Scale: 1/35
Manufacturer: RPM (Pelta), available from Model Centrum, Nowowiejska 4 m. 10, 00-649 Warsaw, Poland
Price: $5.95
Comments: Injection molded, 113 parts.
POLAND'S TK TANKETTE series was developed in 1929 and based on the British Carden Lloyd Mark VI tankette. The TK-3 was the third in the series, and this variant was supplied to the Polish army. It was powered by a Ford Model A four-cylinder engine, had a top speed of 28 mph, and was armed with one 7.92mm machine gun. Some 300 were built by 1933.
By the late 1930s the Poles realized the TK series was obsolete, but had no replacement. As a result the Tankette stood little chance against the Germans -- imagine facing Panzers in a vehicle not much bigger than a Volkswagen Beetle! The Germans quickly captured those not destroyed in battle and converted them to ammunition carriers and internal security vehicles.
Pelta's TK3 is molded in light gray styrene with crisp raised and recessed panel lines. The parts are a bit thick for the scale, and you must be careful removing them from the sprues. An attractive feature is the multi-part styrene track. No exterior gear or figures are included.
Although written in Polish, the nine-step illustrations made the instructions easy to follow. The parts are numbered in the illustrations but not on the sprues, so you'll need to move slowly. The parts map has part numbers, but doesn't show the shape of the parts.
The model is easy to build, but the idler wheel mounting brackets fit better if you make them flush with the hull. I used six sections of track (part No. 35) around the drive sprockets instead of the recommended seven. This way I didn't have to trim the top sections of track for the best fit.
The hatches (25, 26) can be mounted open, but I left them closed since there is no interior detail.
A separate sheet shows paint schemes for three vehicles, but it's in Polish -- I followed the box art for the paint scheme. I airbrushed Humbrol pale yellow as the base, followed by brownish-red and green in a disruptive pattern. The track received a coat of brown, then was dry-brushed steel to show wear. I also dry-brushed steel on the hull and finished with a light weathering using pastel chalks. A coat of Polly S clear flat sealed the paint. The kit supplied no decals and no markings are indicated in the instructions.
The completed model measures only 3" long and 2" wide. This scales close to the statistics in Salamander Books' The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the World's Tanks and Fighting Vehicles.
I completed the tankette in only six hours, a great rainy-afternoon project. It's easy to build, and beginners should be able to handle it.
Phil Kirchmeier