WWI St Chamond tank.

[Tim Mixon]

Would anyone happen to have a Takom 1/35 St. Chamond Kit ? Early version with the three raised access hatches on the top front. I need scans of the instructions if possible. I purchased a 1/72 3-D print model that has terrible print lines all over. I’m going to cut off and sand down all the exterior detail to get rid of the print lines and then scratch build it all back.
Any help with details would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Tim

[Herb Collector]

You can download the instructions from Scalemates.
https://www.scalemates.com/kits/takom-2002-st-chamond--235096 3299kb (.pdf)

A good history here with some good 5 view drawings.
https://panzerserra.blogspot.com/2014/01/char-saint-chamond-french-heavy-tank.html

[KiwiZac]

Oh no...I cannot imagine how gorgeous a Tim Mixon tank will be! I'm afraid I can't help but I'm rather excited!

[NigelR]

I built the Takom kit a while ago, here's some photos of the finished article that might help in your efforts:





And just for fun, here's how it ended up, stuck in a shellhole (just like the originals....):

[Tim Mixon]

Beautifully done sir!  Lots of eye candy to reference for my build.  I’m waiting on some resin bolts/rivets to arrive before I begin. 

[Dutch522]

Looking forward to following along with this, I always loved Great War armo(u)r, it was so wonderfully clunky. I just happened across my old unbuilt Tauro A7V Totenkopf kit earlier today, as a matter of fact, which I bought from someone on the WWI List about twenty-five years ago along with a hardcover book on them and a set of resin tracks. Hmm.

And Nigel, that’s a beauty. I’m especially impressed by the base, that dirt looks like… well, real dirt. Is it?

Dutch

[NigelR]

Beautifully done sir!  Lots of eye candy to reference for my build.  I’m waiting on some resin bolts/rivets to arrive before I begin.

Thanks Tim, I guessed it might be helpful to see clearer photos of the model in reality. I hope you ordered lots of bolts/rivets, you're going to need them.....

’m especially impressed by the base, that dirt looks like… well, real dirt. Is it?

It is indeed. My mud mix is a combination of wall filler (what you call spackling for some strange reason), white glue and mud from the garden plus pigments and/or acrylic paint to tint it. I grind the mud into three different grades so I can represent ground cover as opposed to churned up earth and shellholes.

[Borsos]

That‘s actually very well done!

[Tim Mixon]

My current project is this 3-D print unknown manufacturer St. Chamond tank. I ordered this off eBay for a very reasonable price. I was however disappointed at the deep print lines all across the surface. I made the decision to sand all surface details off and then scratch build it back.
Originally, I tried filling the print lines with Mr. Surfacer 500.


Here is the results after two liberal coats:


I decided to scratch build the entire top decking.
The resin is rock hard and very difficult to sand. Due to the simple angular shape of this tank I was able to use a Dewalt flat sander to remove the bulk of the raised detail.
Next, I started to add the bolted on panel supports

Top t bars added:



Next I added the hatches and doors. Hinges are spare PE turnbuckles


.

I then started constructing the house like structure at the upper rear of the tank. I think this is some ventilation for the engine





I realize that some details are overscale and not completely accurate. But I think it’s coming along well considering I don’t have any 1/72 scale plans and my rough starting point.
That’s all for this week.
Thanks for looking in!
Tim

[Dutch522]

Coming along nicely, Tim. And I'm impressed, I've never used any of my carpentry tools on a model... I'd never have the nerve to use my palm sander on something this small!

I never realized that these babies were packing a 75, but in the course of some research about US tank destroyers just last night I found that's what was poking out of that big blunt snout on the St Chamond... my Dad drove TDs from Sicily to Vienna, and he started out the war with an M3 half-track with a Great War-vintage 75 shoehorned into the back. That was the best the US could come up with in 1942 to take on the Panzerkorps, apparently.

Dutch

[NigelR]

Wow, great work Tim, this is looking good. I guess it's probably slightly easier than scratchbuilding the whole thing.......

[KiwiZac]

I have a 1/48 3D-printed kit of a rather obscure WWII prototype aircraft and it's worse than this, lines-wise, so I think I'll take your sander idea!! I've used it for a Star Wars helmet so I know it works - it just never occurred to me to try it on the kit!

Great recovery and I think your work will make it far better than the original design .

[Tim Mixon]

I was able to find some bench time before leaving for work. Here are the crew pods I made from Evergreen tube and strip. The small center one will house a light with protective cover when not in use. I also finished scratching up the 75 mm main gun.


Have a great week!
Tim

[NigelR]

Superb modelling!

[Tim Mixon]

Nutz and Boltz.

I have spent the past few days punching out .08mm discs to represent the rivets on my St.Chamond tank. This has been very tedious and boring work.
Originally I tried to apply some resin bolt heads I purchased online but these didn’t look good. They protruded out too far.
If you’re a rivet counter, don’t look too carefully at my efforts. I can tell you that it’s not even close to correct. I’m just going for a general more than exact representation.
Before the nutz and boltz I constructed the searchlight located between the front cupolas.


Next I added the exhaust. This was made from a leftover resin rod and some carefully bent brass tubing. I just placed these here for the photo. I’ll add them after the fuselage is painted.


Here is my riveting rivet work. I have also added some spare PE to represent the vision ports and hatch levers. I may add a few more odd details but basically it’s ready for paint.





Thanks for looking in!
Tim