¹⁄35

French Heavyweight Char B1 bis

Construction Cont'd

Step 11 is where I encountered the only real need for any kind of putty and sanding work. The installation of the glacis plate and construction of the armored driver’s hood require that some of the inevitable seams that result be filled in and sanded down to achieve an accurate look. The driver’s hood was a single cast piece and the Tamiya assembly steps result in an L-shaped seam along the side and where it joins the glacis that needs to be filled. The mantlet for the 75mm howitzer also requires some putty work as it should be a single piece with the bolted frame around it but the installation over the gun housing produces a seam that shouldn’t be present. In addition, the bolt holes for the foul weather cover are missing, so I drilled out 6 holes around the face of the mantlet to replicate this. I also used this opportunity to install the missing two mud scrapers that are on the side of each mud chute by converting some scrap PE parts with a side cutter to the necessary shape and glued in place with CA gel.

Step 12 installs the side boarding hatch for the crew and has some nice detail on the interior face but I elected to install this in the closed position as the interior is truly cavernous and quite empty without any trace of an interior.

Step 13 involves one of the truly magical parts of the build, the tracks. The Char’s unique track system is done a real service by Tamiya’s choice to provide them as individual clickable links that literally assemble in minutes. The only cleanup is a slight bump on each track face that is easily taken care of. The instructions recommend 61 links per side, which works out perfectly, although 8 extras are provided if needed.

Step 14 required some slight putty work to fill in the holes for the rear chain mounts as well as the rear tow pintles. Since the rear hooks will take the tow chains, these were cut with a #11 blade to allow for their fitting later on.

Step 15 provides a choice of either spaced or flush fenders and the flush were installed for “Marne”. It was also necessary to modify part B21 from its solid molded form to a hollowed out square at both ends and some small gauge wire used to simulate the antenna radio cable connecting the antenna to the radio in the hull. The large square bolted plate just behind the turret ring was removed and sanded down and a converted small headlight face from the spares bin converted into an insulated cover with a hole drilled into the top to accept the wire.

Step 16 provides a choice of mufflers and exhaust styles and the straight fishtail type were installed as the correct type for “Marne” in Step 17. This same step also calls for the installation of the concertina style antenna mount but I left this off to allow for easier detail painting later on. The two-part assembly does create a delicate seam on both sides that needs some careful work to remove, accomplished through the use of liquid glue and a knife point under the magnifier. Step 18 deals with the installation of the chains which I skipped until after painting was completed.

Steps 19 and 20 deal with the turret and here more surgery is required to use the Lionmarc 45mm gun. Only the base of the Tamiya kit part is needed so the barrel was cut off with sprue cutters and the stub sanded down to accept the aluminum barrel. The rest of the assembly went smoothly and the turret was constructed by joining the top and bottom halves together and the slight seam that resulted sanded down after the glue had set up. Finally, the Lionmarc turned brass coaxial MG muzzle was installed in place of the Tamiya kit part and major construction was complete.