Master Box announce WWI Mark I tank kits

[Erich von Manstein]

Every once a while I dabble in 1/35 figures & vehicles. That's why I'm somewhat familiar with the ukrainian manufacturer Master Box. Thanks to their ever growing range they're amongst the leading & best known producers of 1/35 plasticfigures by now (besides Dragon, Mini Art, Trumpeter, ICM, Academy, Bronco, Zvezda, TriStar, Italeri and now dated but still very common Tamiya).
I was greatly delighted yesterday when I read that MB are entering the 1/72 market segment as well.
They announce two upcoming tank kits on the "In Progress" page at their website now.

http://mbltd.info/proces.htm

Their first 1/72 kits aim at the WWI crowd & its upcoming centenary next year. It's the Mark I tank in both, female & male versions. The shown CAD graphics look convincing so far.

Anyway, I'm thrilled that another quality manufacturer widens its scope towards the 1/72 market. There is hope that MB may downscale some of their excellent WWII kits now. Those not interested in WWII can hope too, MB offer kits for several other eras as well (Vietnam War, ACW, upcoming Napoleonics & WWI).
Maybe I'm too optimistic here, but on the quiet I hope that other manufacturers will follow their (& Dragon's) lead. Wouldn't it be great to have some of those brilliant Mini Art, TriStar or Bronco sets available in 1/72?

Great news to me!!!

[KenzoSato]

Great , I hope that in the future produce military wwII and modern

[David O'Brien]

Looks good from the computer renderings.
The anti grenade structure/shield was not on all of these Mk I machines. The chicken wire is invisible on most photos but was of course an essential part of the shield's effectiveness. I am not sure how this would be achieved in 1/72nd scale as it would have to be quite fine even for PE. I have seen models done with mesh or gauze the equivalent of chain link fencing. I notice Master Box haven't put the chicken wire on the drawings/box artwork. The model's grenade shield structure is actually a bit more robust than the real one as the chicken wire supports the wooden structure. If you have made a chicken run you know what I mean. The one in the Tank Museum at Bovington, Dorset has a shield and the photos give you some idea of the dimensions. I reckon one man could easily lift it off in an emergency.
David

[steve_pickstock]

Quite excited by their 1/35 scale napoleonics as well.

[Jesse]

Great news, but I would have prefered other WWI tanks not previously made in plastic, the Schneider (also for SCW!) and St Chamond.

[Erich von Manstein]

Master Box announce 4 more WWI tank kits on the "In Progress" page at their website now!

http://www.mbltd.info/proces.htm

Mark II male & female

Mark I male & female with special "Gaza Strip" ToW modifications

I'm quite wowed by such a wealth of fresh WWI quality kits!

More details about the earlier mentioned Mark I kits can be seen here:

http://www.dragonmodelsusa.com/dmlusa/welcome.asp

Oh yes MB, just keep them comin!!!!!
Hope they're going to realise the desperately needed Saint-Chamond & Schneider CA1 in 1/72 plastic as well asap!

[PDA]

Great news, but I would have prefered other WWI tanks not previously made in plastic, the Schneider (also for SCW!) and St Chamond.

I'm all in favour of the Schneider and St Chamond, but I feel compelled to say that the Mark I has not been previously made in plastic either: the kits from Airfix are bad models of a Mark II (and they are not 1/72).

I hope Master Box make a Tank Mark IV and a Tank Mark V, as well as a Schneider and St Chamond. Maybe they'll make a Rolls Royce Armoured Car and an Austin Armoured Car too.

Really looking forward to getting my hands on these new kits! Which shop do you think will have them first?

[Erich von Manstein]

Since Master Box is an ukrainian company HobbyTerra and other eastern european shops should be your best bet I guess.

[PDA]

Michigan Toy Soldier has them listed for pre-order. Hannants do not. Jadar Hobby doesn't list them either.

[RCD]

Its a bit like buses you wait for a long time for one to arrive and then several come along!
The mystery is why the leading companies have totally ignored WW1 - even producing fantasy N**i products in preference. When Airfix produced their WW1 "MkI" female they could not even be bothered to correct the glaring error on the roof! Who knows we may even see some of these leading companies jump on the centenary band waggon.

I look forward to getting hold of these different models and hope they produce more original models including some French tanks.

So lets hope that these sets will appear soon and be available to the everyday customers.

[David O'Brien]

Henk's site has more details and future plans see:

http://henk.fox3000.com/masterbox.htm

It looks like the kit will come with PE parts.

the new versions also come in male and female versions
The Gaza Strip version of the Mk I should refer to the 2nd Battle of Gaza (not the strip)
They still had the rear wheels lifting gear but armoured and of course no wheels.
Photos suggest they (8 according to most accounts) did not have the girder structure at the battle.
MkII is very similar to the MkI but they have added grousers to the tracks and other details - eg no rear wheels or lifting gear.

nice to see these variations


David

[Jesse]


Jesse wrote: Great news, but I would have prefered other WWI tanks not previously made in plastic, the Schneider (also for SCW!) and St Chamond.

PDA wrote: I'm all in favour of the Schneider and St Chamond, but I feel compelled to say that the Mark I has not been previously made in plastic either: the kits from Airfix are bad models of a Mark II (and they are not 1/72).

Yes you are right. It's just that to my amateurish WWI-tank knowledge the two kits by Emhar (with their faults) pretty much covers my need for that series of tanks (is there any common name for all the British "Mark"-tanks?). That's why I'd prefer first to see models of tanks that are totaly different in shape than the "Mark"-tanks. But this is of course better than nothing and hopefully a start for a whole range of WWI tanks in 1/72 from MB! Cheers everyone

[PDA]

That's a fair point, Jesse. I am very much 'into' WW1 so the differences, to me, are huge. But if I was ever going to do Napoleonics, for example, I would just get one box of soldiers and paint half of them dark blue and the other half bright red and be totally happy - the differences (to me) are trivial and unnoticeable.

As a lot of people have said, the whole area of WW1 armoured vehicles has been, for the most part, ignored by the plastic model companies. Those models that have been made, have been made with big errors. So that leaves the field wide open for Master Box to make any WW1 AFV and instantly take the lead. I hope they make the French tanks. But really, whatever they make will be 10,000% better than the current situation. And perhaps with better quality (ie accurate) models available, more people will discover how fantastic were the technological advances in WW1, and how fascinating WW1 AFVs are.

[David O'Brien]

checked it up

The gantry structure on the Palestine/Gaza Mk I was to lift the sponsons off for transportation and the tracks on the Mk II have extenders on and not as I said ie they make the tracks wider --snow shoes as opposed to running spikes.

So 6 promised .

Before asking for lots of other different tanks they could do a supply tank or a Mk III
with not a great deal of fuss. I like the idea of a whole range of models based on the Mk I as starters.

David

David

[PDA]

And this is genuinely new!

Master Box have released two kits of the Tank Mark I - the first ever tank to take the field of battle!

These are the first ever 1/72 plastic kits of the Mark I. So if you are the kind of modelmaker who likes to make something a bit different, these are the kits for you! Definitely not Vanilla! Unusual shape. Unusual camouflage.

I know it has been announced that Master Box had these planned, but now they are released and available to purchase.

There is a good number of photos of the kits on Armorama, here: http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=15763&mode=thread&order=0

[T. Dürrschmidt]

Great looking model! I will surely buy one. But it isn´t the first Mark I in Plastik. Remember the old Airfix-Kit. But this one will be far better.

[PDA]

No. It is the first Mark I in 1/72. The Airfix kit is 1/76 and it is a Mark II. Airfix never checked the facts.

Master Box have got it right. They are the first to make a 1/72 Mark I in plastic.

[PDA]

If my above two posts, dated 8th December, don't make sense it's because they were merged with this older thread.

[Erich von Manstein]

At Henk's website we can watch the released & announced kits bundled:
http://henk.fox3000.com/masterbox.htm

There's a link to an extensive in-box review from John Kelley at AMPS/Indianapolis:
http://indy-amps.weebly.com/master-box- ... -1916.html

Looking great so far!

Will wait for the kits to arrive at my preferred online-shops, but several others list them already.
Jadar (Poland) has the MasterBox Mk. I kit for 12,50 €.
HobbyTerra (Ukraine) sell them for 13,60 $ each.
A reasonable price for what seems to be an high quality kit.
Excellent value for our money here!