Tamiya did an extraordinarily brave thing by giving us the Char B1 Bis in 1/35th scale. However, they didn't give us the 'complete' package which, fortunately, for the AM people has left a lot of room for manoeuvre...

Not surprisingly, from a French company, Blast Models has been quietly doing a series of additions to the basic kit. At first we had a series of crew figures, now, they have gone a little further with two new update sets and another figure...

The first of these is:

BL35102K - French Tank Commander on Turret



The second, and perhaps demonstrating the shortcomings of the kit is:

BL35103K - Update set for B1 Bis (French Version)




This set, with resin parts, deals with the (perceived) inaccuracies of the donor kit, particualarly in the area of the front hatch, the upper turret mantlet, the secondary armament mantlet and details on the engine deck...

The second update is for the 'Germanized' version:

BL35107K - Update set for B1 Bis (German Version)



Blast Models, whose website includes some surprisingly varied detail/update sets, can be seen: HERE!