Simon Ashford Alex Miniatures Tachanka


Tachanka is a generic term. It can refer to any carriage, mounting a machine gun. They were not mass produced but this model has features in common with many of the references I have found. Whilst they came into prominence during the Civil War, given that the Soviets persisted with horsed cavalry units through to the end of the Great Patriotic War I suspect that they may have been seen throughout this period. This kit comes in a surprisingly large and sturdy cardboard box. Open the box and you find a folded A4 sheet of instructions, then a small polythene bag containing a small fret of PE & a small sheet of decals.
Under this, there is a sheet of foam rubber across the box, under which there is another foam rubber sheet, but this has 8 small and 1 large rectangular holes cut into it, containing the smaller mouldings. These are the finest and most delicate resin mouldings I have ever encountered.
Beneath this layer is another full sheet resting on another sheet with 4 large and 4 smaller cavities containing the 4 horses, 3 crew and the body of the wagon, which again is of exceptional delicacy of moulding.
The horses are individually and excellently sculpted, at the gallop. I have offered up Zvezda soviet cavalry horses to the mouldings and although these are very slightly smaller I think they can be placed together if you so choose. The 3 crew are equally well sculpted and posed relevantly for their individual roles.

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I mentioned above a PE fret. This has 3 parts; a shield for the MG (there is a fine resin shield already!) and the 2 mudguards to be fitted to the wagon sides. These mudguards need to be formed into sweeping curves and I can only think of using sheets of heavy plastic sheeting to carve into formers for these brass components.
The instructions are principally drawings of the completed assembly, enumerated with part numbers relating to sprue charts also displayed. There is virtually no text, which is primarily in Cyrillic script. Study of these sheets has given me a plan of action. I am a little concerned about the harness arrangements, and will be referring to photographs culled from the internet. There are no painting directions but, again from photographic sources, I would suggest overall green drab with metallic parts, with wear and tear as seems sensible. There is no direction as to the placement of the decals, but my references give good suggestions.
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Conclusion : Overall, I believe that this kit can produce a superb model, but it will demand modelling skills of the highest order. Review sample bought by the author This model can be purchased from

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Article Last Updated: 18 December 2017