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French M-47 Patton ...


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Hello gents,

 

as you may know, the french army units were reequipped in the 50s with M-47 Patton tanks ... up to 856 M-47 were assigned to armored regiments and used until the 70s when they were replaced by the AMX-30.

 

This new project will therefore be a french M-47 ... still have to research before chosing registration number, regiment and foremost name !!

 

I'll use the Italeri M-47 (didn't want to wait for the Takom new kit ... next time) with DEF model's detail set and Friul tracks ... I began the build today, the kit is very nice with crisp details and easy to adjust.

 

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Cheers, E

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A good choice, is a very good kit for its age, and price, also if you are adding extras, you will look better.
A few months ago, I finished one the same, I had in a closet more than 10 years ago ...
:popcorn:
In case you have not seen it and you are interested, below of this post, there is a link to the RIP of the (THE OLDE GENERAL M47 PATTON)

Cheers E. :D

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2 hours ago, Carius said:

The Italeri M-47 Patton is an old but great kit IMHO.

I love the Operation Musketeer M-47 version.

Have fun my friend.

 

Thanks Cesar B) ... Indeed, the kit is not new but it's very nice and a pleasure to build !!

 

1 hour ago, FrancisGL said:

A good choice, is a very good kit for its age, and price, also if you are adding extras, you will look better.
A few months ago, I finished one the same, I had in a closet more than 10 years ago ...
:popcorn:
In case you have not seen it and you are interested, below of this post, there is a link to the RIP of the (THE OLDE GENERAL M47 PATTON)

Cheers E. :D

 

Hello Francis ... yes, I saw your M-47 and it's very nice, that's why I decided to build one ;)

 

27 minutes ago, Bullbasket said:

I like the look of this. Does it have decals for a French vehicle included?

 

John.

 

Yes, John, there's decals for a french tank in the kit ... but I don't know if I'll use these or try some homemade markings (with archer dry transfer for instance ...)

 

Cheers, E

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Hello gents,

 

I finally had time the last 2 days to work on the M-47 B) ... after mowing, running, shopping and cooking :huh:

 

I began with the attachment for the gun protection ... the original ones on the kit are undersized and not very nice, and because the resin kit has some nice PE fasteners, I deleted the existing details and added brackets on the sides of the gun ... that was only the first symptom of a very well known but still incurable disease, rivetositis !!

 

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You can see I also tried to reproduce the cast texture on the turret and hull ... I don't have Mr Surfacer 500 that seems to be the most used product for that duty, and I don't like lacquer thinned products as I have much problems with the fumes, so I decided to use a mix of primer and putty for the turret and only primer for the hull.

 

The effect is nice, but I don't know exactly what will be visible after painting ... anyway, the cast texture is rather soft on M-47, so it will probably do the trick.

 

Next step was to make the brackets for the rear lights, before installing the PE ... I drilled a small hole to receive the wiring :P

 

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Detailing of the rear ... and replaced the original tow cable bracket, that is awfull and far too small, with one coming from my AMX-30 kit and added drain bolts on the rear transmission boxes and several others bolts.

 

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I had a severe crisis of rivetositis during the afternoon and added bolts everywhere on the suspensions ... that was a good crisis session !!
 

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Here is the result for today ... takes shape but still much work to do ;)

 

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Cheers, E

Edited by Etienne
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21 hours ago, Hamden said:

A very nice start looking forward to watching this progress

 

   Roger

 

Thanks Roger, it's a very pleasant build ... a good base kit for upgrade B)

 

8 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

Good progress on this Etienne, but I have some bad news for you. Rivetositis is incurable!!:worry:

 

John.

 

Thanks John ... so I'll have to live with this disease :P

 

Sunday's update before going back to work ... I detailed the gun's protection attachements and could only note that the kit's original fastener are wrongly positioned, too bad I placed my brackets at the same places, I had to redo the work !!

 

Anyway, now it looks fine B)

 

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Also added the mufflers, the DEF models resin parts are very well made and fit perfectly !!

 

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Here is the result of the week end's session ... I really like the look of this tank ;)

 

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Next update next week end ... cheers, E

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Hello gents,

 

today, the Patton got its shoes ... its tracks, sorry :P ... Friuls ones, not much to say, nice and crisp and easy to assemble.

 

I know I am far from the skills of the master scratchbuilders present on this forum ... but still trying to enhance the kit with wiring for the front lights ^_^

 

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Takes shape slowly ... a very interesting build in any case B) 

 

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Cheers, E

Edited by Etienne
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Great stuff! I've never been a great fan of post war US tanks but this is definitely making me reconsider. I'm going to follow this one closely. :D

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4 minutes ago, Thud4444 said:

This is slightly off topic, but what reference sources are you using? I've got a few French tanks I want to build but finding information on French tanks from the 50s has been very difficult.

 

Hello, I found many photos here ... http://www.chars-francais.net/2015/index.php

 

Hope this helps ;) E

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13 hours ago, Thud4444 said:

This is slightly off topic, but what reference sources are you using? I've got a few French tanks I want to build but finding information on French tanks from the 50s has been very difficult.

In addition to the sites already mentioned, try this one. Don't think that there are in actual French vehicles, but it's all M-47.

http://svsm.org/gallery/m47_family

John.

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Hello gents,

 

thanks for your likes and comments ... no sunday update, my goddaughter went to say hello so it was family time today B)

 

Cheers, E

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Hello gents,

 

holiday's update ... mostly PE and resin, brush guards, hinges, brackets etc. ... plus the M1919 MG barrel B)

 

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I completed and attached the stowage bow to the turret ... at first, I was planning to use resin or PE tie down cleats, but neither was satisfying so I hand made cleats with fuze wire ^_^

 

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The DEF exhaust muffler's covers are really nicely made and easy to assemble ... gives the Patton a nice look, just dry fitted, they will be painted separately.

 

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Last work for the day, the tool kit ... PE brackets and resin tools ...

 

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Cheers, E

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