Introduction

The Mk V was to enter production by mid 1917 with a new hull, new transmission, engine and steering system but with other priorities in the war it took a radical turn. The war department decided to use most of the new development on upgrading MK IV and renaming them the MK V and the development of the new design would be built later. Production started in the fall of 1917 for the new MK V at the Metropolitan Carriage and Wagon plant that was producing the Mk IV. The hull and track system where kept from the MK IV as not to interrupt with the production and the new transmission, engine and steering systems where installed. The top of the hull was fitted with a new cab towards the rear behind the engine with viewing slits and hinged sides to allow accesses to release the un ditching beam and the rear of the hull received two new machine gun mount. There were 400 units built, 200 male and 200 females. The order was completed by March 1919. With the new system only one driver was required and the crew was a total of 8.

The first batch of 60 tanks arrived in France on May 1918. These tanks were delivered to the Australian units on the front lines which contributed to successfully defeating the German lines. Because of problems on the Hindenburg front line where the Germans dug wider trenches to stop the MK IV. The war department decided to stretch some of the new MK V by 6 feet so that they could cross these wider trenches. There were a few converted as Mark V Composite with one male and one female sponson fitted and also known as Hermaphrodites. The Composites where built because of the threat of German captured Mk I and Mk IV. There was a few hundred 9 feet long Tadpole tails manufactured to be attached to the rear of the Mk V. These tails where mounted to a few tanks and put to extreme tests and failed and were never used in battle. I think some were sent to the front lines where they had problems with wide trenches.

Armaments: The Male had 2 x 6 pdr 57 mm plus 4 x Hotchkiss 7.7 mm 0.303 in. Mk 1 machine guns and the Female was armed with 6 x Hotchkiss 7.7 mm or 0.303 in. Mk 1 machine guns.

Improvements over the Mk IV
Engine: 19 liter six cylinder in-line Ricardo petrol engine 150 hp at 1200 rpm.
Transmission: 4 forward 1 reverse, Wilson epicyclic in final drive.
Steering system: Wilson epicyclic steering
Fuel capacity: 93 imperial gallons or 420 liters.
Range: 45 miles or 72 km radius of action about 10 hours endurance
Speed: 5 mph or 8.0 km/h maximum

Review

This new kit from Takom comes with the option to build it as one of three models, the Male, Female or Hermaphrodite as pictured on the box. The box is large and heavy, when I opened the box it was well packed so that the parts do not get damaged. The instructions book, painting pamphlet, decal sheet with 9 options, there are 11 plastic sprues, a length of chain and the photo etched sheet(that includes the semaphore signaling device) parts for the un-ditching beam and other parts to enhance the kit. Finally there is a short length of chain for the un-ditching beam and luggage rack. All of these came in clear sealed cellophane package. The clickable tracks are in a separate packet and all the rest of the sprues individually wrapped and some with duplicates in the packages. Upon checking the contents nothing was damaged or any parts separated from the sprues. When I started opening all the packages you get the 15 page stapled instruction booklet with CAD type images with clear instructions and 44 steps for the assembly. There is no interior provided in this kit.

Upon inspection of the sprues I found that that the injection process is of high quality especially with the raised and recess details of the individual parts which have rivets everywhere where crisp and clean. They are detailed on both sides and on one side as well with smooth surfaces and no flash. The injector pin marks looked well placed which I will find out during the process of building the kit. The sprue gates on the sprues looked a little on the large side. This new kit is moulded in a light gray color as compared to the first releases of the Mk IV Male and Female which were of a tan color. You get 4 new sprues Q, R, N and P for the Mk V and the rest of the sprues G, H, D, 2 x C and 2 x A are from the previous Mk IV and I'm sure you will have left over parts.

A color painting pamphlet is provided from Mig Jimenez ( Ammo of Mig) to go with the nine options on the decal sheet. Colors and markings are for different theaters or location and for captured tanks. There are three for the Male tanks, three for the Female tank and the last three for the Hermaphrodites. I wish Takom would have provided a cross reference of colors from at least two more model paint suppliers. One think to keep in mind is to check references first on which ever version you choose.

The Build

On with the build and I am going to try and build it as per the steps in the instruction booklet and see how all the parts fit together. Note when removing parts from the sprues I always cut away from the parts so as not to damage it then I cut closer to the parts with a final clean up with a jewelers file. I have never broken or lost any delicate or very small parts in the over 50 years of different types of hobbies that I got involved in.

Main Hull
Step 1 - Begins with building the driver and commanders cabin. While removing parts R16 hatch and R12 upper roof I noticed the attachments points where on the finished face of these parts. I made multiple cuts with my modified side cutter so that I did not damage the parts I finished the cutting with a fine jewelers file as you can see in the pictures. I decided to make the roof hatch R16 hinged so that I have the option to put a figure in it later. On all the other parts the removal of the smaller attachment points was easy again with multiple cuts and sanding. The detail on the Hotchkiss 7.7 mm is excellent and the drivers and commander view flaps are detailed inside and out and it is your choice of open or closed. The ball socket for the Hotchkiss has special notches where the gun slides in check my pictures and as per reference that I checked. It does not show clearly in the instructions. This will apply to all of the Hotchkiss locations on the tank and I have made mine swivel in all directions and the guns are removable. I changed the building procedure after checking fit and alignment. I started gluing and aligning R13 to R12 then R18 and R19 and last R9 this was done with two dabs of plastic cement with the tip of a 2 " pin with a safety tip on one end . Everything went well and it sits flat and square. I will apply liquid cement to all the joints after I test fit it to the top hull.

Step 2 - The main body between the Rhomboid hull section which consists of parts R1 the roof, R5 the rear bulked, D19 the bottom belly, D20 the front top slope to the belly and R11 the front return to the cab. All these parts have crisp and clear detail on the outside only. To glue everything together and square after I test fitted all the joints. I used the inside of the Rhomboid panel part q4 where these parts are eventually attached as my jig to keep everything lined up and square while the small dabs of plastic cement cured. By doing this it guaranties that the Rhomboid hulls will fit the main body perfectly. After I added N32 the reinforcing rib(?) and liquid cemented all joints.

Step 3 - Removed a couple of rivets as per instruction and installed the front tow hook mount N22, before installation I used a pin vice to drill the hole for the shackle and at the same time I drilled the shackle so that it will move when installed.

Step 4 - Cleaned up and installed N18 the support and brace for the un-ditching beam rails.

Step 5 - The new rear cabin parts R3 roof, R10 back, R14 left side and R15 right side, R17 front wall. Again I checked all joints for fit and started to glue them together. Checking reference pictures that I found on the internet show the new hinged sides open out and up no option given and the fit and detail of the parts is excellent. The fit of the cab to the roof was a little tight and I had to file a hair off the front and rear protruding angle about 1 mm high on the bottom where they meet the small gusset plates, then I clamped it to the roof and cemented it. I prepped the intake hood N29, N21 and photo etched PT5 for assembly and then installation.

Step 6 and 7 - I cleaned and glued the muffler N30, N31 and glued it, exhaust pipe N11 two small seam to clean up and the support brackets N19, N20 and then glued the assembly on the roof and the N35 cap (gas or water for the radiators).

Step 8 - The semaphore signaling device is nice addition part N33 and PH 2 x P1. I decided to take the time and make this work which I think it will enhance the model ounce it is finished so that you can adjust the signals and the other thing I did is drill the hole where it is located so that it goes up in use, down when it is not being used. Plus I installed N34 tow hook and N28 bracket.

Step 9, 10 and 11 - I think this is the box that houses the fuel tank. I cleaned all the parts R6, R7, R8 and the PH TP4, TP6 and TP7. I attached the PH parts to part r8 after that I cleaned the luggage rack N7 and drilled holes at the mounting point and did the same on R7 where it mounted, now the luggage rack can swing up or down. I put the main hull back on the Rhomboid hull section Q4 so that I can get a perfect fit for the box to the hull. I glued parts R6 to R7 and then glued it to the hull and last I located R8 aligning all of it, when the small dabs of glue dried I liquid cemented the trunk. The chain for the luggage rack I cut two pieces 8 links long and the PH shackles TP3 I drilled holes on the ends so that they can swivel when mounted to the rack. Was it worth all the work. I think it was and it enhances the rack. I installed the last of the exhaust pipe. I think it should have been 2 to 3 mm longer at the end so that it stuck out more past the bracket, and Takom drilled out the end of the exhaust pipe very nice of them. There were two nuts missing on the exhaust pipe bracket and I installed these as seen in the pictures.

Rhomboid Hull sections or track frames
Step 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 - The start of assembling the new left side Rhomboid hull section. These new sections have exhaust or air intake louvers to cool the radiators near the back area on the outside parts Q1 and Q2, and some other panel size changes this is due to the higher horse powered motor that required more cooling. All the parts Q4 Rhomboid hull inside, I cleaned all the connection to the sprues and scraped the outside edge molding line, I did not see this on any of the reference that I have. Parts C2, C27 and D11 in step 12 where cleaned and test fitted and glued. I deviated from the instruction in preassembling these parts and started with gluing C29, R21, C30 hull and squaring them up. I proceeded to installed R22, C11, C12 and C28 and everything worked out great. I assembled the front idler C19, C20 and the rear sprockets C21, C22 the detail is excellent on these parts but most will be hidden. You are provided with the parts for the chain drive C25 and sprockets for the chain drive C13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and C18 for both hulls but no installation instruction or locating points on the hull sections, I left these off as per the instructions. I deviated from the instructions and assembled the idlers and sprockets so that I could line them up and I assembled a few section of tracks first to make sure the sprocket teeth lined up before the glue dries. I tested and installed P1, P2, D16, N25, N17, N14 and everything was square. The shackles 4x N12 I decided to drill and pin them so that they would move, check pictures. I do not know what they are PH TP10, TP11 and the instructions say they are optional, the instructions asks to install now at step 15 but I'm going to install them when I finish building the track hulls so that they will not get damaged. Step 15 is all the road wheels 32x A2 and 16 A1 axles and flanged wheels 22x A4 and 11x A3 axles, lots of clean up and I did not clean the small mold line on the flat wheels or the axles because you will not see it. This is the most tedious work before installing. I read in a Mk IV review that the top rollers at the rear top of the hull should have the inner flanged wheels. Takom still provide the flat rollers and I do not think this will show when the tracks are installed. The sprocket, idler and all road wheels are cleaned and installed and clamped ready for final alignment, I checked for alignment and glued the two outer sections together. Takom did an excellent job on these Rhomboid hulls from fit to alignment and all the wheels rotate for a static model. Of note the idler wheels have 3 positions on the hull this is so that you can adjust the track tension by gently prying open the front of the hull with your fingers and you can reposition the idler wheels. I'm starting with the first position which is slack track with each position forward adds approximately 2 mm and then 1.5 mm to tighten the track. Well when I finally installed the tracks I had to move the idler forward to the middle position and the fit is excellent.

Assembling the tracks
Step 18 -. The instructions declare that you require a length of 90 pieces so I did 10 pieces at a time and what a pleasure it was to assemble them and it only took me about 20 minutes to assemble this section and you are left with 26 spares. The tracks have some lateral play and still stay together I installed the workable track on the completed left side Rhomboid hull for fit but did not click the tracks together at this time and the length of 90 pieces looked accurate. There is some very minor clean up but I would not bother with it once painted and weathered you will not see it or you can use an emery board after the tracks are assembled and lightly sand off the tiny dimples on some of the face of the pads that did not come off when Takom cleaned them.

Step 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 - Assembling the right side of the Rhomboid hull section. I will be following my same procedure as I did for the left side except the part numbers are different.

Step 25 - Tracks same as Step 18

Step 26 - Installation of the un-ditching beam left rail N27 and N10 locking mechanism for the beam and right rail N36 and locking mechanism N13. I'm going to do it after the main hull is joined to the Rhomboid hulls. I'm glad I waited until all the hulls where joined together and the fit of the rails and detail is excellent.

Step 27 - The joining of the two Rhomboid hulls to the main hull. I'm going to do this after all the sponsons are built and test fitted to the Rhomboid hulls. When it came time to join these subassemblies I did not have any adjustable clamps small enough to hold these 3 units together so I ended up using elastic bands and small clamps. The fit was excellent and I proceeded with a small amount of liquid cement on a 000 paint brush. After everything cured I removed the clamps and elastic bands and the model sits perfect on a flat surface.

Step 28, 29, 30 - Right female sponson which Takom tags A1

NOTE at this stage you must decide which one to build Female, Male or Hermaphrodite. Takom only supply 6 x Hotchkiss 7.7 mm or 0.303 in, Mk 1 machine guns part N1, retainer N6 and ball N9. You would need 2 more for the Male sponsons.

Female gun mounts x4 with the Hotchkiss 7.7 mm 0.303 in. machine guns. I cleaned up all the parts N4, N3, N5 the shield with base N2 and swivel pin H34. The gun swivel ball N9 and the mounting plate N6. I assembled everything as per instruction and everything went smooth and did not install the guns at this time. I cleaned up the attaching joint from parts N4, N3 with a jewelers file, reference pictures show the shield as one piece rolled and you do not want the joint there. I had to fill with putty a couple defects on two of them probably caused by me.

Step 29 - I cleaned all the parts H18, H25, H32, H29 and H24. I started to glue H18 and H32 to H25 as the glue was setting I kept checking for square. When I was checking the doors for fit there was a minute piece of plastic from the injection process that was stopping the doors from fitting properly under each hinge plus H29 I had to file off .25 mm on the lock side and the top on h24 just the top, ounce filed off the doors fit perfect. The installation of the turrets with the pivot pin H34 was tricky because I wanted the turrets to turn. I used a large safety pin with the pointed end cut off to place a small dab of plastic cement in the locations on part H8 and the turrets turn. As an afterthought I wish I would have pinned the door hinges so that they would open and close this would have given more option in a diorama.

Step 30 - I cleaned all the parts for installation and checked for fit and then started to glue the front panel H9 and kept going with H3 right and H8 left and before the glue started to set I located the roof H13. Everything lined up perfect and the turrets still rotate and the fit to the Rhomboid hull perfect. I'm very happy.

Step 28, 31, 32 - Left female sponson which Takom tags A2, I followed the same procedure as the right sponson but I was building them at the same time switching back and forth while the glue dried.

6 Pounder Guns
Step 33, 34, 35, 36 - The build begins with the assembly of 2x 6 pounder (57mm guns) which are small kits. This is the main body of the gun with parts G44, G46 the breach block G33 & G35 the main gun breach G45 breach block handle G42, G41 are details for the pistons and the all detail is great so far. The assembly went great as per instruction.

Step 34 - The shield mounting block G43 and the telescope G24, G49 and G48. The telescope was assembled as it was curing I mounted it to the gun and aligned it and let it cure.

Step 35 - Main gun mounting posts or pedestal G37, G38 with shield G20, next is the G40 top, poly cap and G34 base for the swivel and mounting to the sponson. With the assembly of gun moving handle G23, G47 and G31 as one unit to be attached to the main gun.

Step 36 - Completion of the shields G39 which went on perfect and the 3 part curved shield G30 left, G18 center and G29 right. I preassembled the 3 pieces so that the curve was circular in shape and when dried I sanded the two joints to make it look like one piece and then installed it to the gun and it was held in place by its support bracket g20 which gave it about 1mm of play up and down. The detail on the two 6 pounders is fantastic and it is all going to be closed in.

Step 37, 38, 39 - Male sponson which Takom tags as B1, This begins with the building of the left sponson parts G17 and G16 base of the gun pedestal, G14 bottom hull, G1 front bottom slope G32 left and G14 right bottom slope, after clean I checked every piece for fit and started to assemble the bottom pieces (I forgot to take pictures). I decided to hinge the door so you can open it to see that beautiful 6 pounder or close it up. I started to glue G4, G13 G7 door and G10 to the base, all panels lined up glued and block sitting on top to make sure it stays flat and square. I decided to fit and glue these body parts G8, G3 G51 and G26 now instead of earlier as per instructions as they close off around the 6 pounder shield and everything worked out great. After test fitting I glued the round shield to the mounting plates on the gun it had 1mm play up and down as you can see in the picture the fit is close to perfect without begin glued. The sponson on the Rhomboid hull fits close to perfect without being glued.
Note because I glued the mounts for the Hotchkiss guns parts N9 and N6 on the Female sponsons and the main hull I had none for the Male sponsons so I scratch built 2x N9 and 2x N6.

Step 40, 41, 42 - Right Male Sponson which Takom tags B2. The assembly of the right side will follow the same procedure as the left side other than the parts are different numbers. The fit of all the parts was excellent and everything got glued. The poly cap was sloppy on the gun base with this one, so I got a piece of .25 x 2 mm styrene strip curved the end slightly and wedged it in the gap with a touch of liquid cement to hold it in place and cut it with the tip of a #11 blade. I did this at opposite sides and it worked like a charm and no more play up and down, check the pictures.

Step 43 - Your choice of what to build either the Female, Male or Hermaphrodite.

Step 44 - Building the un-ditching beam D1, D2 and shackles 2x C4 went without any problems. I decided to scratch the exposed wood parts of the beam with #60 grit sand paper because it looked too smooth. I then bent the PH parts 2x TP2 around the ends of the beam this was done so the beam would not split. Takom gives you a length of chain but does not tell you how long to cut the pieces. Looking at the instructions I came up with 18 to 20 links per piece. I think this chain is too small for the un-ditching beam as it should be 2 to 3 times heavier, as the forces exerted on it would be quite extreme when in use. You have to cut one link on each length and spread it open and clamp around the shackles and squeeze it back together. It is sad to say that Takom did not provide the etch brackets that clamp it to the track like they did for their Mk IV. But they did provide you with 30 pieces of track grousers spuds 15 per side every 6th track pad, you should check period photos if it was used on the one you are modeling.

The last photographs show you is what you can do with this Takom 1/35 WWI Heavy Battle Tank Mark V 3 in 1 kit but you have to choose one to build and for me it is a hard choice since this is the only one that I have right now. I wish I had all three.

Conclusion

This Takom 1/35 2034 WWI Heavy Battle Tank Mark V 3 in 1 kit that I received from Armorama is highly detailed with no warping or blemishes with a lot of tiny fine rivet details on all the parts just like the real tank. I highly recommend this kit to all modelers. The fit of all the parts was excellent and I had no problems with anything and the tracks went together with a click. A big thank you to Takom for bringing highly detailed kits and especially the WW1 assortment of tanks.

I know there is at least one book published on the Mk V but I do not have any access to it published by Osprey Publishing the Mark V Tank by David Fletcher, New Vanguard 178, ISBN 978-1-84908-351-5 soft back 48 pages Illustrated book.

My sincere thanks to Darren Baker and Jim Starkweather for giving me the chance to do a build review of this kit.

References

I did a search on the internet to find more information about the Mk V and these are some of the sites that I used.
Tank Encyclopaedia Live links
Wikipedia Live links
Military Factory Live links
SVSM Live links
Tank Photographs Live links
Military Modelling Live links