Takom Pz 111 Ausf M, Kursk new blitz kit

[BattleshipBob]

Just got this so thought what the hell get it done

This is the new Takom Pz 111 M from the battle of Kursk 1943, the box is small with minimal PE and parts



The instructions come in a nice book BUT its too small for me, i am struggling to see where the parts go and with the colour schemes I cannot see the paint numbers (Ammo paints listed)

Old age i know but i have seen this complaint on another site so have to agree



Hull comes in tub and they have moulded on the fender support brackets, nice touch


Turret with bin and skirt armour




The superstruture like Tamiya one piece, fitted fenders, moulded transmission hatches, engine hatches supports and weld seams. I have fitted it to the hull and it fited well and unlike Dragon where there are three seperate parts. This allows you to work on them on their own but can make the joining of them to the hull a bit of a pain



Other sprues, link and length tracks


Wheels / suspension, have read that the wheels do not join well and the suspension arms need work to make them fit into the hull correctly, why its a new kit. will let you know


Other sprues


Not a lot of PE, side skirts and some fenders edges, there are no air intake PE grills, the Ausf M was designed for wading so the air intakes had a sealed water proof cover instead



This is designed to be a no frills quick build so we will see

I have built 3 Dragon Pz 111's and will be interesting to compare them although the dragon has many more parts

Hope there will be interest in this

cheers bob

 

[Jakko]

The instructions come in a nice book BUT its too small for me, i am struggling to see where the parts go and with the colour schemes I cannot see the paint numbers (Ammo paints listed)

What size is it? If it’s A5, for example, you can scan all the pages and print them out for yourself at A4 size, which makes everything about 70% bigger. (Try with a single page first to see if it works, before scanning and printing everything and finding it’s still too small.)

Alternatively, if you have a tablet, photograph all of the pages, keep the tablet at hand while you build and zoom in on the photos as and when you need to. (You could also use the tablet itself as a magnifying glass, by opening its photography app and using it to zoom in on things, but that’s only handy for incidental use, if you ask me.)

 

[scottie3158]

Bob,
I will pull up a chair.

 

[JR]

The Russian observer amongst us will be taking notes.
4BO Rules.

 

[Steve Jones]

Seat between Paul and JR please. I hope your airbrush is working for that camo scheme!

Good luck my friend

 

[SteveH]

Nice one Bob

built tomorrow

Primed Friday

Painted by the end of the weekend

Seems like a quick one all round then?

Time left over to build some figure Bob?

Use your optivisor on the instructions, I have to sometimes!

Regards

Steve H

 

[BattleshipBob]

good thinking Jakko

Bob,
I will pull up a chair.

Most welcome Paul!

The Russian observer amongst us will be taking notes.
4BO Rules.

Alboard comrade John, just realised its not a StuG, what am i thinking lol

Seat between Paul and JR please. I hope your airbrush is working for that camo scheme!

Good luck my friend

Cheers Steve, airbrush sorted i hope. That camo should try my nerves, will paint in lacquer, mask ready!!

Nice one Bob

built tomorrow

Primed Friday

Painted by the end of the weekend

Seems like a quick one all round then?

Time left over to build some figure Bob?

Use your optivisor on the instructions, I have to sometimes!

Regards

Steve H

You should be on stage Steve lol will start Friday.

Had horrible palpitations for day and half all part of the joys of ME! Left me totally knackered. But plenty of time for research and kitty sleeping

Welcome all should be fun

 

[BattleshipBob]

Off we jolly well go and in a word or two poor, disappointing, bad quality

Used for the first time the new glue from AK with a very nice citrus pong, very nice and no fumes so no headache



Started as normal with the hull and torsion bar suspension

I have been watching this being built on another site (wash my mouth out) and i have hit the same problems

The torsion bar swing arms and very poor for a new kits with lots of flash and poor fit



The arm slot into the kit way but they do not fit right so had to trim bits off then the spindle for the wheels, as you can see lumps of flash so had to work on every arm which took ages

Hull finally finished, i have not added the idler wheel adjuster as its fit is again poor, so will fit the rear plate so at least it will have a location and support



Can see my biggest problem with an kit i do pesky seams, one to go over again.

Next the worst part the wheels, very nice name on the tyre wall, look fine from the outside!



Then the bombshell, the two halfs of the wheels, they do not fit together. They are appalling for a so called new kit.

The two halfs of the strengthing tubes to do even line up, so the shorter ones are going to have to be cut off to even try to get the wheels to fit correctly



The wheels are going to take me ages to do, i can normally build up a tamiya Pz111 hull in about 25 minutes with NO problems even the Dragon kit with many more parts causes me no problems

They have reduced the parts count in this kit and called it a blitz so i assume meant to be a fast build , fast my A==e

For a new kit its shocking so next step is to complain to Takom or the importer

Give me a Tamiya or Dragon kits any time, its possabily a fault but should have been found before sending them out, its not expensive £30 but would expect so much better

aaarrggghh, off to cash in the swear box, over flowing

 

[SteveH]

Hi Bob

That sounds rough, but now you know, a quick clip with both the tubes and the lug and line up by eye.

Complaint E-mail to Takom and keep on modelling!

Does the citrus cement work as well without the smell?

LPJ models on You Tube has a super video on the Takom 1/16 Pz I, which is based around AB modulation.

I have just watched it and found it quite useful

Don't panic and keep gluing, now it smells so nice

Regards

Steve H

 

[BattleshipBob]

Hi Steve, right pain!!

The importer is pocketbond but email not working.

Glue works great, like Tamiya extra but the smell gives me two things, terrible headaches and a rollocking from Juie as the house stinks lol

Will have a look for the vid, thanks for that. I have the 1 16 pz 1 in the stash

Bob

 

[therapy]

What a pain! Perhaps 'Blitz' refers to how quickly they signed off the tooling and started shipping out the kits.....

Nick.

 

[BattleshipBob]

What a pain! Perhaps 'Blitz' refers to how quickly they signed off the tooling and started shipping out the kits.....

Nick.

You might be right lol

I would stick to the Tamiya kit, hope no one starting or returning to this great hobby does not buy this!!

 

[scottie3158]

Bob,
I can understand your disappointment with this kit. As you say for a new kit it is badly moulded.

 

[Steve Jones]

Sorry to hear about the fit issues Bob. You should expect better from a £30 kit. I hope you stick with it.

 

[JR]

Great start then Bob, .
Can you imagine a new modeler having this, probably put him off for life.
Agree with Steve H, an email when your able.


Takom Military Models
504 Business Route
Mayfield, PA 18433

takommilitary@mail.com or even better https://www.facebook.com/TAKOM-354803674728188/. I'd post on FB, you'd get a reply much quicker Bob.

Not good enough, doesn't matter how much it cost. Just shows they have no checking done.

 

[BattleshipBob]

Bob,
I can understand your disappointment with this kit. As you say for a new kit it is badly moulded.

Hi Paul

I was wondering if the guy whos building this was just being fussy but no i was shocked. Has anybody built any other Takom kits,??

Sorry to hear about the fit issues Bob. You should expect better from a £30 kit. I hope you stick with it.

Hi Steve.

Ill beat the bugger, want to add Kursk mud and dust!!

Great start then Bob, .
Can you imagine a new modeler having this, probably put him off for life.
Agree with Steve H, an email when your able.


Takom Military Models
504 Business Route
Mayfield, PA 18433

takommilitary@mail.com or even better https://www.facebook.com/TAKOM-354803674728188/. I'd post on FB, you'd get a reply much quicker Bob.

Not good enough, doesn't matter how much it cost. Just shows they have no checking done.

Hi John

Thanks for the info. Was looking at there new StuG, but not sure now!

 

[JR]

Ill beat the bugger, want to add Kursk mud and dust!!

Never fear Bob a great 4BO monster will soon crush it

 

[BattleshipBob]

You swine

Have a look at my T 34, its not very well lol

 

[BattleshipBob]

Had a message from Takom, with there email ref new sprues, so replied and waiting, again

 

[scottie3158]

Bob,
It's good to know you have had a response hope it all gets resploved.