TKS Tankette 7.5mm MG

Manufacturer: Al.By (KitNo. 721)

A cute little model, thiskit makes a perfect afternoon project.

Consisting of only fiveparts (hull, two track/wheel assemblies, and two machine guns),the construction is quite simple, with the main task being theapplication of a decent paint scheme on such a small vehicle.

The quality of the resincastings was pretty good, but there were several small air holesneeding filling. The rivets are recessed pin holes, and in somelocations, it is difficult to determine which are rivets, andwhich are air bubbles. I'm sure I missed a few.

The hull is a singlepiece, with all hatches molded shut, and the muffler, sparewheel, and pioneer tools molded onto it. Perhaps this is one ofAl.By's earlier releases, because some of their other kits(specifically, the UE Tractor) show that even on a kit thissmall, a hollow-cast hull with open hatches is possible.

The wheels and tracks aremolded as single pieces for each side. The detail on the wheelsis quite impressive, but the tracks are a disappointment. Itseems that the person who made these masters must have wornhimself out making the finely detailed hull and wheels, anddecided to finish the project by wrapping thick, undetailed beltsaround the wheels and calling them tracks. Granted, at this size,it's not going to be possible to achive the level of finessepossible with etched tracks, as comes with the PART TKS kit, butthey certainly could have been better than they are.

The machine guns are alsonot up to the same level of quality as the hull and wheels. Thehull MG is a simple barrel to be glued to the front of the hull,and consequently, does not look too terrible. But theexternally-mounted MG is fairly poor, and I left it off my kit.It is very lumpy, and looks like it was carved from wax, which isbeginning to melt on a warm day. That is rather disappointing,considering Al.By's otherwise high standards of quality.

I have no references forthis vehicle. According to the dimensions shown at MichalDerela's Polish Armor website , this kit scales perfectly to1/72nd. That is to say, it is really small.

Michal confirmed for methat the base color of 1939 Polish AFV's was green, with tan andbrown camouflage applied over the top of the green, so this iswhat I replicated with this kit. I painted a geometric pattern Isaw on Michal's site, with blocks of color over the green. I usedTestors Acryl acrylic paints. Some "in progress" photosof this kit may be seen in my Painting Techniques article.

This is a very rarecombat photograph of a TKS stalking a giant portrait of AbeLincoln.

Ultimately, this is a veryfine kit, and very inexpensive. It will make an excellentaddition to a wargamer's Polish Army, but for those who arelooking to make a highly-detailed display kit, I would recommendtrying to improve the tracks somewhat, or else go for the PARTTKS kit, which is on the other end of the "complexityspectrum" from this reviewed kit.

Who says size doesn'tmatter???