I just picked this one up at the LHS. Yep, I probably paid too much for it but what the heck my birthday is this weekend anyway :-)

A couple of questions

1. What would be a good basecolor from Model Master Acryl?
2. What would the main color of the tracks be before weathering and rust? From some I have seen the basecolor appears to be a dark brown.

The kit itself looks great. I want to start on these indy tracks and see if I can actually finish them without giving up :-)

1) dunno
2) some modellers like using dark brown as the basecoat for tracks b/c it represents the dirty oxidized tracks. Then follows the weathering and such.

BTW, call it a Renault B1 bis. "Char" is French for tank. Kinda redundant if anyone says "Char B1 tank". Reminds me of the old monogram "Panzer attack Tank". LOL

Enjoy the build. Mine is coming in a week or so...

Thanks for the info sir, When I typed the question earlier I was in my office with others around and could not post correctly as the kit was outside in the car :-)

Any idea of what base color to use from Lifecolor or Vallejo? I have some of those as well as some Tamiya paint. I think the instructions call for Tamiya dark yellow but we all know how accurate that can be.

Hi Mark, I just picked this one up today myself. I've never had much interest in the B1 bis, but all those different camo schemes are really intriguing. Check out this link to a discussion about colors over on ML.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/47208/thread/1149339757/Correct+color%27s+for+Char+B-1+bis%2C+Steve+Z.+can+you+give+me+a+hand-

For the base color I plan on going with Steve Z's suggestion of Tamiya XF-65 field grey, which strangly enough is green, go figure. I looked this color up and the equivalent Model Master color is FS 34159 SAC bomber green, this is in their enamel range but I'm pretty sure they carry this color in the Acryl line as well. As for the tracks I'm undecided on that for now, but hey I've got 3 other projects to finish before I start on this one (maybe :-)) so I'll be interested in any other responses you may get.
Just taking a good look through the box at the sprues I have to agree with what I've been reading on the net, this kit is a corker!! It may not have all the "stuff" included like the recent Dragon kits but what is there looks fantastic. I "played" around with the tracks a little bit and though Dragon may have coined the term "Magic Tracks", these babies are truly magic. If only all indy track links were this easy to assemble and looked this good!

Cheers,
Mike

I agree Mike, I am used to seeing a dozen sprues loaded with stuff. That is not inside this box but what is inside looks great. I am getting ready to really go through it in a little bit. Cant wait to play with the tracks as well.

Ok, I just sat back and put together a run of the tracks with no cussin or spitten. I am usually of the opinion that indy tracks are designed and delivered from some place in hell. If Tamiya uses this type of track in the future on other kits they will be getting more and more of my money and I will learn to live with any other shortcomings of the kits.