Tamiya Char B1 bis

[avukich]

The French Char B1 bis has always been one of my favorite vehicles (In fact, the first armor model I ever built was the Matchbox 1/76 Char B1 bis). Obviously, I was very happy and excited when I heard that Tamiya was doing one in 1/35. There is no manufacturer I would have rather seen make this kit. I bought one as soon as it hit the shelves at the local hobby shop (which is really rare because I had paying retail prices for kits) and have a few more on the way to use with all of the AM stuff that is sure to follow. I started the kit the night I bought it (Thursday, June 8) and was mostly finished by the middle of the next week. Unfortunately, life got in the way of me finishing it within a week as I hoped, but I am ready for paint now after less than 3 weeks which is by far a record for me since I have discovered the joys/sorrows of AM goodies.

This kit is engineered so well that it is a bit scary. The parts fit like a dream and I couldn't find any errors with the kit. As always there are a few things that can be added, but Tamiya doesn't have anything wrong that I can see. They have obviously done their homework with this kit.

Here are a few overview shots of the completed model:




As you can see, I have added some cast texture to the turret, turret ring, commander's cupola, hull howitzer housing, driver's hatch, driver's area, and some texture to the exhaust to help simulate rust. The tracks are built and will be added after painting. The tools and their tie down straps will also be added after painting. I plan to replace the chain supplied with the kit with a chain that is a bit chunkier since photos show a really heavy chain in use.

Now here are some closeups of the extra details added.











I have never once had good luck with Tamiya decals so I decided to get some decals from Decalomaniacs and will be building tank number 206 "Madagascar."



If you see anything wrong or anything I missed, please let me know as I haven't started painting yet and won't start until this weekend.

Thanks for looking!

[RC_Hill]

Sweet! That's a decent amount of work that you've done to it. Looks great

I bought one as soon as it hit the shelves at the local hobby shop (which is really rare because I had paying retail prices for kits)

I know what you mean...I saw it at a hobby shop around here recently and man, as awesome as this kit seems to be, I can't make myself pay out $60+ for it...I blame the tracks! As cool as they seem to be, in a way, having workable tracks seems useless...there's no sag to be seen Only seems to work if they've been knocked off or something...it's cool, but you know, it is pointless if you can't take advantage of it...

Can't wait to see it when it's painted!

RC

[sam_dwyer]

Looks great Adam.

Think yourself lucky with the price, theyre AUD$85 here in Australia. Worth every penny tho, its a sensational kit!

ill be doing my next one as a Flamm, then maybe a French one after that. Maybe.

Looking forward to seeing yours painted,

Sam

[Sticky]

Looks great - cannot wait to see it painted. Are the rows of bolts you added along the track runs visable with the track in place?

[avukich]

Thanks for the compliments guys. I am really looking forward to trying my hand at that paint job.

RC--The major advantage to the tracks that I found wasn't that they were workable (though that certainly helps placing them even with the fenders in place), but that they just click together. They were the easiest set of tracks that I have ever put together. Do yourself a favor and bite the bullet. This kit is a work of art. You will be shocked at how well it is engineered.

Sam--It really is a sensational kit isn't it! I've never found a model that is that easy to clean and build. I am partial to the French vehicles myself, but I definately want to build the Flamm version and the version with the 10.5cm leFH 18 on it. I will build at least 3 more of these beasts.

John--Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Those bolts sit outside of where the tracks run so they are very visible. If you take a look at the walkarounds on Flying Frogs (), Kit Maker (), and Chars-Francais () you will see what I mean depending on the angle that the photo was taken.

Adam

[Larry Bates]

Very nice Adam,

I love those french camo schemes.

Larry

[Andrew Hall]

Nice tweaking Adam.

There's also some 'casting' numbers on the top of the bar below the 75mm which read 'KO'+makers stamp?+'No.100' or it might be 109 I can't quite make it out.

Mine's down my local Post Office waiting for collection and I'm pretty excited about it

Andrew

[avukich]

Thanks to some feedback I got regarding this model over on Missing Lynx, I made a couple of small enhancements.

I added the handle used to hold the headlight cover in place when it was opened.


I added the little slit seen on the Commander's AA Machine Gun mount.


Andrew also advised that there are casting numbers on the round (axle?) bar directly underneath the hull howitzer. Those numbers were definately there on the surviving example at Saumur, but they don't appear to be there on the Bovington example or the runner, "Flandres", that is located somewhere in France. I will do a bit more research to decide how common those number were and possibly add them.

[Andrew Hall]

Hi Adam, they're definitely there on the Bovington one, as that's the one I did a walkaround photo session of once I heard the Tamiya kit was in the pipeline

Also note the different types of bolt used, normal six flats and then another type with two flats.



I picked my kit up this morning

Andrew

[Plushy]

Looks Great Adam , i am in the process of building a b1 myself so thanks for listing all the tweaks so far !

Andrew have you got more of those detail photos ? any chance you could send me some copies ?? only for personal reference .