R35 French Light Tank Tamiya 1:35
My first wholly 2021 build--bought, started and finished this year. This is another great Tamiya kit. What more to say?
I included Monsieur Le Commandant de Char to give a sense of the size of this petite 2-man tank. The peculiar operating qualities of this tank was the subject of a great Inside the Chieftain's Hatch episode (https://youtu.be/tMqbkQcDe9E) which has the most humorous military equipment commentary I've ever heard.
This was a fun project. It was the first time I've painted a 6-color French camo scheme. It seems like the exotic appearance would have been very effective. I wonder, though, if they would have fared better against the Germans if they hadn't painted on so many bull's eyes. I initially tried to brush paint the camo but found it too difficult to get an opaque coat of the lighter colors. So I ended up airbrushing them and then drawing on the black outline with a fine tip Sharpie and then painting over that with NATO black. This was followed by copious amounts of various shades of dirt pigments fixed in place with alcohol. I used AK weathering pencils to put the rust on the exhaust. I'm eager to do another French tank again. Maybe something bigger.
This is an amazing R35, Dennis!
Loved your painting and weathering techniques on this multicolor camo.
That's an incredible finish. That tank has definitely been "ridden hard"!
"Liked" (a lot)
That's very cool! - nice job.
Love the detailing, Dennis.
Clearly seen in the close-ups, very realistic.
Very nice build.
Oooooo slick! Nice job on that little bugger. Great camo and dirt.
Tamiya's Char B is a great kit if you want bigger.
Nice paintwork. I enjoy seeing these types of tanks modeled.
Very nice!
Excellent job. I have the same kit sitting ready to be painted, but I am dreading the masking that needs to be done. You did a very good job on the camo scheme.
Very nice - a baby tank! The French did have some artistic schemes - I'll give them that!
Big giant tanks are always impressive but this smaller stuff is just so cool. I tend to gravitate toward the little vehicles like this too. Yes it was a great idea to add the figure for size reference. Great job with him too.
I really like the camo and the way you've done it. As John says above the close-ups showcase how very well it's been done. This is really some fine work Dennis.
🙂 ... Greetings ... 🙂 :
Nice work in every aspect Dennis.
You say this is your first build for this year ... it so seems we are in for a show this year.
Love it, will we see this one star in it's own diorama ?
Would love to see a step by step on the paint process. I have this kit... little intimidating. 🙂
Jon,
Dive right in.
I probably made a mistake painting it overall green first. Its the dominant color but hard to cover with the lighter colors. The red brown went on fine with a brush, but the tan, and greens were taking too many coats. I painted them on with my finest needle air brush. I went back with a brush to touch up over spray on the edges. I then outlined them with a fine tip dry erase pen to keep the width consistent. I painted over the line with NATO black model paint because I couldn't reach everywhere with the pen and the black was too stark. I learned later that the this kind of ink dissolves under clear coat model paints. Then it was on to decals. Beware of the placement of the front roundel. It's tough to get it to lay down over the emblem. Then it was on the weathering.
8 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Another amazing job!