WWI Heavy Battle Tank Mark V - Takom 1/35 - Showcase

I should make a confession here. I have traditionally never really had much of an interest in WW1 subjects. That said, when I got the opportunity to build the Male Mk.IV I really enjoyed it, and have had a great deal of success with the model. So much so that I went on to build the Female Mk.IV and managed some really nice results with that model too.

When I saw this release of the Mk.V, I wasn’t overly interested as I felt I had ticked that box, but then something interesting happened. I took a look at some of the colour schemes that accompanied this tank and my interest was aroused once more. Some of them were very different and very interesting, and one in particular, (I am sure you know which one I am talking about by now), really got me excited, and scared all at the same time.

For people who have any interest in the machinery of the Great War, then this kit will come as a welcome addition to the collection, but more than that, this kit should really appeal to anyone looking for something a little different.

A Brief History

At the end of the First World War, a number of British MkVs’ were given to the White Russians, in the hope this may help in the fight against the Red Army. Through a training base in the Baltic state of Estonia, the British trained the Whites in the art of warfare and the use of the tanks.

​As the Civil War escalated, the British withdrew leaving the MkVs’ behind.

Some years later, when Operation Barbarossa was launched in 1941, the Soviets, desperate for resources, managed to find 4 Estonian MkVs’ in an abandoned warehouse in Tallinn, Estonia. They rushed to deploy them in an attempt to slow the German advance and allow their forces to retreat.

From the information I can piece together, of the 4 MkV’s deployed, 2 were mobile and 2 were used in fixed positions.

​Details and information around these tanks, as well as the details of where the checkerboard scheme came from are sketchy at best. It has been suggested that the MKV’s around Tallinn were all hermaphrodites, however other sources would suggest otherwise. It has also been suggested that the 6pound guns were replaced with soviet weapons as they didn’t have the ammunition to use the 6 pdr, but as I said, details are vague at best.