Introduction

The Polish TKS series of tanks was the most numerous light tank in the Polish Army. RPM makes several different variants of this vehicle in their kit offerings. This is the latest one in the series which I have found in my hobby shop visits.

I could not find much history on this vehicle and I cannot read Polish, so the history in the kit cannot be translated by me. I did find out that the Poles only built around four of the variant that this kit represents.

What's in the box?:

The kit comes in a tray and lid type box. The box art shows a TKD mounting a 25mm gun passing a burning German halftrack. I could not help but notice that the license plate on the German halftrack is gibberish and not what was normal for what was on license plates in the Wehrmacht.

The side panel of the box shows box arts for four other kits that RPM makes.

The kit contains seven trees of parts packaged into three cello bags. There is also a fret of brass PE parts and the decal sheet. The single sheet instructions, that fold out into four pages, completes the kit contents.

Page one of the instructions begins with a black and white copy of the box art next to the vehicle's history in Polish only. This is followed by paint instruction drawings which call out Humbrol paint numbers. Next are the parts tree drawings. These will have to be refered to, constantly, when assembling the kit as there are no part numbers molded next to parts on the trees. Also, there are some parts shaded out in these parts tree drawings indicating that they are excess and not needed for assembly of this version.

Page two continues at the top with more parts tree drawings and the PE fret drawing. This is followed by the first six assembly steps.

Pages three and four give the balance of the assembly steps. There are 19 in all.

The cannon can be built alternately away from the vehicle on its own wheeled carriage if desired. Parts are in the kit for this.

The first large medium gray parts tree holds the vehicle's top, bottom and sides etc. (32 parts)

The two next gray trees hold link and length type tracks, road wheels, return rollers, leaf springs, drive sprockets, idler wheels etc. (48 parts per tree)

A cream colored tree holds fighting compartment walls, ammo bin parts etc. (18 parts)

A slightly larger cream colored tree holds the steering wheel, transmission, battery, seats, hatches, machine gun, fire extinguisher etc. (42 parts)

The final identical two chalk white parts trees hold the parts for the cannon's wheeled chassis, its shield, and numerous other small parts (59 parts per tree)

The brass PE fret holds ammo bin parts, air intake screens, and various other frame members etc. (33 parts)

Conclusion

The molding looks crisp with no flash in evidence. The kit looks like it will make up nicely. Although this will make up into a small vehicle, I doubt it will be a quick build project due to all the parts.

Recommended to those modelers who have a few other armor kits under their belts.

I bought this kit at a shop in New Jersey, while there on vacation.