Tamiya Char B1 bis (2007)

[Bill Plunk]

Build log for Tamiya kit #35282 Char B1 bis French Battle Tank with Lion Marc replacement barrels and Echelon decal markings. Vehicle will be finished as "Marne" from the 37 BCC in 1940.

[Bill Plunk]

Today was one of those days where I just had to be building...you know, one of those days where the urge strikes and you are compelled to start up something new? Trouble with that is that it was also conference championship playoff Sundayin the NFL...so while watching the games, I began work on the Tamiya Char B1 bis kit as a way to fulfill the need to build while watching the games.

Beginning with Step 1, the "caterpillar" style of roadwheels is assembled by creating no less than 32 pairs of wheels, 16 to each side, and the cradle they rest on. Fortunately, Tamiya molded these with very small sprue connection points so cleanup was minimal...but it doesn't change the fact that there are indeed 32 of those suckers to deal with...at least they are steel and not rubber rimmed! The wheels are not glued into the cradle, only dry fit, and the instructions explicitly say not to glue them so they remain rotatable.



Step 2 calls for the installation of the wheels and their cradle into the lower hull. Since the wheels aren't glued down, this is a tricky exercise requiring an extra set of hands almost, particluarly since the fit is a tight one. I managed to drop several wheel pairs in the course of doing this, fortunately none went permanently missing. The detail plates for the front and rear are also installed in this step and fit nice and clean.



Step 3 is very simple involving the assembly of the sprocket and idler halves, each of which gets a polycap in the middle. The idlers had a slight seam in the middle that I sanded down out of habit more than anything else as it's highly doubtful it will be seen on the finished vehicle, but better safe than sorry I guess. Don't be tempted to remove the "sink marks" on the iders, they actually belong there and were intentionally molded.



Step 4 deals with the assembly of the 75mm gun and the housing/mount for the right side idler along with the left side idler mount as separate pieces. The Lion Marc set replaces the kit barrel assembly entirely, with a brass piece for the gun mount itself and a turned aluminum barrel complete with rifling. The brass piece identically matches the dimensions of the kit piece and incorporates the polycap onto the elevation arms, a perfect solution given the weight to allow the gun to remain positionable. The socket for the turned aluminum barrel needed a bit of attention with a needle file to get it to fit, but that was minor and little CA gel to secure it was all that was necessary.



Step 5 installes the front idler mounts on both sides into the lower hull plate along with the lower side skirts that cover/protect the roadwheels. The instructions say to paint the lower edges of the skirt in flat brown, I believe because these are actually rubberized canvas (or actually rubber) mud/dust covers, but not 100% sure.



Step 6 installs the inner rubber skirts along with the side access maintenance hatch panels on both sides. What's very ironic to me is that with both skirts installed, the wheels are hidden from view...and are still rotatable but for no real purpose I could see except that they do, in fact, turn.



Step 7 calls for all the holes in the upper hull, molded as a single large piece, to be opened up with a pin vise to allow the skid plates and other details to be installed. Curiously in this step, they do not tell you to open up the two rectangular panes to create the mud chutes, although the areas are clearly molded for removal. I drilled out a series of holes around their perimeter and then cut through with a sharp knife, then sanded the openings with a sanding stick to complete the job.



Step 8 calls for the mud chutes to be installed, be careful with these as they have to go in just right to align properly. They are conveniently labelled L and R to keep track of which side they go on, but you can still turn them around if not careful which side is top/bottom when you install. The rear fenders/mudguards are also installed into the upper hull along with the track skids, the left side radiator housing, the sprocket drive mounts, front lifting hooks, and two of the rear deck access panels among other small details.





Step 9 directs you to remove 6 rivets that are molded on the rear deck, which does require some care given their proximity to other molded on details, but are taken care of with a sharp knife point easily. The sprockets are installed onto their mounts from Step 10 using their polycaps and no glue. The upper and lower hull are then joined together and while the instructions suggest using tape, I found the fit to be snug and only a little bit of finger pressure required to get a good join.



Step 10 constructs the driver's hatch and periscope housing along with the two headlights, one standard, the other auxiliary. Since "Marne" has the auxillary, this required opening up a hole in the front hull plate which is installed in Step 11. No pic taken of this step due to its minor nature.

Step 11 installs the front hull/glacis plate, the driver's hatch, and periscope mount plate to round out the hull armor panels. The fit of the glacis plate wasn't 100% perfect, some liquid glue had to be employed where it joined the lower hull and on the side, but that's all...no putty work will be necessary. I also installed the main blackout headlight with the cover in the closed position, although the option exists to install it open with good detail on the light if you wanted to go that route. The front tow bars and hooks are also installed and fit snugly into their designated places. Last but not least, the 75mm gun mantlet is also installed. Since "Marne" didn't have the pigtail lifting hook, I didn't add that detail but I did drill out the bolt holes top and bottom that would be present for the weather cover for the gun housing with a small drill bit prior to installation. These holes aren't marked or called out for on the kit parts, so I had to check the references carefully. The box art is a close, but not perfect, match of how they should be placed.



To round out the day's activities, Step 12 was completed with the installation of the right side crew hatch, grab handle, and rain/mud shield. The kit parts include a nicely detailed insert for interior detail on this hatch but since no other interior is included in the cavernous space of the hull, I left it on the sprue and just installed the hatch in the closed position.



I have to say that so far this kit has been an absolute joy to build. Total time to get to this point was about 6 hours altogether and there are 9 more steps remaining.

[Bill Plunk]

Just a short update today. After getting some helpful advice and checking some reference photos on the Char Francais site about the cast/seams around the driver's hood and 75mm gun mount, I put the putty to work. Also drilled out the opening in the driver's periscope for the peep hole. The putty work is a little tricky due to all the rivet heads but with a little care, the areas were taken care of. Also removed the incorrect solid molded handles on the rear deck access panels and sanded those areas smooth.

[Bill Plunk]

I managed to find a pair of good candidates for the mud chute deflectors on an old Eduard PE fret. They were perfect right down to the curved/angled edge but were too long so had to be trimmed to fit with a pair of side cutters to be flush with the sponson edge. Also sanded down the edge/seam on the left side of the driver's hood as that too should be one piece and not have a join line at least until it meets the glacis plate.



Also did some more putty work on the front hull around the left side tow bracket since that's supposed to be one piece bolted onto the front hull. I wasn't 100% satisfied with the mantlet top hole alignment so I filled in one hole with putty and redrilled it to get it closer (not perfect) to where it needed to be. Also sanded down the missed seam lines on the tow hook swivels and discovered I'd overlooked a rather large sink mark on the underside of the right side tow bar.



I'm going to scrounge around and see if I have a left over x-shaped tightening wheel from either the DML or Tristar Flak 38 kits as the main headlight is supposed to have one of these on the back side of the latch for the blackout light cover.

[Bill Plunk]

Continuing on...

Step 14 calls for the installation of the 4 tow chain hooks on the rear hull along with the 2 tow pintles. The instructions include a close-up drawing showing the correct alignment of the hooks and the holes that the hooks go into are "keyed" in their shape to also aid in this. The hooks are two different sets with A24 going on the right side and A25 going on the left. It's important not to mix these up as the hooks are different sizes and designed to sit at different positions/angles relative to their size. The holes that take them are slightly oversized, at least on my hull, and required a little bit of putty to fill in. This step also directs you to install the two tool racks on the top rear hull deck in holes that were pre-drilled out back in Step 7. Before you can mount them, you need to remove 2 molded on rivets for each rack support that otherwise would interfere with their proper positioning. Each rack support has only a single locating hole so getting them lined up and straight took some fiddling to get both correct, but nothing earth shattering. The tow pintle areas also needed a little bit of putty help to get them to look correct due to the cut out holes being slightly larger than the insert arm, a similar problem as encountered on the front hull.



Step 15 gives you the option to install either the earlier vehicle style spaced mudguard fenders or the flush fenders. For "Marne" since it's a later vehicle the flush fenders are correct. I used an emory board to sand down the front and rear areas to a slightly thinner look vs. the molded bevel look, others might choose to replace these with brass, but the kit supplied items work just as well IMHO unless you want banged up or damaged fenders. A test fit showed that it's not necessary to have the tracks installed at the same time as the fenders since the tracks can be slipped into place and then secured later on, so I've left the tracks off for easier painting/detailing for now.

This step also installs the turret ring and the pot for the radio antenna along with the wire guard. The wire guard, part B21, is molded solid but on the actual vehicle it was an open bottom square arrangement, so I used the pin vise to drill out a starter hole and followed that up with a needle file to hollow out the front and rear. I didn't hollow out the middle portion of the body but I suppose that could be done as well if you're really determined to get that look.



I also modified the upper hull by shaving down the bolted on plate cover just behind the turret where the radio wire is supposed to enter the hull via an insulated cover. I scrounged around in the spares bin and found an old blackout light part that was just the right height and domed, cut off the support arm and used only the "lamp" part since it had the dome shape I was after, and drilled out a hole to accept the radio wire which I'll add in a later step. It's not a perfect match but it's close enough vs. trying to scratch or sculpt one on my own I guess. I will install the wire as a two piece arrangement using fine guage steel wire once the antenna is installed, one piece going from the insulator into the guard and another from the guard to the antenna base.

Back in Step 7 I'd forgotten to open up the holes for the base of the antenna pot, so I shaved off the locator pins and just glued it directly to the hull after mounting the wire guard and getting everything all lined up properly. A drain pipe of some sort is also installed, part B18, that leads from the engine compartment into the left fender to complete the step.

[Bill Plunk]

I made a lot of progress today, completing all the major construction almost by accident since I hadn't intended to get quite this far along.

Step 16 presents an option between two different types/styles of exhaust configuration. For "Marne" the correct type are the fish-tail straight exhausts with the longer protective shrouds, so I used parts A26 and A11 to construct mine. The exhausts have a fine seam line that was a little tricky to remove but no other difficulties were encountered.



Step 17 directs you to install the mufflers onto the rear deck, which is easily accomplished since there are locator holes in both fenders to insure a squared-up fit. The protective guard rail, B33 is also installed and this part requires some cleanup since all the posts/rail sections have a mold seam and the joints where the posts meet the top rail also have sink marks that need to be dealt with. Last but not least, the concertina antenna support is constructed from two part halves. This design produces a join seam that has to be trimmed/sanded down without damaging the ridges on the flexible housing, I cleaned mine up using the back edge of a #11 blade for the interior surfaces and a fine grit sanding twig for the ridges themselves. I also installed the antenna wire leading into and out of the protective guard housing. The wire is just that, steel wire, that I bent to shape and glued in place with CA. The tip where it meets up with the antenna base was filed down with a square needle file and the antenna base is dryfit for now and will be removed for separate painting later.

I also didn't realize until writing this up that I neglected to install part B6 over the access door on the rear engine deck, fortunately it's not too late to still do that!



Edit: Missing part B6 now installed:



Step 18 deals with the pioneer tools and the tow chain. The pioneer tools consist of a crowbar, sledgehammer, pick, and shovel that install together as a package of tools. The crowbar and pick are on the bottom with the sledge and shovel on top. The fit is very complex and I gave up trying to dryfit it, everything looks like it ought to fit properly so I'm not too worried about it and will install them later after painting is done.

I installed the rear hull tow swivels and did as the instructions directed by cutting the hook portion on each to accept the chain later on when that gets installed.



Step 19 begins the work on the turret by way of constructing the 47mm gun and mount along with the commander's cupola. The Lion Marc barrel requres that the one-piece Tamiya gun part A12 be trimmed down to the two mounting pins and a hole drilled out to accept the aluminum barrel. Tamiya provides 2 barrels since it's an A-sprue part, so I wasn't too worried about doing this surgery and not having a "plan B" if needed. It wasn't needed and the gun installed fairly easily, the barrel end did require a little bit of clean-up with a needle file but nothing serious.



The commander's cupola is a two-part affair, which means that the join seam that goes right across the top in the middle needs attention. I used some liquid glue to get as tight a join as possible and then came along behind that and sanded the join down. I also chose to position the armored visor cover in the open position although the darn thing kept wanting to slip down into a semi-closed position until it set up...so I had to keep the handling to a minimum.



Step 20 constructs the turret and also presents the option to have the large rear hatch open or closed. There's zero interior provided so since I wasn't planning on doing the included figure, I chose the closed hatch option. While the instructions seem to indicate that you should install the hatch part C4 before you join the turret top to the bottom, I decided to join the turret halves first and then install the hatch later. The two parts have a good fit but this join also requires some sanding to get it to look even. The Char Francais site indicates that there's a weld seam or a casting line around the base of the turret, however when I checked the photos on "Marne", I didn't see any evidence of this so kept the look smooth. The 47mm and coaxial machine gun mantlets were also installed as separate pieces and took a little bit of fiddling with to get them to sit properly since the gun mount has some play in its installation due to it being elevatable with the polycap mount from the previous step.



The final step is Step 21, it calls for the installation of the turret and the two smoke candles that are to go on either side on the fenders. The candles needed some cleanup due to the fact that their curved end faces are not molded flat, so a large seam/shift line is evident and needs to be taken care of.



That's it for major construction, it's now ready (once I install that part from the step I missed!) for painting

[Bill Plunk]

Had the chance to put in quite a bit of time today with the AB. Efforts started off by putting down a primer coat of Italian Dark Brown. I didn't go with the usual Flat Black primer coat this time around because I 1) don't know what kind of primer color the French used and 2) didn't want the stark shadows that a Flat Black would produce for the two-tone camo. The Italian Dark Brown seemed like a good compromise, it was dark enough to insure none of the light-tan Tamiya plastic got overlooked and would provide some decent shadow/contrast for the camo so I ran with it. Just as I was finishing up, I managed to get a drop of thinner on the rear deck which produced a nice perfect round spot on the engine deck hatch. Thankfully, it was only the one drop and not a flood as it could've been!



One of the chief advantages of a primer coat, besides providing a surface for painting, is the opportunity it provides for checking seams and sanded areas to see if they really are as smooth as they looked before painting. This time around I found two areas that needed more attention. The first was the driver's hood, the putty and sanding that I'd done earlier wasn't quite even, so I stripped off the paint and sanded it back down again. I used a q-tip dampened with thinner to remove the paint vs. scraping it away so I had a nice large area to work with and not have to worry about fouling the sanding stick with paint in the process.



The second area that needed attention was the join on the turret on the right side. An ever so small step had been left behind and the paint showed it up crystal clear, so it too was stripped and sanded down.



Once those areas were taken care of, I laid down the first color of the 2-tone scheme. I chose MM's Khaki since they have it listed as the French armor "green" and applied it with the general purpose nozzle on my Aztek at about 20 psi. I used it to sketch out the pattern instead of an overall coat, using the finishing guide supplied with the Echelon decals as a template. I figured this would give me more freedom with the second coat in terms of visualizing the overall pattern and also conserve some paint in the process.



For the second color, I mixed up some Dunkelgelb with Light Gray in about an 80-20 ratio more or less in a spare mixing bottle. I wanted a lighter shade vs. the standard dunkelgelb and was trying for more of a "stone" color with the combination.



This was applied with the same nozzle and psi as the Khaki and the rest of the pattern was filled in and adjusted. I did have to go back a couple of times with both colors to correct for overspray and fine tune things a bit, but all of it was done freehand and after a couple of hours, the pattern was completed to my liking.



I'll let this set up overnight and work on the tracks and tools to round it out in terms of base finish tomorrow most likely.

[Bill Plunk]

Made some progress today on the details in order to get everything squared away for the Future coat and decals.

First up were the rubber mud flaps/skirts on the bottom of the hull sponsons. These were hand painted using Model Master enamel Gunmetal as a base color prior to the final weathering. I like to use it instead of Flat Black for these types of things because it's got more of a bluish-gray look similar to synthetic rubber vs. the straight black color.



Next up was the antenna bellows and mast. I checked the references on "Marne" and it had one fitted, although not all pics of Chars show the mast in place even though the bellows are fitted. According to the Char Francais site, the bellows were leather and unpainted, so I painted it in a 50-50 mix of Leather and Military Brown and allowed some of the underlying tan styrene color to show through to provide some variation and the look of exposed/worn leather. I removed the molded on mast with sprue cutters and drilled out a hole in the top to take some brass rod which I lightly sanded, glued in place with CA gel, then painted with MM Metalizer Gunmetal.



Last but not least for the day's efforts, I dealt with the pioneer tools and painted the metal surfaces with metalizer Gunmetal followed by some lightly drybrushed Steel. The wood handles were painted with my own special mix of "wood" color and then lightly brushed with Burnt Umber pastels after they'd been glued in place to give it the varnished look. I also detailed the exhausts, painting them first with metalizer Gunmetal and following that up with a light wash of Rust and some drybrushing of Burnt Umber.



Tomorrow morning I'll give it the first coat of Future and start in on the numerous decal markings required for this vehicle.

[Bill Plunk]

Today's efforts began with the final touches needed before applying the Future coat. I painted the inside of the auxiliary headlamp on the front hull with Silver and scrounged around in the spares bin and found a clear lens originally intended for a Pzkpw I that fit perfectly, the lens will be fitted later after all the weathering is completed. I also "pre-weathered" the drive sprockets and mud scrapers by drybrushing some Steel followed by drybrushed Burnt Umber in selected areas and around the drive teeth. Once that was taken care of, the Future was applied and allowed to set up for a couple of hours before starting work with the markings.

The Echelon set contains markings for several vehicles, including some "extras/miscellaneous" markings which are there I assume to allow for other additional vehicles to be modelled, including "Fatasque" although no finishing guide is provided for it. I cut out the markings for "Marne" and was very pleased with the design of the decals. The larger decals did not have solid centers but instead had connecting carrier film only where absolutely necessary. This made some of them a little more delicate than others, but they all came off the sheet cleanly and applied very easily. Each decal was given a light coat of Solvaset, especially those for the turret and the hull sides where they passed over rivets or raised details, and they settled down nice and tight without any problems. They will be allowed to dry overnight and will be given another sealing coat of Future before the weathering process begins in earnest.

[Bill Plunk]

I applied the sealing coat of Future to the decals and put it off to the side. While that's curing up, attention turned to the tracks and getting them ready to go.

Yesterday I'd applied a basecoat of MM Non-buffing Metalizer Gunmetal using the AB since there's so many nooks and crannies, I wanted to get a good coverage of all the surfaces.



Throughout this process I did one track run and kept the other in the condition of the previous step so I could better demonstrate how the look changed from one step to the next. The first step involved drybrushing Steel with a 0 round brush to create a metallic foundation along with the Gunmental. The metalizer provides some nice "tooth" in its finish for drybrushing and it doesn't take much to achieve the desired look.



A little closer examination:



The next step involved applying a 90/10 thinner/paint wash of Rust with a size 1 round sable brush. The purpose of the wash is two-fold...it blends in the drybrushed Steel and also provides the first stage of oxidized metal. If applied carefully, it will allow some of the Steel to still show through but not as stark as in the drybrushed step.



The Rust wash is allowed to air dry, which doesn't take that long to accomplish, but in the process the Rust wash in combination with the metalizer undercoat takes on a truer rust looking appearance vs. just the straight paint. Once confident that it's fully dried, I used the same 0 round brush as before to drybrush Burnt Umber over the Rust to deepen the color and look.





Last step involves going back over the raised surfaces very lightly with an old worn out 20/0 detail brush and drybrush Steel to restore the worn look to those surfaces only.



A test fit on the vehicle was in order to see how they looked. The Rust still shows up more prominent at this stage than I'd like, so I'll probably give some spot attention with some black artist pastels to the too-bright areas. Also, since the final weathering with MIG pigments hasn't happened yet this isn't the true final look, but it's progressing the way I'd like so far.