Takom's 1/72 scale Chieftain Mk.10 and Mk.11 1+1 is another in the company’s stable kits with two versions in a single package. Like other offerings from Takom, the final models are accurate and highly detailed, however, I did have a few more challenges with this kit than I have with other offerings.
Construction starts with the lower hull and running gear. The lower hull fits together well, but the road wheels in my kit did not want to sit correctly on the axles. The kit includes a jig to form the tracks for a "perfect" fit, but I couldn’t get it to work for a couple of reasons. First, the instructions show adding the road wheels to the hull and suspension then working the tracks on. But the gap in the rear of the tank is too small to fit the tracks without breaking them. Second, even using the jig, the tracks always seemed to be just over half-a-link short. When I built the second tank, I took a different route and fit the tracks to the lower half of the running gear and not bothering to put tracks on the top because they will be hidden by the side skirts. By doing this, I was able to space the tracks correctly and the fit was spot on.
The upper hull (for both tanks) presented its own set of difficulties. Perhaps my sample was an early run of the kit, but almost every part fit either too tight and needed to be sanded or the plastic was so brittle that when attached to the model I had multiple parts crack or break in half. With so many details built from tiny parts (rather than molded onto the larger parts), having them break on a regular basis made construction frustrating and tedious.
The turrets are what are different between the Mk.10 and Mk.11 Chieftains. And building the turrets went smoother with fewer fit issues. Beware: You can only build one Mk.10 and one Mk.11 turret, and you are not given any extra parts to build two tanks of the same mark. The slide molded barrel cleaned up easily for me. It attaches in a fixed position on the turret.
Takom provides four marking options for each tank — eight options in total! One of the options is the Chieftain from the first season of "The Walking Dead" TV show in which a Chieftain was made up to look like an Abrams for filming.
All in all, I spent a little over 100 hours building and painting the two tanks. The final tanks are very well detailed, but due to the fit and part issues I had, I would only suggest this kit for experienced modelers.