Takom Mark.IV Tadpole WWI Heavy Tank 1:35 – build review

Full Review by Dai Williams

The centenary of the beginning of the First World War saw the welcome release of a number of kits of armoured vehicles from this period. Takom joined in this bonanza with some excellent kits of the Mk.I and Mk.IV tanks. Following on from their earlier kits Takom has also released the Mk.IV Tadpole. The Tadpole was basically a modification of the Mk. IV design with a lengthened hull intended to provide better trench crossing capabilities. The hull extensions were found to be insufficiently rigid to carry the vehicle across trenches of the width it was expected to encounter and the design was not put into production. However, the extended hull idea reappeared in later versions of the Mk. V.

Here are a couple of photos of my completed model…

The Tadpole kit has excellent detail, the rendition of the hundreds of rivets covering the vehicle being particularly well done.

The completed model is rather large being almost a foot in length so you may need to clear some space on your display shelf!

Another notable feature of the kit is that the tracks are made up of separate links which just clip together and are fully articulated. There are no annoying sprue attachment points to clear up and the tracks are strong enough when assembled to stay together when removed from the model so they could be painted separately should you wish to do so.

On with the build…