King Tiger with Porsche Turret	Meng "World War Toons"
by James McCowen

Summary

Introduction

"World War Toons" is a cartoon-like video game that features short, stubby versions of well-known WWII armored vehicles. Meng produces a line of kits that captures the toon-like nature of these vehicles while providing the builder with a lot of very nice details in an easy-to assemble model.

Construction Notes

Parts were removed with Xuron sprue cutters and prepped with an X-Acto knife and sanding sticks. The kit is a snap-tight that goes together very well without any modifications. Tamiya Thin cement was used to close a few seems and ensure some of the smaller details wouldn’t come off with handling.

Of note, test fitting of the upper and lower hulls results in a very tight fit; so tight they can’t easily be separated. To get around this I removed about halve the length of the mounting pins allowing me to pull the hulls apart after painting. This facilitates mounting the tracks, which is difficult with the hulls assembled.

Color and Markings

The model was sprayed with Tamiya TS-2 as a primer/base-coat followed by Models Mission Models Panzergrey. The fat red-brown strips on the upper hull and road wheels were sprayed free-hand with Mission Models Rotbraun.

Next it was time for the fun part: the light tan borders. These were shot with Mission Models Dunkelgelb “Late 1944”. The finish was then sealed with Humbrol acrylic semi-gloss straight from a spray can

Decals, “Chipping,” and Final Finish

I sprayed a Humbrol Gloss only on those areas that would receive decals. After a little warm water the decals settled down perfectly and were a pleasure to work with. The only problem is that they are horribly out of register. The black and white of the crosses is particularly off.

To simulate the base color showing thru the camouflage, I ripped the corner from a sponge producing a small, frayed end that was dipped in Mission Panzergrey and used to make “chips” with a light dabbing motion.

After that was dry, the decals were sealed with a light coat of Humbrol Acrylic Semi-Gloss Spray. This gives an excellent base for filters in this case AK Interactive Dark Brown/Green (for NATO; AK-076).

When the filters were dry, the finish was sealed with Humbrol Acrylic Gloss. Tamiya Black Panel Liner (Item-87131) was applied with a small brush. When this was dry, excess was removed with White Spirits (Mona Lisa). 

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Thumbnail panels:

For the final flat coat I used god ole’ Testors Dullcote (1260) which gives a nice flat finish. As a final touch I dry-brushed AK True Metal Steel Oil Paint (AK-457) over the raised areas particularly the road wheels.

All the tools and such received a coat of Vallejo Model Color Gun Metal followed AK Interactive Light and Dark Rust washes. A final light dry brushing with AK Steel Color, especially on the tracks and this King Tiger was done.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a quick build on which to try some new weathering tricks, you couldn’t ask for a better kit than the Meng World War Toons King Tiger. All of the kits in this line snap together quickly so you can get to the painting fast. Best of all being a “Toon” kit no one can really argue about having the “correct” paint scheme. Some times you just got to step back and build something just for the fun of it!

James McCowen

For more on this review visit Modelpaintsolutions.com.

Text and images copyright © 2018 by John Miller/Model Paint Solutions.

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