Review: Takom 1/72 Chieftain Mk.10 part 1

Well, since I have a lot of other projects running, why not start another one? (I spent a week in Tokaj taking the family to my father-in-law, so I took a box with me to work on during the evenings.)

The box contains two versions of the Chieftain -only marginally different ones at that. I chose the Mk 10 because I like the camo on the box (and I will probably hate my life trying to paint it but it remains to be seen).

The model is OK with an important caveat. People at Takom should realize that a 1/72 model is not a down-sized 1/35. There need to be compromises made. This model builds up like a 1/35 model and sometimes it made me curse. A lot. When you pick up a Revell, Modelcollect, etc. 1/72 kit, it builds up into a nice, small but detailed model without the itsy-bitsy parts. Well, this does not. Just check out the instructions of the 1/72 and the 1/35 versions by Takom… in some cases the 1/72 is actually better the better model. (Just check out the gun barrel on the 1/35 model…) Better but with very, very tiny parts – it is essentially, a scaled-down 1/35 model. I had plans for the second one: perhaps build it for a different camo, or hand it over to a fifteen year old cousin of mine, but I can’t imagine how a relative beginner would fare with this model, and I can’t see myself building a second one of these… (The results ARE spectacular, though, so it is not to say the model is bad, but perhaps not for me a second helping.)

Anyhow, after much frustration I finished the build. There are a few things not attached yet because I could not mask the necessary areas with them on. We will see how fun it will be to paint it.

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