PlasticPanzers.com Forum

The $5 zero went back in the box and the Schenkle needs time to dry between oil paint applications so I decided to work on something else. Neither the tank nor kit was even on my radar until I picked up a copy of a Tankograd book on the Somua 35 as a Beute Panzer for $5 on clearance at a local book store. It was $5 why not?

My LHS had the Tamiya kit and I had a gift card to the shop that covered it so guess what happened next? I also picked up the DEF Model resin set for the Beute Somua. Most of my time beyond basic construction has been adding all the various missing rivets and screws which are scattered about. I've also added the DEF raised decals for the casting marks and got other parts prepped for PE work. I still need to finish the blend of the upper vent frame casting to the side hull.

My main references have been walk around photos, marked up photos from Stephen Tegner (who is building a 1/10 scale version from scratch) and the impeccable Somua S35 build from Tom Morgan who has graciously sent me progress photos of his build.

The Tamiya kit could be banged together in about 5-6 hours. The details is very nice and fit is good. The only minor issue I have with the kit are the ejector pin marks on the inside face of the tracks - which had to be carefully scrapped out, and the tiny gate mark on the front of the track which had to be filled and sanded with CA.

The detail on the DEF parts is very nice. The only downside is the PE instructions are the finished/installed photograph kind and the folds on the exhaust bracket are complex.

Anyway, this is where it is after a couple of weeks off and on at the bench.

Nice start! I have all the same stuff stashed away (including the Tankograd), so I'm eager to see what someone more competent than me can do with it

I've never used decals on naked plastic, how do they behave?

Philipp

Are the cast marking decals the sort that you peel the film away once they are in place or is the film on those just super thin?

Thanks!

The film is super thin. I brush over the decal with liquid cement to set it in place. The raised decal is somewhat thick so I used CA to set the decal on the raised dome detail on the center hub.

Looking good Bryan.

shawn

This is a surprise choice from you Bryan. I'm used to you building Russian stuff. Looks good though.

Vincent

Very nice build. I'm eager to see it with some paint on.

I surprised myself too Vincent.

Thanks all! I wanted to take some photos last night but it's so hot in the garage. It's been around 35-37C for the last week and the garage traps more heat it so it's often 38-40C in there. I can only work in there the first few hours of the day so I tend to get up early on the weekends just so I can paint.

Construction is complete. I'm going to save myself the headache and leave off the stowage boxes, tools and headlight guard. There are plenty of photos that show these items missing on the same tank. I also wanted to add a figure, but I have three others I don't want to paint so why add more to the pile of bodies.



The underside of the black out light was hollowed out with a small rotary cutter as it was molded solid.



Hard to make out in this view, but I turned two pieces of styrene rod to make the tail light hidden under the "L" bracket. There were smaller than a grain of rice. I omitted the other one and drilled holes for the missing fasteners. There should be another one up by the horn I believe but it's so hard to make out any details in there so I skipped that one.











I'll finish up the hull texture and then ready it for primer.

Bring on the primer and paint.

Shawn