nightshiftmodeller

Welds, seams, bolts...

Added 2021-12-17 21:37:18 +0000 UTC

My friends, the welding on this tank is really crazy. The entire turret is just randomly welded from various steel plates 😁But I've got that out of the way, as well as some casting seam lines on the mantlet and front hull.

I also added those handles that were destroyed either during transport or by my poor handling skills, as well as a few missing ones. The smaller handles on hatches survived, so it will be interesting to see how they look all painted up.

Bolts that were removed when I was re-scribing the engine deck were punched with the aid of RP toolz, but again, I didn't want to replace all of them, just the missing ones. Overall, I want to keep as many of the 3D printed details as possible to see what the technology can offer.

The barrel has the obligatory coat of primer that I normally apply to plastic barrels to spot any imperfections. Here it nicely shows how smooth the print quality is, but I'm pretty sure the print layers will be visible on other parts of the model.

Next? Adding the remaining details from the kit, scratchbuilding the poorly printed hatch on the underside of the turret, and that's probably everything! I'll look for some stowage that could liven up the tank, possibly a figure. I know nothing about French tankers during the cold war, but from those few photos that I've seen their uniforms look pretty much identical to US WW2 tankers, so maybe that could work?

Anyway, it's nice to just follow a few reference pictures and just BUILD the model without any elaborate techniques and creative mental gymnastics. Despite the few flaws, it's a nice, relaxing kit!