Introduction

It is no exaggeration to say that one of the major (and most long-awaited) releases of 2006 was Tamiya's Char B1 Bis in 1/35th scale. However, after going through a lot of the available references - both on the 'web and in reference books, many people came to the conclusion that although it is an excellent model, it does lack some of the detail we have come to expect from their competitors. Two major areas come to mind. Firstly, the provision of plastic gun barrels and secondly, the fenders which are 'nice' enough, but suffer from over-scale thickness. The rear exhaust cover also suffers from excessive thickness, calling for some attention.All these 'niggles' aside Tamiya's Char B is an excellent kit.

The basics

35213: French Battle Tank Char B1 bis (version with narrow fenders is produced by the Polish after-market specialist Aber. The set comes within a plastic snap-top envelope and is protected by a thick sheet of rigid card. 35213 consists of two sheets of PE (Photo-Etch) along with two pages of instructions.

In detail

Due to the MANY areas covered in this set, i've been referring to the donor kit as to what needs improvement, I'll break the coverage of the set into the following areas:
Upper deck
Fender Replacement
Turret
Exhausts
Miscellaneous detail


Upper Deck Many of the (new) details are simply additions. Amongst them are three sets of casting numbers for the small (rear) access panels on the rear engine deck, one for underneath the main gun and two more for the turret. I still remain unconvinced about PE casting numbers as they seem too 'flat'. The (small) rear exhausts also receive some additional detail.