (only MkV were).
On the other side this kit is a bargain if you are looking for for a standard tank since it has one-click tracks and both sponsons for male or female version (you find only one gun but it's easy to scratch the other).
No decals inside but few British tank had tactical sign.

Bye
Pierantonio

If you build it as a Male there are AM gun barrels available, so that's not a problem.

There were a few Mk IV Hermaphrodites constructed for use in a planned (but not executed) amphibious raid on the coast. These had a big external winch drum on their right-hand sides (to help pull other vehicles up over the sea wall) and needed the much smaller "Female" sponson on that side to allow clearance for the cable to pass fore & aft. I think there's a drawing & grainy pic in the Haynes book.

Look at some of the build logs & reviews of the Male & Female kits to get an idea of quality, since the sprues are all the same. I think they are great, if a tad pricy.

@Pier. F.; Thanks for the point-out on the kit having both sponson sets (albeit needing a missing gun for one side...) - I didn't know that, and that does open the doors for possibly going with a male or a female version... The click-together tracks "called me", given that reviewers have moped around the original 5-part per link tracks the Takon M and F kits came with... And yes, I've seen that there are AM barrels for all the guns, so...

And, Yes, I've read that the IV hermaphrodite was likely fictional... The idea sounds quite interesting, but not likely to be actually practical or useful, in general usage... And, so I've found, has been pretty solidly flogged in other threads - with the conclusion that it (the mod) didn't happen to the field-use tanks and see any action, if it did happen at all. But (below)...!

@Tom C.; Thanks! It's that planned-for special-use version that I've seen briefly mentioned elsewhere - a version to be used for a proposed invasion by sea around Oostende - that I'm thinking about! Just the pointer I was thinking I might be looking for! What I didn't know until you mentioned it is the (reasonable-sounding) explanation for having a F sponson on one side... to accommodate a winch!

Can you point me to where I might see that mentioned pic or a diagram - I don't know anything about the Hayne's book, but a diagram or some image will help me scratch up the winch gear for a hypothetical "Oostende" beach-wall assault tank!

Do you have any idea whether that winch would have dragged a cable or a chain for pulling other tanks over that sea-wall? Do you know if the putative winch would have been powered from the track engine, or would it have had a separate dedicated engine?

Thanks!

Bob

The shipped price seemed pretty right to me - specially as I eye-balled this exact kit for $79 at my fav LHS in greater Phoenix AZ a couple weeks back... $41 surely is less stressful on my shrinking, soon-to-be-retired wallet!

Bob

Hello Bob, I had started a review and build of this kit a while ago, but got side-tracked before finishing. Here's the link.

linkname

I am currently getting back into the build and will finish it, how long it takes depends on Summer weather, the "Honeydew list" and family obligations. Al

You'll find some building notes from Landship Forum
They are for Male or Female kit but they work also for yours.

My Supply Tank conversion from Male with some notes to improve parts' fit.

http://landships.activeboard.com/t59125527/wip-converting-a-takom-male-mk-iv-into-a-supply-tank/

A Female tank

http://www.landships.net/forum.spark?aBID=63528&p=3&topicID=58478273

I built also one and sponsons requires some trimming inside as on Male.

My Tamiya MkIV built thread. You'll find some PDF file useful also for Takom (i.e. top rail support) and how I made a new observation hatch for Takom.

http://landships.activeboard.com/t58392858/tamiya-mk-iv-wip/

Bye
Pierantonio

Pierantonio;

Wow! That stuff you did is fantastic and inspirational! I can already see several things I might be fiddling with... Among them that too-narrow observer's hatch on the Takom kit... Great fix you did on that! I might, however, actually try to rebuild the box with styrene sheet so that it better matches the photo geometry - I'm not up with doing molding and casting!

There is one place your exquisite efforts may have flopped a bit; that unditching beam! There is a lot of photo evidence from WWI and even at least one or 2 remaining beam-relics to look at. Those beams were a pretty "fully-engineered" item - they were assembled as a sort of "sandwich" with metal plates spanning the top (where the big fittings are) and the opposite side "bottom" of a solid (usually asymmetrical) wooden baulk. The fitting mount-bolts passed through both top and bottom plates. The metal plates served to both anchor the fittings and provide support against "chewing" and splitting/crushing of the wood baulk. In addition, there was the binding band around the assembly at either end, as clearly seen on the kit parts. It looks, however, like you may have tried to add "wood texture" to the top fitting side - at least on your Tamiya build!

From photo evidence, it appears that the top and bottom metal plates could have been painted, while the wood may have been left stained or oiled?

But that's one detail, and your results are, IMHO, just super!

Thanks for the links and that info!

Bob