COBI Mark V Male Set 2984

COBI's Mark V (Male) no. 9199 is a 1:35 model built from 837 blocks, 29 cm long, made with The Tank Museum at Bovington and based on the museum's own running vehicle. The tracks work, the sponson guns rotate and the hatches open. A figure of a tank commander is included, plus a plate with the set name and the museum's logo. Prints only, no stickers.

What it was like inside

The Mark V carried eight men in a steel box with an unsilenced 150 hp engine standing in the middle of it, unshielded and uncooled.

There was no crew compartment separate from the machinery. Exhaust fumes and carbon monoxide collected inside because there was nowhere for them to go, and temperatures of 50 degrees were normal. Men passed out routinely, and crews were sometimes pulled from a tank unconscious after an action that had lasted an hour.

There was no suspension of any kind — the hull sat directly on the track rollers — so every irregularity in the ground came straight through. Speech was impossible over the engine, so orders were given by hand signal, by hitting the hull with a spanner, or by kicking the man you needed.

And the interior was covered in exposed hot metal. A tank that lurched threw its crew against the engine, and burns were among the most common injuries.

Bullet splash was the other hazard: rounds striking the outside drove slivers of metal through the joints in the armour, which is why crews wore chainmail face masks. Men volunteered for this.

The vehicle

Built in 1918 with two 6-pounder guns and five machine guns, 7.4 km/h, 65 km range. Male means cannon-armed; the female version carried machine guns only. Mark Vs fought at Amiens and on the Hindenburg Line, and 9199 has a documented combat history and still runs at Bovington.

In the COBI range

Set 2995 is COBI's other Mark V no. 9199, with 844 pieces. Set 2993 is the earlier Mark I, and 3094 and 2983 the German A7V.

Specifications

Pieces: 837 · Figures: 1 · Scale: 1:35 · With The Tank Museum · No stickers
Model length: 29 cm (11.4 in)