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Armor/AFV: Allied - WWII
Armor and ground forces of the Allied forces during World War II.
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FEATURE
French Heavy-weight Char B1
wbill76
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Texas, United States
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Posted: Saturday, March 10, 2007 - 10:00 AM UTC
Step by Step build and finishing Feature of Tamiya''s 1/35 French Battle Tank Char B1 bis combined with Echelon 37 eme BCC decals for "Marne" and Lionmarc replacement aluminum and brass barrels.




French Heavy-weight Char B1 bis

If you have comments or questions, please post them here.

Thanks!
staff_Jim
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KITMAKER NETWORK
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Posted: Saturday, March 10, 2007 - 11:14 AM UTC
Bill,
An excellent article and also your first addition as an editor. Your right of passage is complete!

Keep up the good work.

Thanks,
Jim
james84
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Roma, Italy
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Posted: Saturday, March 10, 2007 - 02:31 PM UTC
Fantastic!
jimbrae
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Provincia de Lugo, Spain / Espaņa
Joined: April 23, 2003
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Posted: Saturday, March 10, 2007 - 03:36 PM UTC
Absolutely invaluable - thanks for posting that Bill..
wbill76
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Posted: Saturday, March 10, 2007 - 08:52 PM UTC
Thanks jim, Jim R, and giacomo, much appreciated!
Plasticbattle
#003
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Donegal, Ireland
Joined: May 14, 2002
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Posted: Sunday, March 11, 2007 - 03:57 AM UTC
Hi Bill. Great article, build, explanation and finished model. (Hopefully your new job allows you some time over, to complete more of these articles! ). They really are invaluable and enjoyable reading. Your hard work is really appreciated!!
exer
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Dublin, Ireland
Joined: November 27, 2004
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Posted: Sunday, March 11, 2007 - 04:08 AM UTC
Thanks Bill, I've been putting off buying this kit but you've made up my mind for me with this article, I'm buying it.
wbill76
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Posted: Sunday, March 11, 2007 - 09:21 AM UTC
Frank,

Thanks as always, I'm sure the AE duties will cut in somewhat but I'll still be able to find time to keep things moving along, just perhaps not at the same pace as previously.

Pat,

It's a smooth build with just some minor tweaks here and there depending on how concerned you are about total accuracy but a thoroughly enjoyable kit IMHO either way.
SGTJKJ
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Kobenhavn, Denmark
Joined: July 20, 2006
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Posted: Sunday, March 11, 2007 - 03:46 PM UTC
Great article. Good tips on painting the tracks.

Thanks for the time and effort put into this review.
trahe
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Virginia, United States
Joined: April 03, 2006
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Posted: Sunday, March 11, 2007 - 04:05 PM UTC
Bill,

Thanks for the article. I will definitely reference it when building my Char.
wbill76
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Posted: Monday, March 12, 2007 - 01:00 AM UTC
Jesper, Thomas, thanks for the comments.
biffa
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Tennessee, United States
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Posted: Monday, March 12, 2007 - 03:42 AM UTC
Great build and article Bill, i enjoyed following this one.
gbkirsch
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Ohio, United States
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Posted: Monday, March 12, 2007 - 07:09 PM UTC
Very cool. Thanks...

JimF
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Texas, United States
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Posted: Monday, March 12, 2007 - 07:48 PM UTC
After reading (and enjoying greatly) your build article, my only regret is that I have already built mine...although it was a very quick and fun build, I'm sure it would have been much better had I been able to read your article first.
jvazquez
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New Jersey, United States
Joined: September 26, 2006
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Posted: Monday, March 12, 2007 - 09:53 PM UTC
Bill VERY nice build! You did this baby justice!

One question, I'm interested in how you made your rusty track wash? What did you use and what was the ratio? I reallyn like the way it came out.
Thanks

Jim
wbill76
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Posted: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 - 07:58 AM UTC
Ron, Gary, Jim, thanks for the comments!



Quoted Text

Bill VERY nice build! You did this baby justice!

One question, I'm interested in how you made your rusty track wash? What did you use and what was the ratio? I reallyn like the way it came out.
Thanks

Jim



My rusty wash is simple, 90% thinner, 10% paint more or less. Here's what it looks like when it's "settled" to give you an idea of the ratio. The thinner is cloudy because it picks up some of the Metalizer over time and that just adds a bit of "character" to it I guess. :-)

sportsguy64
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Massachusetts, United States
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Posted: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 04:04 AM UTC
Nice Bill...very nice - article and build...

Let me know what you think about mine!
M18Hellcat
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Michigan, United States
Joined: December 31, 2005
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Posted: Friday, March 16, 2007 - 04:50 PM UTC
Outstanding article and beautiful paint job! One comment if I may... The jacks on the fenders should be secured with some type of retaining tie downs. They wouldn't just sit on the fenders. Also, I have never seen 4 of them mounted on one tank. The kit came with 4 simply because Tamiya included two identical sprues in the kit. More than 2 is redundant. They were used to jack up one side of the tank at a time. Don't know of any way they could raise the whole tank off the ground without a crane. My jack comments aside, best build article I've seen in a long time. I enjoyed it.
wbill76
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Posted: Friday, March 16, 2007 - 10:04 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Outstanding article and beautiful paint job! One comment if I may... The jacks on the fenders should be secured with some type of retaining tie downs. They wouldn't just sit on the fenders. Also, I have never seen 4 of them mounted on one tank. The kit came with 4 simply because Tamiya included two identical sprues in the kit. More than 2 is redundant. They were used to jack up one side of the tank at a time. Don't know of any way they could raise the whole tank off the ground without a crane. My jack comments aside, best build article I've seen in a long time. I enjoyed it.



Bob,

Thanks for the comments, what you are saying makes sense in regards to the jack stands. The Tamiya instructions direct for all 4 to be installed and not knowing any better at the time, I followed along and installed them. In checking various reference photos since building this one, it's difficult to determine if there was in fact any sort of standard placement for them in relation to the fenders or the rear deck...or if they were installed externally at all depending on the different vehicles and the available reference photos.
TacFireGuru
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Colorado, United States
Joined: December 25, 2004
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Posted: Friday, March 16, 2007 - 10:49 PM UTC
Bill,

Awsome SBS Sir....already book marked for my Char. I too have the LM set of barrels on the way. I'm either going to do a similar paint scheme, or once I get the hang of my DA airbrush, may do one of the "tree" patterns...not sure yet. Regardless, your article is killer and will be of great assistance.

Many thanks (and congrats on your new [heheheh] position!!).

Mike
wbill76
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Posted: Saturday, March 17, 2007 - 05:42 AM UTC
Thanks Mike! The different units and timeframes offer up a wide range of possibilities when it comes to the Char paint schemes. The tree patterns being one of the more intriguing to be sure! Look forward to seeing what you do with yours.
M18Hellcat
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Michigan, United States
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Posted: Saturday, March 17, 2007 - 07:19 AM UTC
Hi Bill,
I've seen photos with the jacks stowed on either the right or left fender so I don't think anybody could say one side is right and the other wrong. Most of the photos I've seen don't show them at all. I suppose it's possible they were stowed inside the vehicle although I wonder if perhaps because of their size whether many Chars didn't carry them at all and depended upon a support unit to provide the necessary lift when required. After all, how often would a crew in a combat zone be able to take the time to deploy to jacks and tilt the tank to one side? My guess is that maintenance units ultimately did the dirty work once the battle had moved on. Regards and I look forward to further examples of your work. Very well done.
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