Paul has been looking forward to starting his build of Takom's 35th scale M47 Patton so much he only paused for a few minutes to take pictures of what's in the box and tell us what we thought before he got to building the kit (he's already started) so here is his roundup of initial thought before the build gets going...
In-Boxed M47 Patton
From: Takom
Product No# 2070
1/35th scale
New tooled kit which includes: Plastic sprues, Waterslide Decals, Clear parts
Available from Takom distributors worldwide
The M47 was the second US tank to be named after the famous US WW2 General George S Patton. Designed to replace the M46 and Sherman tanks from WW2, the M47 would also be the last US tank to be designed with a bow-mounted machine gun. While it does have the unique distinction of being the only US tank not to see combat under US service, the M47 was widely exported to Nato and Seato allies and would see combat, but found itself outgunned by other contemporary designs. However, despite this, the M47 is still in service with Iran and Spain as an ARV.
Before these releases by Takom, the M47 has only been previously kitted by Italeri several decades ago and re-boxed by other manufacturers. Despite its age, some consider Italeri’s M47 to be one of its best releases in the Italeri catalogue so how does Takom’s version look?
The two kits in this new tooling so far from Takom
The kit comes in Takom’s standard sturdy, top opening box and while full, is not exploding to the point where you won’t be able to put everything back in once you’ve taken it out. The box top advertises this as a "2 in 1" kit although it is not readily apparent what the two versions are, but it turns out to be the base M47 and the M47G which is the German version.
The instruction booklet comes in Takom’s standard landscaped semi-gloss A4 booklet and comprised of line drawings and appears to be well set out and not too cluttered.
There are six colour schemes provided in the box which can be found inside the front cover of the instruction booklet, and in the foldout of the back cover. Each scheme has five profile views in full colour with paint colours called out in Mig Ammo paints. The first two schemes are fairly bland green affairs but the other four offer a nice variety of colours and schemes that are not commonly seen.
- M 47 Early Production Detroit Tank Arsenal, USA 1951
- M47G, Western Germany, 1960s
- Battle of Assal Uttar on September 10th, 1965 (Indo-Pakistani War)
- M47 South Korean Army, 1980’s
- M47 Jordanian Army, (6 Days War, 1967)
- M47 Croatian, Bosnia-Herzegovina 1993
Moving onto the sprues, you get two (2) copies of the A sprue which predictably give you the wheels and running gear.
The wheel hubs have nice bolt head detail, and Takom has provided separate tyres to make painting easier, but only for the wheels on the outside run with wheels and tyres coming in one piece for the wheels on the inside.
The sprues then jump to Sprue C which gives you the upper hull and fenders. The rear decking of the upper hull is very busy with a large array of engine grills and looks well moulded enough although they might still be on the slightly chunky side. However, I shudder at the thought of replicating all that with PE so I’m satisfied with what we get here.
The vented rear hull will be a point of interest to the kit. see the texture on the front of the hull also?
The fenders here - no need for Photo Etch thank goodness...
Sprue D is an assortment of smaller details including the onboard tools, and the.30 calibre hull-mounted machine gun. The muzzle of the machine gun is where one of the attachment points are so it will need to be drilled out being in such a prominent position of the finished vehicle.
Sprue F comes next, which includes the main armament. Takom does give you the option of cannon with or without the canvas mantlet cover, although strangely give you the uncovered barrel in one piece, but the barrel with the canvas cover comes in halves which will give you a long seam to clean up. The mounts for the drive sprocket are also very nicely moulded, and once again detail is nice and crisp.
Sprue G is another assortment of details for the tank and includes the mantlet cover for the main armament which comes in three pieces and will be good to see how well it goes together, although I’m glad Takom have gone this route instead of the vinyl route.
Three of the four muzzle break options appear on this sprue, although all the in-box colour profiles only show tanks with the simple straight muzzle break which is a bit of a downer.
Even in this picture you can see the bolt detail in the drives.
Detailed hatches can be posed open or closed
Sprue K is the smaller clear sprue with parts looking very clear and free of distortion. Vision blocks for the commander’s cupola comes in one ring instead of individual pieces which are very handy.
Sprue L is the length and link tracks. The inside faces of some tracks have small ejector pin marks but outside faces look nicely defined.
Both sides of the tracks on show here - a little detail to be removed on the undersides but nothing dramatic
Takom provides two jigs to help in the construction of the length and link tracks which is great and I look forward to seeing how well they work.
The turret shell comes in two pieces and fit appears to be good although there will still be some seam clean up to do. The upper turret has some very subtle casting detail and foundry numbers moulded on which will really add to the model.
The last of the plastic is the lower hull tub which looks detailed and very nice.
The last item in the box is the small decal sheet which looks well printed and in register.
My previous experiences with Takom kits have been very positive with their kits offering a nice balance of detail and ease of build. This kit appears to be in the same vein, and I must also point out that it has been quite a long while since I’ve built a kit with no PE at all and the track jigs should make assembly of the tracks much easier so I’m really looking forward to this build.
Paul Lee
Thanks to Takom for this kit to build and review.
