Tamiya Char B1 bis COMPLETED 03-04-07

Ron,

The painting guide with the Echelon decals indicates the Khaki/Sand two-tone scheme, so that's the one I'll run with. "Marne" has a similar scheme to "Bourrasque" although it's a later run variant with different features (different fenders, exhausts, etc.). Since you've got yours in the final stages, that means it will be finished by the end of the day, right?

Tigerman,

Lately I've been trying to keep busy and keep the stash under 100 kits...been successful so far, but it's been tough...have set myself the goal of only adding kits when one gets built, it's been helping from a psychology standpoint...but have to be careful not to produce a backlog at the paint/finish stages. Glad you like the walkthroughs, I have a fun time writing them up...and have managed to catch several things by taking the progress shots that ordinarily I might have missed...the camera doesn't lie after all.

Gt,

When I saw that first step, I had to take a very deep breath, but fortunately it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be.

Treadwell,

Ron's got me beat by a long shot...he's already got 3 done and posted while I have only 1...at that rate I'll never catch him! The Char is a tank that I've "fought" in online way back when...a slow lumbering beast that packed quite a punch, and when Tamiya announced this kit, I didn't pick it up at first because of the price but found a good sale eventually and snagged one. I've also discovered through talking with Roy and looking more closely at the reference photos that there are a couple of areas on the front hull, the curved area for the driver's hood and the area where the mantlet meets the bolt plates, that will require some putty work to correct, so will take care of that before proceeding onto the next steps, other than that the fit/engineering has been top notch.

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. There are photos that show an angled piece in front of the mud chutes, have to see if I can scratch something together out of scrap PE to do the job there too.

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.

A minor update today in the form of completing Step 13, which deals with the tracks. The instructions call for 61 of the individual links to be snapped together to form each track side. Each link required just a little bit of clean-up on the small nub left behind on each plate face, easily done with a sharp #11 and a little care not to gouge the surface. The links snap together very smoothly and are the rivetted design. Test fits show that they will have to stretch just a bit to be connected up, but after about 20 minutes of clean-up and assembly per track side, two fully workable tracks are ready to roll. My hat's off to the design team that came up with these, probably the easisest set of indy link tracks available in a kit today. About 5 links are left over as "extras" as provided, not sure what they could be used for, but always better to have a couple of spares around I guess!

tigerman wrote:

Why can't all indies be that easy. Would make the timid less so, including myself.

I agree! Although I think the Char track types lend themselves easily to this type of approach, others have done the same thing with resin type indy links for other vehicles, so it's not out of reach to use this method IMHO. Not sure about the design technology limitations for more conventional track types, but these went together like a dream, quick and painless.

Buff, Fingers, thanks as always for the comments.

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.

treadwell wrote:

heya bill-- the char is comming along nicely!!-- it is a very intriging and unusual lookin vehichle--it is, to me, like the missing link between wwI and wwII--pretty dam cool--you know I always enjoy your builds!!--- have a great time in the 'land down under' and throw another shrimp on the barbie for me!!-- tread

Funny thing about travelling to Australia...you lose a day going out because of the dateline but when you fly back you actually arrive in the States before you left! I was careful with this trip though, timed my flights to LAX to allow for enough time to be able to watch the Super Bowl before I catch the flight to Sydney. 14 hours in coach...yahoo!

I agree with you on the Char...it's got the classic "between the wars" look and feel about it. Spent endless hours driving one up and down the hills of northern France in an online game (Ron knows what I'm talking about) so kind of have a love/hate relationship towards it.

Ron,

Since they were infantry support tanks, they had speed governors to make sure that they didn't surpass their bretheren on foot...which makes for a verrrrrrrry slooooooow drive at times!

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!

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.

A whole week without Bill What the am I gonna read for the next seven days? Oh, well, s'pose I'll have to work on my own model!

Safe travels, Bill.

Steve 

Anthony, thanks for the comments!

GT, so many possibilities with this one from a weathering perspective, I'm looking forward to it!

Steve,

Thanks, going to be hard knowing that I won't be able to do any work until I return on Thurs/Fri.

As a quick side note, here's the correction from back in Step 17.

wbill76 wrote:

Thanks, going to be hard knowing that I won't be able to do any work until I return on Thurs/Fri.

When my wife suggests a trip, vacation or even a long weekend to the coast, my brain starts calculating time missed at the bench. She knows it, I know it. The blank expression on my face reads like 72 point print. Am I wrong for this?

Steve 

SteveM wrote:

wbill76 wrote: Thanks, going to be hard knowing that I won't be able to do any work until I return on Thurs/Fri. When my wife suggests a trip, vacation or even a long weekend to the coast, my brain starts calculating time missed at the bench. She knows it, I know it. The blank expression on my face reads like 72 point print. Am I wrong for this? Steve

Not a chance.  Just try convincing her of that.

Steve,

I agree 100% with buff.

Fingers,

Thanks as always! Mind's already working through the paint/finish/weathering approaches.

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.