Mk.IV Tadpole

[Gary Boxall]

As Monty Python would say, "And now, for something completely different..."

Picked this up down in Wellington back in April when we went down for ANZAC weekend. Thought it would make for something out of the ordinary and while it doesn't seem to have made active service, it was certainly built for trials.

It's essentially a Mk.IV Male tank with extended sponsons to aid trench crossings with the addition of a mortar fixed to the rear. Wuould have been fun trying to fire that while moving



No AM for this - not sure any actually exists apart from gun barrels - but I will be relacing/adding details where required using what I have to hand.

Gary

[Justin Wooding]

No AM for this - not sure any actually exists apart from gun barrels

Thank god!! Us mere mortals might have half a chance of keeping up with you

I'll be watching closely

[Chris Smith]

The exhaust is directed straight on the extension for the mortar too so the crew would probably be more worried about carbon monoxide poisoning than firing the mortar

Interested to see this go together, finally getting a choice for WWI subjects is awesome.

Chris

[Vincent Power]

Now there is a surprise. Interesting subject Gary

Vincent

[Philipp Gross]

Ohhh, nice

I have one of these as well, got it for a very good price. Some poor sod at my online shop apparently had set a wrong price....their problem....

Philipp

[Rob Matthews]

Excellent.

Rob

[Matt Parvis]

Cool stuff Gary, and great motivation for me to finish my WWI dio, gotta get my WWI tank finished before folks have yours to compare it to!

Matt

[Gary Boxall]

Welcome along everyone

Driver's superstructure is first up.

Nice to see that this kit doesn't suffer from the oversized sprue gates unlike the Chieftain kits Styrene is pretty easy to deal with - not too soft and not brittle. The only real issue is typical of any rivited tank like this where the joins tend to run along the length of the angle iron joints. You can't hide joins with weld seams here

So, I simply shaved off the rivets along one side as clean up is very difficult with them there and then used some Mr Surfacer to fill and slight gaps. The edges are then sanded until they are nice and straight and unblemished...



I then pinched new rivets from the underside of the hull (won't be seen when completed) and cemented them in place. A final clean up with a glass fibre pen and it's all done.....



The Lewis gun is reasonable well done....



But the end of the tube is too thick but a small drill bit soon cures that. I also then drilled out the end of the muzzle inside....



Gary

[Gary Boxall]

The instructions get you to assemble the main hull plates next. While fit is good, there are no real means of ensuring the angle are correct if you do as Takom suggest. So I used the hull side pieces to ensure correct alignment....



This way you should have no nasty surprises further down the track....





Gary

[Gary Boxall]

More parts are added to the top of the hull. The unditching beam rails were removed but the brackets left in place on the real thing. I've also thinned down the exhaust cover plates as they are far too thick....



The two halves of the exhaust are shown above and I'm never a fan of this type of construction as it requires a lot of work to get a seamless finish to the joins - especially given the shape of the 3 verticle pipes too. Only one answer really....



Go on, hands up those who didn't see that coming

Dry fitted...



Gary