Master Box 1/72 MK 1 ‘Male’ British Tank, Somme Battle Period, 1916 Build Review

By Dave Manter

Build Review

If you'd like to take a look at the kit as it comes out of the box, check out the in-box review

previously published here on Cybermodeler Online.

Construction starts with the main hull. Part C5 (lower hull) was very warped on my sample, but with a little patience and some clamps, coupled with the great fit of the kit, all the parts squared up just fine.

Construction continued with the trailing arm and the fit here was good as well. I ended up using a micro saw to remove most of the parts from the trees as they are quite delicate.

Next up was the main sides. Once these were coupled with the hull, the entire tank became very ridged and solid. The next step was to add all of the small detail parts and again fit was good.

The main gun ports were next. I did drill out the ends of the barrels. The guns are moveable after assembly. The final step was the grenade shield for the top of the tank. The photo etch is very thin and looks great.

The last thing to do was to add the tracks. They did not respond to any type of glue that I tried. I heated up a small screwdriver and melted the pins. This caused a pretty significant "bump" where the ends connect but MasterBox has thought of this. If you put this bump on the center bottom, there is an opening built into the track guides. Well Done MasterBox! The length and fit of the tracks is quite nice.

Painting began with a base coat of my scale black color (Tamiya XF-1 and XF-64 in a 50/50 mix). This was followed up with a random coat of AK Interactive AK708 Dark Rust. Once this had dried, I sprayed 2 light coats of Vallejo 522 Satin Varnish to seal the base colors in.

Once the varnish had dried thoroughly, I sprayed on several light coats of AK Interactive AK088 Worn Effects over the entire vehicle. As soon as this was dry to the touch, I base coated the tank with Tamiya XF-52 Flat Earth. This was then lightened with Tamiya XF-57 Buff and XF-59 Desert Yellow and sprayed on in a very random pattern staying more to the center of the panels. I then began to wet down the tank, working in sections, using water to re-activate the AK Interactive Worn Effects. Using an old brush that I cut down, I began to add numerous small scratches and scuff marks. Once I was happy with the results and the paint had dried all the way, I sealed the paint with an acrylic flat coat.

I then added a pin wash of Vandyke Brown, Lamp Black and Old Rust oil colors, again working in sections. Once this was done, I added some vertical streaking using AK Interactive AK067 Streaking Grime and AK013 Rust Streaks. The last step was to weather the track links. These were base coated in Vallejo 304 Tracks Primer and then they were given a wash of AK Interactive AK083 Track Wash. The last step was to highlight the raised portions with some graphite to add a metallic sheen.

I used several "ready to use" weathering products on this kit. This stuff works great! Now I know you can make each of these items yourself and save a little money, but I find the value of having these products ready to go is a huge timesaver for me.

Thanks to DML for this review sample.