Rex Ross

Hey I just can'r resist Google translations !!!!

Anyhow ...... two months ago I got to looking at my French Char B1 bis and couldn't help feeling that it looked kinda lonely all by itself on the shelf. I figured it needed a little buddy to keep it company and decided that the Somua S35 was the perfect tank to form a Dynamic Duo that could battle the Bosch....

This is it before I pour paint on it. It's still a work in progress, and I have some cleaning up to do on a few details, but I almost hate to paint it because this tank was a lot of wok. Details, details, details. Did I mention details?

I thought the protective panels that covered the suspension would save me a lot of time building that part ........ boy, was I wrong! Everything else was just a pain in the butt or a headache. The upper body was painted with rattle can texture paint (tan) and turned out well.

Pretend you see two tanks in these photos because I think I built this tank twice. I had to do a lot of corrections to fix up goofs and dumb mistakes in order to get things right (sort of).

Plan your work, work your plan. Measure twice, cut once. Think ahead and research everything up front, not when you want to say "Aw st".

Now the fun begins. I get to paint it. I think it's going to need a wee bit of shading .......LOL

Rex

ArmChairGeneral

Admirable undertaking, looks great !

bigfiver69

That is sexier than hell.

Looking forward to seeing it all done! Great subject!

Shep

DirtyBird69

God I would love to see a french tankin 1/16 become available..... Come on HL/Tamiya..this is what we want!!!!

http://translate.google.com/translat...D59044&act=url

sevoblast

Good Gawd, Rex. I quit. I retire. Ain't no way I can every acquire the skill you have in one pinky. Great job, but the way.

Pah co chu puk

Very nice!

Spitvalve

Magnifique! Which is French for "yet another stunning scratchbuild from RR".

Stunning as usual!

Mike.

Shark27

Encore un autre superbe scratchbuild de Rex Ross, Magnifique!
Steve

Pzjgr

Very nice, outstanding work!

Elefant

C'est tout simplement splendide ! Bravo !

Merci pour cette superbe réalisation.

Airbrushler

your work is amazing Rex Ross can't wait to see it painted

Rex Ross

I would like to thank all of you gentlemen for your kind comments in English, French and Canadian ..........

I think I have found a new way to show off my stuff ....... I'll post the title in a different language and hope that the Google translation will be accurate.

I'm going to do a paint job this weekend and I hope to post photos of it wearing dry paint and decals next week. I still have to rig it up for turret rotation, but the motors and tranny are in. That's as far as my R/C skills and budget for parts can manage right now.

Spitvalve

A colour scheme with the black lines outlining the colour blobs would look spectacular, or "poutineirifique" in Quebecoise...

Mike.

Strato50

I love it, very sexy, as most WW2-ish french tanks are, in my opinion. What sort of texture paint did you use? Looks great.

Is it rc as of yet?

Panther F

Wow Rex... is this 1/16th?

How about a pic of it next to a more well known 1/16 WWII tank?



There's just something about the French tanks that set them apart from all others and I can't put my finger on it but they are unique.














~ Jeff

Rex Ross

[quote]ORIGINAL: Spitvalve

A colour scheme with the black lines outlining the colour blobs would look spectacular, or ''poutineirifique'' in Quebecoise...

Mike.
[/quote

~~~~~~~~~

Yessssss !!!!

Rex Ross

~~~~~~~

For some reason I cannot upload photos .... I get an error 500 message for some reason, it says the resource I am looking for is unavailable. ?????

Anyhow, the paint I got is tan, but I think grey and black are available if I remember correctly. The cap on the can is covered with the same texture as the paint in the can. My paint job and the can cap feel the same. I only sprayed it with one coat (carefully), and it turned out well. The texture came out good, but the color was kinda thin. That didn't matter because it was going to get painted anyhow. I used this stuff twice before.

Rustoleum Multicolor, Textured.

I will probably use the HL circuit board for the R/C. I can borrow one out of something on my shelf for now. I was going to use one of my old Tamiya (DMD T01) control units, but that ancient antique only has steering and throttle connections. At least it doesn't use vacuum tubes like some of my really old stuff.

Rex Ross

1sgt

Rex,
That looks fantastic. Would love to have seen a build thread, so we can learn all your ticks. I'll lok great next to the Char B1bis.

Jim

Rex Ross

~~~~~~~

That build thread thing is something I just have trouble doing. I take some random photos along the way but nothing in the way of a sequence that might be of any help to someone. I try to do a decent job on the things that will show when the model is done, but the interior structure usually looks like a train wreck somewhere in the third world. Here are a couple of photos that may be good for a laugh.

When I started this thing, I decided to do the upper hull first this time. That was a mistake. When I started the lower hull. I discovered the upper hull was 1/4 inch too narrow to fit over the track and suspension. Measure twice, cut once. Fortunately, I was able to cut it down the middle, splice in a filler piece and widen it that way. You can see the filler in front of the turret and front glacis.

That's the only screw up that I care to admit today.
Rex

1sgt

Rex,
Thanks. I see you built the hull from scratch as well. I have an old PZ III that I got as a non SanS ( what a mistake ) anyway, do you think I could use the hull asa starting point for a Char B1bis, or Souma? Does it have working suspension, and if so, just how did you pull that off. Again, Thanks for sharing.

Jim

Rex Ross

[quote]ORIGINAL: 1sgt

Rex,
Thanks. I see you built the hull from scratch as well. I have an old PZ III that I got as a non SanS ( what a mistake ) anyway, do you think I could use the hull asa starting point for a Char B1bis, or Souma? Does it have working suspension, and if so, just how did you pull that off. Again, Thanks for sharing.

Jim

~~~~~~~

After looking at my Char B1, S35 and PzIII side by side ......... I think scratch building is the only way to go, in my opinion. They don't even come close to each other for that ..... apples and oranges, as they say. In the past I have found that sometimes trying to convert something into something completely different is more trouble than scratch building.

The suspensions on My Char B1 and S 35 are just road wheels on an axle. Nothing operational beyond just rolling. I didn't concern myself with accurate scale suspension because if you can't see it.

I'm lazy that way.

************

For some reason I'm getting that Error 500 message again when I tried to upload photos of how I did it.

500 - Internal server error.

There is a problem with the resource you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed.


Rex

CountChocula

Cripes Rex you did it again! Love the Somua and you nailed it again!

Couldn't help but noticed what you were using for running gear in terms of sprockets and track. Is that front drive sprocket from a VS or possibly 1/24th scale married to PzIV track? I'm always trying to figure out different types of combinations that could work for possible future projects.

Again, killer job and thanks for sharing.

Dave

MAUS45

I think it is a Tiger I drive sprocket from a 1/35 scale kit. 1/24 or 1/25 scale Tiger I drive sprocket may be to big unless it was cut down to reduce the width?
Just my guess? [8D]

Rex Ross

~~~~~~~~

Dave and MAUS

Dang .... this forum has a lot of guys with sharp eyeballs who know their stuff! The track and drive sprocket are HL PZ IV. The Tranny with the drive sprockets are the VS 1/24 scale. The receipt shows the part #. I got the last two they had at the time and they expected to resupply their stock. I had to pull the VS drive sprockets off and cut them down to make them more narrow for the PZ IV track. You can see from the photo how much wider they are, (about an 1/8th of an inch or so. Then I just glued them back together making sure the teeth were in alignment. The teeth match up pretty good, I didn't have to shave them down - or off. They don't hang up in the track. They go up front and are return rollers on the S 35. The PZ IV drive sprockets had to have shaft adapters made but no big deal there. Getting the drive sprockets off of the VS tranny shafts took a bit of effort, they are just pressed on to an allen wrench type shaft, but they are on tight/TIGHT!!! All of that stuff is real close to the 1/16 scale needed for the S 35. Thank goodness for dumb luck!

The paint is dry and decals are going on next. It may be totally finished in a few days.

Rex

(I have no idea why there are multiples of the same photo)