Renault R35

Encore un très beau modèle signé Tamiya consacré aux blindés de la campagne de France de 1940. Rien à redire, je l'ai monté "direct de la boîte" sans le moindre ajout ou modification. Le modèle se monte à la perfection sans la moindre nécessité de combler certains joints au mastic, un réel bonheur à monter. Un seul petit regret, Tamiya aurait pu proposer un modèle "2 en 1" comme certaines marques en ont l'habitude en proposant les éléments pour réaliser une version des "premiers marchés" en ajoutant une queue de franchissement, des diascopes Chrétiens et une poulie tendeuse ajourée. Dommage mais ne boudons pas notre plaisir car ce R35 est vraiment le meilleur du marché actuellement.

Parmi les deux décorations proposés, j'ai opté pour un char appartenant au 23e BCC en opération en Lorraine en juin 1940. Le camouflage est du type "à quatre tons" à larges bandes irrégulières ourlées de noir. 

Sur un fond Desert Yellow de Tamiya (XF-59) j'ai peint au pinceau les 3 autres teintes : vert olive (Humbrol 179), vert prairie (Humbrol 80) et brun rougeâtre (Humbrol HS 216) me référant à la "Notice provisoire sur la peinture des véhicules automobiles de combat" du 10 mars 1937 (voir l'excellent ouvrage de DANJOU, P. & SEIGNON, Th. "Peintures de guerre - Un siècle de camouflage de l'armée française" paru aux Editions du Barbotin.

Hi friends ! This is the very nice model of the Renault R35 from Tamiya, it's just an "Out the Box" model. No need of some aftermarkets and so funny to build and paint this nice french camo. Let's look the pictures.

Just for comparison with the Somua S35, the R35 is really a tinny tank !

Panhard 178 AMD-35

Hi guys ! Another project made this summer : the very nice model of AMC-35 Panhard 178 by ICM.
Nearly made from the box excempt minor details and the worst of this kit : the gun.
It would be perfect from ICM to add a metal barel for the gun but it's not a great problem, some rots of plastic and the gun is much better than the two halves in the kit.

Lets talking the pictures :

AMD 35 Panhard, 6e Régiment de Cuirassiers, voiture n°43 du 1er peloton, 3e escadron, mai 1940.

1ère Division légère mécanique

Le coq de combat, symbole du 6ème Cuirassier est peint dès 1937 sur le capot des AMD (avec ou sans liseré blanc)

Une erreur a été commise par ICM, en effet, l'as de peloton du 3ème escadron doit être vert et non rouge comme proposé !  

Somua S-35 - Finished

Hi friends. My Somua S-35 is now finished.
It depicts the "car" (TSF) number 43 of the 3th Squadron of the 4th Cuirassiers. It's the command vehicle of the 2th Squadron Group (equiped with Hotchkiss H-35). This car has the licence plate number 67254. 
It was the command vehicle of the commandant de Thélin (2th Squadron Group leader).
Spring 1939.

It was a very nice kit to build and paint with this multicolored camo. I hope you'll like it.

Thanks to visit my modeling world !

Somua S-35 - Base painting and decals

Hi friends, the base painting of the Somua S35 is done and decals are now sets.
I've choised the first type of camo with the sky color that cover the upper surfaces and runs over onto the sides as well. This type of camo was found on the hull of a few rare cars (1) from the M67200 series.

(1) In the French Cavalery all the armored vehicles of any type was called "cars"


This TSF (radio equiped) Somua is the car number 43 of the 3th Squadron of the 4th Cuirassiers. It's the command vehicle of the 2th Squadron Group (equiped with Hotchkiss H-35). This car has the licence plate number 67254. It was the command vehicle of the commandant Thélin (2th Squadron Group leader)

The french rundels (cocardes) was adopted by the Cavalery in the spring of 1938. This vehicle shows a typical disposition of the 5 cocards.

The right side emblem of the 4th Cuirassier (Jeanne d'Arc on his horse) was wrong on the Tamiya decals sheet because Jeanne d'Arc MUST ALWAYS LOOKS FORWAD ! So I hand repainted the right side emblem on the original one.

Colors used :

• Hataka A095 Gris Bleu clair
• Hataka A096 Gris clair neutre
• Ammo of Mig 060 Pale Gren
• Hataka A094 Vert olive
• mix of 50% of Hataka 098 Terre d'ombre and 50% of Ammo of Mig 064 Pale Brown
• the tracks are base painted with Ammo of Mig 035 Dark tracks

Some color variations has been painted to add basic zenithal effects. 

Next step : The weathering !