M24 Chaffee, French Indochina 1954
- Philipp Gross
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M24 Chaffee, French Indochina 1954
Here's my entry for the GB, AFV Club's M24 in the French version for Indochina.
As you may know the whole Vietnam business started right after WW2 when the Vietnamese independence movement wasn't exactly happy with the reestablishment of French colonial rule. The conflict culminated in the bloody siege at Dien Bien Phu in early 1954, which led to a French withdrawal and the partition of Vietnam...which led straight into another well-known war with a western power.
Anyhow, the kit:
It's still fairly new, has good details, a one piece hull and a metal barrel. And since I got my hands on a "first edition" specimen, it also comes with a resin figure to man the turret roof machine gun. Not sure what the brass tubes are for, they certainly aren't shells
The kit has four options, two French at unknown locations, one at Dien Bien Phu and one in use by South Vietnam. I'll be doing this one, named Auerstaedt IV.
There's also a nice A4 sized print of the boxart included. Very nice, I wish more would do that
With all the other stuff still on the bench I can't say how fast I'll have this one finished. I might be able to glue a few bits and pieces together from time to time
Philipp
As you may know the whole Vietnam business started right after WW2 when the Vietnamese independence movement wasn't exactly happy with the reestablishment of French colonial rule. The conflict culminated in the bloody siege at Dien Bien Phu in early 1954, which led to a French withdrawal and the partition of Vietnam...which led straight into another well-known war with a western power.
Anyhow, the kit:
It's still fairly new, has good details, a one piece hull and a metal barrel. And since I got my hands on a "first edition" specimen, it also comes with a resin figure to man the turret roof machine gun. Not sure what the brass tubes are for, they certainly aren't shells
The kit has four options, two French at unknown locations, one at Dien Bien Phu and one in use by South Vietnam. I'll be doing this one, named Auerstaedt IV.
There's also a nice A4 sized print of the boxart included. Very nice, I wish more would do that
With all the other stuff still on the bench I can't say how fast I'll have this one finished. I might be able to glue a few bits and pieces together from time to time
Philipp
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Re: M24 Chaffee, French Indochina 1954
Likely the brass tubes are suspension covers.
Auerstadt was one of the 12 tanks involved in the battle at Dien Bien Phu. It was destroyed and remained on spot. It is still in place there.
As an additional information, at the time no aircraft were powerful enough to airlift the tanks so they were disassembled into three loads, airlifted to Dien Bien Phu and finally re-assembled there, certainly with no intent to bring them back.
Philipp, if you need more info about DBP Chaffees, have a look at this French site http://www.chars-francais.net/2015/inde ... view&id=90
This is a direct link to the Chaffee page. A lot of Indochina period pictures are present. Your Auerstadt is this one :
Enjoy your build!
Auerstadt was one of the 12 tanks involved in the battle at Dien Bien Phu. It was destroyed and remained on spot. It is still in place there.
As an additional information, at the time no aircraft were powerful enough to airlift the tanks so they were disassembled into three loads, airlifted to Dien Bien Phu and finally re-assembled there, certainly with no intent to bring them back.
Philipp, if you need more info about DBP Chaffees, have a look at this French site http://www.chars-francais.net/2015/inde ... view&id=90
This is a direct link to the Chaffee page. A lot of Indochina period pictures are present. Your Auerstadt is this one :
Enjoy your build!
- Philipp Gross
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Re: M24 Chaffee, French Indochina 1954
Thanks for the photo and link Olivier
Chars-Francais is definitely a good resource, I've been going through the photos there for a while. I'd love to model La Hire from Algeria, but I don't think anyone has ever made a decal sheet for French M24s.
Concerning my current build, I was mistaken about the name. Happens when you do stuff late at night... "My" tank is named "Austerlitz IV" and didn't serve at Dien Bien Phu, but since Auerstaedt is there as well I might yet change my mind...
Philipp
PS: Can everyone see the photos in my first post? I've been experimenting with a new hosting service.
Chars-Francais is definitely a good resource, I've been going through the photos there for a while. I'd love to model La Hire from Algeria, but I don't think anyone has ever made a decal sheet for French M24s.
Concerning my current build, I was mistaken about the name. Happens when you do stuff late at night... "My" tank is named "Austerlitz IV" and didn't serve at Dien Bien Phu, but since Auerstaedt is there as well I might yet change my mind...
Philipp
PS: Can everyone see the photos in my first post? I've been experimenting with a new hosting service.
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Re: M24 Chaffee, French Indochina 1954
Philipp Gross wrote:Thanks for the photo and link Olivier
Chars-Francais is definitely a good resource, I've been going through the photos there for a while. I'd love to model La Hire from Algeria, but I don't think anyone has ever made a decal sheet for French M24s.
Concerning my current build, I was mistaken about the name. Happens when you do stuff late at night... "My" tank is named "Austerlitz IV" and didn't serve at Dien Bien Phu, but since Auerstaedt is there as well I might yet change my mind...
Philipp
PS: Can everyone see the photos in my first post? I've been experimenting with a new hosting service.
Yes, I see them.
Steve Kubik
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Re: M24 Chaffee, French Indochina 1954
Yes, I can see them too Philipp. Should be a great project.
Vincent
Vincent
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Re: M24 Chaffee, French Indochina 1954
Thanks for the feedback
I finally made a start on this one, the running gear is rather complicated...typical for US tanks of the era.
In theory it could be made workable, but it will save you some grey hairs not to bother. I haven't glued the shock absorbers (four on each side!) in place yet until all the torsion bars are level.
Philipp
I finally made a start on this one, the running gear is rather complicated...typical for US tanks of the era.
In theory it could be made workable, but it will save you some grey hairs not to bother. I haven't glued the shock absorbers (four on each side!) in place yet until all the torsion bars are level.
Philipp
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Re: M24 Chaffee, French Indochina 1954
Good start. I'm interested in getting one of these, so I'll be following closely. The Chaffee is one of my favorite tanks.
Steve Kubik
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Re: M24 Chaffee, French Indochina 1954
Thank you Steve! So far the kit looks good and goes together reasonably well. There are a few horribly small parts on the sprues that might be difficult to clean up. Rumour has it the Bronco Chaffees are excessively overengineered and far more difficult to build.
The current state of affairs:
Each wheel consists of six parts. There are no polycaps but they hold in place quite good. There are two patterns of tires included, I've used what seems to be the more common version.
I found two photos of Auerstaedt, it seems the colourful camo scheme was applied after it already had been in service for a while. Not sure yet if I'll want to do this scheme, maybe just olive drab. Or maybe a different tank altogether
Philipp
The current state of affairs:
Each wheel consists of six parts. There are no polycaps but they hold in place quite good. There are two patterns of tires included, I've used what seems to be the more common version.
I found two photos of Auerstaedt, it seems the colourful camo scheme was applied after it already had been in service for a while. Not sure yet if I'll want to do this scheme, maybe just olive drab. Or maybe a different tank altogether
Philipp
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Re: M24 Chaffee, French Indochina 1954
Brass for the shock absorbers is a nice touch. Looking good Philipp.
Vincent
Vincent
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Re: M24 Chaffee, French Indochina 1954
Thanks Vincent It certainly helps to avoid mould lines and to keep the whole thing moveable, in theory at least. Thankfully the instructions don't insist on it and tell you to glue everything instead....
By the way, the tires aren't glued, they snap into position (and stay there) with little effort. Should make painting a lot easier.
It seems the photo I posted doesn't show up, that's fixed now.
Philipp
By the way, the tires aren't glued, they snap into position (and stay there) with little effort. Should make painting a lot easier.
It seems the photo I posted doesn't show up, that's fixed now.
Philipp
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