Can anyone tell me if the Char B camo patterns were painted by hand or sprayed in real life and if there are any photos or sites I could check out? Thanks for the help.

Both may be the answer. Roy Chow spotted that the dark demarcation lines on the hulls of tanks in the Renault scheme seem sprayed while the demarcation lines on the turret seem brushed (or at least hardedged). Gets even more complicated as Renault scheme turrets end up on tanks assembled by other contractors.

Later schemes like the grey-green/umber ones used by 37BCC seem very likely to be sprayed.

For any individual Char B1bis take a look at the alphabetic list on Chars francais, and work from there.

FWIW the only film I've seen showing the painting of French tanks was a short clip of the demarcation lines being painted on the turret of an R-35. The painter used a large industrial spraygun and just laid the lines freehand in one go.

David

Jeff,

David's right, you're going to have to check the specific vehicle you're looking to model to see how its scheme was laid out and work from the photos available. Here's the Char Francais site link for the Char B1 bis listings, http://www.chars-francais.net/listing_b1_bis.htm

Thanks guys that helps out a lot.