Takom 1:35 Panzer III Ausf. M • Kit No. 8002
Witold Socha places the new Takom 1:35 scale Panzer III Ausf. M in a scratch-built scene with a building and figures.
The 1:35 scale Pz.Kpfw. III Ausf.M is one of the recent releases of the Chinese company Takom. At first sight it makes a good overall impression so I was curious to see if I would remain satisfied after building it. Let’s go!
CONSTRUCTION
My first step was to assemble the running gear. I really like the Panzer III and its derivatives due to the fairly limited number of wheels they’re fitted with. The wheels supplied with the kit are fairly nicely detailed and the road wheels even feature ‘Continental’ labels on the rubber rims.
During assembly I noticed one issue: the bolts that help to maintain the correct spacing of the roadwheel halves are longer than the hubs, so one has to be careful whilst putting the wheels together as the adhesive should only be applied onto the bolt endings. I am not sure if this isn’t an error, but even if it is, it will remain unnoticeable in the finished kit.
The road wheels.
I like how the rear of the hull had been designed. The air outlet louver covers might be installed in an open or closed position. bolt endings. I am not sure if this isn’t an error, but even if it is, it will remain unnoticeable in the finished kit.
The Ausf. M had a cylindrical engine exhaust muffler with a sealing valve, which was one of the modifications introduced with this variant in order to increase its fordability. The plastic parts didn’t form a firm joint and I had to apply some filler and subsequently level the joint area with fine sandpaper. As you can see on the photo, in this build I used the new extra thin cement from AK-Interactive for the very first time and I must admit that this is the first adhesive of this type from another brand that turn out to work exactly the same as the original extra thin cement from Tamiya, so if for some reason (for example, recurring problems with availability of Tamiya products) you’re looking for an alternative, go for it! The only difference is slightly stronger odour.
The undersides of the track guards feature a few prominent ejector pin marks. The recessed ones could be simply treated with filler, but the raised one had to be removed using a milling bit.