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Armor/AFV: Allied - WWII
Armor and ground forces of the Allied forces during World War II.
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French WW II tanks
Lada_Niva
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Drenthe, Netherlands
Joined: October 06, 2019
KitMaker: 177 posts
Armorama: 97 posts
Posted: Wednesday, September 02, 2020 - 08:26 PM UTC

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The Hobby Boss R35 and the Bronco H39 kits are decent builds. Not Tamiya level but then who is? Tamiya does have the R35 out now and though I haven't built it I have no doubt that it is an excellent kit.



I have checked out a review of the Hobby Boss R35 I believe, and I wasn't so impressed by it and wasn't going to buy it. To many issues they described that I'm thinking are to hard for me to adress.

Regarding the Tamiya R35, I have checked their instruction sheet through scalemates.com and there were some colors that I didn't have that I would have to purchase specifically for that project. And I'm wanting to use the paint for the project that I already have, since there aren't that much interesting French WW II tanks to model anymore with perhaps a more decent quality.

And I don't know much about other camouflage schemes that I can use on the tank with paints that I already have.
That being said, I'm remembering now that I could have a look at scalemates.com for an aftermarket set or so to do this. Will check this out.

Last but not least, I was taking a short look at the images of R35s at World War Photo's for camouflage schemes and colours. But, or the camouflage schemes weren't visible at all or aren't that clear. Or I can't tell what colors they all are, since I don't have any experience with using reference pictures for things like this.



https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/france/Renault_R-35.php has several of Danjou's color profiles from Mintracks and GBM (Guerre Blindes et Materiel) magazine which are basically the gold standard for French WW2 camouflage schemes. For all intents and purposes, GBM especially is the journal of WW2 French armored combat and vehicles. If you really want to take a deep dive into the matter, there is an excellent reference work that I can't recommend highly enough. https://armorama.kitmaker.net/review/9120



Thank you for sharing these links with me.
First question is, do I really need to buy that book and other books on French WW II armour directly from them?
Because I can't find the book on bol.com or amazon.de/nl.
Also, none of their sites is secured as my browser is indicating.
The second question is, how do I know from the images on Tanksencyclopedia what colors I do need to paint the model in the correct way and colors?
Kevlar06
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Washington, United States
Joined: March 15, 2009
KitMaker: 3,670 posts
Armorama: 2,052 posts
Posted: Thursday, September 03, 2020 - 05:50 AM UTC

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This is one of my Meng FT-17s. They are a fun build.
http://www.gregharker.com/wpimages/4.jpg



You did a great job on building that tank, but for me, it isn't to interesting. Because, I'm building WW II tanks and not WW I. And the FT is a WW I tank.




The French still had seven front line Battalions equipped with the FT-17 in 1940, for a total of 63 tanks (according to Wikipedia). The Germans captured and used many of them, right up to 1944. I believe there are markings included for WWII use in the Meng kit.
VR, Russ
ninjrk
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Alabama, United States
Joined: January 26, 2006
KitMaker: 1,381 posts
Armorama: 1,347 posts
Posted: Thursday, September 03, 2020 - 06:22 AM UTC

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Thank you for sharing these links with me.
First question is, do I really need to buy that book and other books on French WW II armour directly from them?
Because I can't find the book on bol.com or amazon.de/nl.
Also, none of their sites is secured as my browser is indicating.
The second question is, how do I know from the images on Tanksencyclopedia what colors I do need to paint the model in the correct way and colors?



Hello, I think you might have to order from Trackstory unless you can find it on eBay. Amazon.fr has it but for 120 Euros versus 40!

As to colors, they do have the color chip page as a preview up at http://trackstory.fr/140-thickbox_default/httpwwwminitracksfrcamouflagehtm.jpg and Hataka has a paint set that appears in my hands fairly close to their color chips https://www.zinnfigur.com/en/Paints-Tools/Paints/Hataka-Hobby/Paint-Sets/Early-WW2-French-Army-Paint-Set.html GBM has an issue with a greta article on the R35 in service but the color profiles are only from one side.

Depending on how much money you want to spend, French WW2's get expensive for references. If it's in your budget, Histoire et Collections has two books, one on the Char 2B and one of the Char D2 that are excellent. They have huge amounts of period photos that are very helpful to me to understand hoe the camouflage schemes wrapped around the tank. The D2 book is probably more useful that the Char B for the R35 in similar camouflage schemes. Which were also fairly manufacturer dependent just to make it more complicated! https://www.amazon.com/Chars-Combat-Elephants-Lencyclopedie-Francaise/dp/2352504457
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