Takom Saint Chamond Early 1/35

Bonjour,


This time an old French guy. Le Char Saint Chamond.

This tank is well known to be a failure as it couldn't deal with the trenches without having its main gun stuck in the mud. Short tracks and a body that was way too long. It was produced as a commercial competitor with the General Estienne Schneider CA1. Well war is also a question of  greed and money!
When the tank could finally be used on flat lands it gave a quite good account of itself it seems, its powerful 75mm could easily deal with machine guns strong points or destroy enemies light fortifications. About 400 of the Saint Chamond tanks were produced in 3 types.
One of them is now in working order having been restored by the Musee des blindes de Saumur in France. It was originally exposed outside at the Aberdeen Proving Ground. Being the last of its type it is good that it could be sent back to France for complete restoration.
You will find a lot of information about this tank online both in French and English some having been used by the US troops.

Here a link on Youtube...we can hear the electric engines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji2Y4Fg_6js

The kit by Takom is nice but a bit complex to assemble especially the Tracks and suspension. Especially I had to force on the tracks so that they could fit on the sprockets.It was a bit troublesome.
The rest is traight forward though and gives a nice model...It is huge indeed and really looks like a box on tracks...But it was the case with most tanks of the time, right?

I added a metal barrel and created the rear tools rack and tools that you could see on most vehicles.  Since it was a field add-on several types existed.. Also I added the big light that was located on the top of the front of the tank.
On many pictures one can see the tanks covered with a big amount of equipment used by the troops who found it convenient to use the colossus as a truck...

I reproduced the most difficult camouflage made of brushed stripes of various colors that were supposed to hide the shape of the tank and especially the vision slots. It took me days to finalize it but I am quite happy with the result.

Now to the pictures!

And in colors

Austin 10 hp ANZAC North Africa 1941

Hi Everyone...


This time a car of the British army that saw many fronts and served in a wide variety of roles.

Tamiya proved again how its productions are really good. Easy to build with nice details, it can be built straightforward and give a good copy of the original vehicle. Aftermarkets or self modifications can update the model though.


I ordered a set by Legend Production and added a few items from my spare box. The resin tarpaulin didn't fit and I had to work on it by modifying the front of it with green putty and a part of the Tamiya tarpaulin.
I added two chains on the rear and two small lenses for extra details. Also I added some details on the inside of the doors. I kept the exra-details at a reasonable level.

The vehicle is represented abandoned with some New-Zealand markings but I must confess I have no pictures of such vehicle. To me this is possible though. Hope it is convincing . Decals are by Bison.
One thing that should be said is that it seems that many vehicles in military service had different tyres at least at the rear. I didn't spend money on those but they are produced by Hussar Productions for those who would be interested.

I really enjoyed that building. It is a very nice little car and thanks to Tamiya anyone can build it!

Carro Medio M 13/40 italeri/zvezda

Buongiorno a tutti!

Today on the bench...a famous Italian tank...Il carro medio M13/40!

 It was in its conception a very classical design. The original design is the famous Vickers tanks series that saw service almost all around the round and were the inspiration for many countries that wanted to conceive a relatively reliable tank at a low cost.

At the outbreak of the war equivalent tanks were Polish 7tp, Czech ltvz35, Soviet T26 and italy's M11/39. It was probably nor worse neither better than those tanks. And even though the concept was by then a bit outdated it is surely their use on the battlefield that led to the catastrophe rather than the quality of the tanks themselves! It is easier to accuse the tools than the hands that hold them....see what I mean?

The kit is an old one, dated back from the seventies. It is not a bad kit, the assembly is quite straightforward. Size and shape look ok. Italeri should give us new tracks!!! The one offered in the kit are desperately ugly...  The model represents a M14/41, an improved version for use in the desert so I used a model Victoria set, and friul tracks to make a real M13/40. The glacis sandbags are by panzart!

On duty! Overall sand the tank protected itself the best it could! Sand bags and some spare tracks...

CV 3/33 Hungary Mini Art Studio

Jo napot!

this is the expression to say good day in Hungarian...Which is a smart way to introduce today's subject. A CV 3/33 in Hungarian Police service!

I don't know how and where you purchase your models. Local stores cannot compete the online stores anymore it seems. Ebay can be a provider even though I generally find the prices too high. BUT...It is still a good provider for rare kits and old time ones...
I have some interest for the Italian tanks and armored cars, most of plastic kits are produced by Italeri from Italy...But Bronco has also a nice choice of CV and a wonderful FIAT Topolino! The rest of the market are resins (Brach and Model Victoria have an awesome collection!).
No-one would have imagined to see those models in plastic at a time where Tigers and Sherman dominated a market led by two famous brands!!! Long time ago ....the only way to find models a bit more exotic was to purchase expensive resins of a very doubtful quality sometimes. From time to time you can see them on Ebay , prices can vary from really cheap to expensive. I had this wonder for almost nothing, I wanted to see how much it would reach and won the bids...which was not really my expectation.

At first I thought I would give it to a friend; I don't like resin kits and the quality of this ancestor was not the best. At its time maybe? I noticed that the resin became very fragile, dry. I tried to soften the tracks using the hot water method but it didn't work and the tracks broke easily into small pieces!
I wanted to make the Italian version for my Desert war collection but the parts for this version were not usable.
I decided then to build the Hungarian version. And finally I am very happy with my choice. Nowadays Hungarians tanks and AC are available in plastic and this kit will perhaps be the first one of a collection.

I improved the model and made it Hungarian. The white parts on the pictures will show you the accomplished job. I also bought Hungarian national markings. I had to hide the ugly tracks with mud. I am finally pleased with the result....

The updates...

the camouflage green overall with light sand and brown spots...

Rolls Royce 1920 Pattern w Sand Tyres Roden

Hi,

tonight a very interesting vehicle. A British vehicle that saw service during two wars, having almost 30 years of use in the Army, from the muddy flat lands of Northern France to the burning sands of Africa! Making the war driving a Rolls Royce, wow so chic! If it was not the terrible war...

This version produced by Roden is the 1920 version used in North Africa. It had large Sand Tyres, and an open turret with a Boy A/T gun, a machine gun and an AA machine gun on the roof of the turret.

It is not my intention to write the story of this well known vehicle , to the model! As always you will easily find information on internet. You also have interesting videos on YouTube.

About the kit!

It is a model that is not so bad, but some details are on the heavy side. There is a nice engine included but it's totally hidden, the visible dash board should have been more detailed! I was lucky enough to purchase the model at a model show in Belgium with a Black Dog set included for the price of the kit alone! It is a very nice addition to this simplistic kit! I would recommend it. I was also very lucky to have resin parts from a friend to improve the details and replace some parts from the kit by more delicate ones. (see pictures, grey parts).

The most time consuming was the sanding of the following parts 2d, 18d, 15a, 21 a, 14 a, 24a/25a, 13a, 32a, 16a, 12a. I used heavy duty sanding paper. If you don't sand the parts they will be far too thick! They would give the car the look of an armored car armored like a super heavy tank. Furthermore it will make the assembly of the model easier.

The part 1J has to be cut and sanded so that its edges come in contact with the sides of the turret. It is a very easy surgery!!! Also sanded the sides of the turret and added the lost rivets...You might want to add two reinforcement bars in front of the radiator, they have a shape of an X, but the bars meet on the low side of the X , not in the middle!!! See pictures and documents. I used Tamiya lenses cover for the main lenses and resicast lenses for the secondary lenses. The hooks are spare parts from Meng.

For the Caunter Scheme I used Tamiya acrylics and tape, the dust is from the weathering set from the same brand.

And finally...

in sepia...