With all the modern MBT I have in my collection Im thinking of doing a past and present theme

US
M4A3E8 Sherman
M1A2 SEP V.2 Abrams

UK
either a Cromwell,Churchill or Comet
Challenger II

France
not sure of early WW2 or a Sherman in French marking for late WW2
LeClerc

Italy
M13/40
Ariete

Germany
either Panzer IV, very late war Panther or Tiger II
Leopard 2A6MA2

Japan
for the WW2 era not sure on what tank and what available
Type 10

Israel
Early or late Sherman
Merkava IV

Russia
T34-85
T90M

South Korea
for past ?????
K2 Black Panther

China
for past ???
ZTZ-99

Any ideas on this?

Why stop at WW2? French had the Ft-17, British Mark I or Whippet. German A7V etc. To me that would seems a better past and present.

I thought about that but Japanese,South Korean and Russian armor dont reach back to WW1

Early Russian armour just post WW1, they used some MKV's and Renault FT-17's during the civil war. Japan had a few British Whippets(meng did a Japanese version if you can find one).

For me, I won’t define it by conflict but more by when that country developed tanks, weather on their own ie France or started with another countries vehicle say Japan Whippet/FT-17. However as it is your project WW2 to now is just fine also. Japan had a type 89 that finemold makes in 1/35.

Could do old and new from same unit. M4 and M1 from 69th Armor?

IF I was thinking, say, of capturing the "book-ends" of more-or-less modern armor...

I would consider something like trying to depict the "age of the turreted tank" (albeit Swedish S-tanks and, Soviet and West German similar "assault gun type" developments are certainly more modern then the first turreted tanks).... from first turreted tanks (French Renault FT, US FT copies, Italian FIAT-Ansaldo FT derivatives, Soviet T-18, German Krupp "Leichttraktor" types, Japanese Type-89, British Vickers light/amphib tanks, etc.) through to the respective current national counter-parts.

Interestingly, the Renault FT figured prominently in the start of tank development in Italy, France, the US, the USSR, and in Japan. All went on to develop first small types and later increasingly larger and heavier types all sharing the general engine-rear - turret center - driver front configuration. Turreted tank development in Germany had to fight its way through an early stage of rear-turret and driver / front engine design, to evolve around to the modern classical design common across about all tank-building nations. And then there are those Israelis, who have embraced that early German approach of rear-turret, driver center, engine forward in their Merkava.

PS: In the general scheme of "past to present", Israel presents some big challenges, as all of their earlier tanks were bought, received as donations, or stolen and captured foreign productions. The Merk is actually Israel's first true domestically-built tank. While many countries started by obtaining some Renault FT, and thus one could reasonably argue that their first tanks IN POSSESSION were foreign products, Italy, Russia, Japan, the US all soon built their own versions of "FT", and those would arguably be their first domestic tanks.

Just some thoughts on some of the possibilities for a past-to-present theme!

Bob