Takom 1/35 scale Vk100.01(p) Mammut plastic model kit review

Takom’s 1/35 scale Vk100.01 (p) Mammut is another 2-in-1 kit. It is a “paper panzer” heavy tank that looks like a Tiger II on steroids, which I find interesting. Kit details include a metal barrel, positional hatches, two different mantlets, two engine-deck options, flexible two-piece tracks, and markings for four different vehicles.

Up first are the suspension and road wheels. The kit uses two different road wheels on the suspension arms. Each side has inner and outer suspension arms that point in the same direction, front-to-back, on the starboard and port sides. After assembling the inner suspension, I deviated from the instructions and installed the flexible tracks on the sprockets and road wheels before the outer wheels and side armor. This way I could ensure the tracks were properly in place. The outer road wheels slipped inside the tracks, no problem. Note that parts D18 and D16 are mislabeled in the instructions; rely on the illustrations instead. The new two-piece track design was easy to paint and install with the supplied pins.

The front lower hull above the tracks does not have enough clearance to allow the upper hull’s thick front plate to line up flush. You have two choices to fix it: either fill the gap or sand the inner surface of the hull front plate.

With a choice of two different engine decks, I went with Part E2. I opted for Part F9 and the metal gun barrel for the mantlet. The main gun assembly builds up without issue and fits well in the turret ring. The hull top, back, and sides fit well on the ring.

The kit includes four marking options: one in primer and three in camouflage patterns. I went with the first, using flat black for the undercoat and barrel, Tamiya Dull Red (No. LP-18) for the primer, and Tamiya Dark Iron (No. XF-84) and Silver (X-11) color for the tracks. The decals went down without any solvent.

I built the Takom 1/35 scale Vk100.01 (p) Mammut in a fast 15 hours. This model would be good for those interested in what-if or future war armor. Outside of the fit issue, it was a fun build!