A little French Fancy - R35 Light Tank (Tamiya 1:35)***Finished***

[SimonL]

With my Panzer II pretty much done, I’m still not ready to go back to my Vespid Centurion. I felt while building the Panzer II my brushwork could do with some practice, and saw this little beauty in the LHS. 
 

 

It’s another light tank, which continues this year’s theme - definitely not a subject I would usually do, but it just looks so attractive. 

It’s a relatively recent release (2020 according to Scalemates). Sprue shots show typical Tamiya quality, although also some rather small parts. Close look shows some beautiful restrained cast texture. Oh, and it’s tiny. 

 

 

 

(2 x this sprue)

 

Small, colourful, decal sheet.

 

 

Rather nice full colour painting and markings guide. 
 

 

I just so happen to have all of the listed Tamiya acrylics bar the red-brown colour, but I think I have something to cover that. It will give me the excuse to use up my Tamiya stocks. I’ve looked around for advice on the colours, but I gather there is a certain amount of vagueness that will be let me just plough ahead and use these paints. My main concern at present is how will I deal with the black lines demarcating each of the colours. Any suggestions?

Edited December 15, 2024 by SimonL

[Rob G]

It's a delightful wee kit, typical Tamiya. It's about 2000% better than the Trumpeter H35. Both are on my list of 'things wot I gots ta finish orf'. The real thing is quite petite, I plan on adding at least one figure alongside it to lend some scale.

 

For the black lines on French armour, I've been playing about with a very dark grey Posca paint pen. Water based paint, so able to be washed off if I make an utter hash of it. I'm not at home right now so cannot tell you the model and colour, but if you're interested I'll let you know later.

[SimonL]

Sounds interesting - once dry will I be able to paint waters based acrylic varnish over the Posca lines?

[Milan Mynar]

Nice kit, I like it.

[Hamden]

 

Interesting project I'll follow along and watch the magic happen

 

           Roger

[Rob G]

3 hours ago, SimonL said:

Sounds interesting - once dry will I be able to paint waters based acrylic varnish over the Posca lines?

 

And there lies a question... I have no idea. What varnish in particular are you planning to use, and how will it be applied? I'll do some tests.

[SimonL]

Ah, brushed on acrylic floor polish 🙂

[Courageous]

Interesting subject and the schemes would test me.

 

Stuart

[Rob G]

10 hours ago, SimonL said:

Ah, brushed on acrylic floor polish 🙂

 

Thanks. An Experiment is in Progress. I shall Communicate further when I have more data. 

[SimonL]

Thanks @Rob G, I’m planning to try out some different approaches as well, we can compare notes!

[veenee]

I am going to watch this one closely, as I bought the same kit only yesterday 🙂

[Rob G]

OK... some test results.

 

Posca pen directly on to a bare plastic food container (it's upside down, deal with it ) Turns out that I have black pens, not dark grey. Memory, eh.

 

Right side, 12 hr cure of Posca pen, then 2 heavy, brushed coats of genuine US-spec Kleer, 15+ years old, a couple of minutes apart. As can be seen, the Posca paint softened and bloomed.

 

Left side, 24hr cure, then one light coat as above, second heavier coat 12hrs later. Seems to be ok.

 

 

24 hr cure, light coats, and on a painted base look like a solution. As always, a live test off the model with your products is a Good Idea (tm).

 

The other thought that I'd had would be a drafting pen and thinned paint, but quality drafting pens are almost impossible to buy these days.

[Rob G]

Another option would be to use a Sharpie or similar, but I've always found black felt pen inks to be blueish (because they usually are), which doesn't look right.

[SimonL]

Thanks @Rob G. Not yet decided how I’ll go. Here are the paints I intend to use, all as per the instructions other than using MiG AMMO Old rust for the red-brown colour (which Tamiya suggests their Hull Red for).

 

I has a go using these colours on a bit of scrap, which is a similar sandy-yellow plastic as the kit. I tried a fine point Sharpie, which as you say looks a bit bluish, so I went over it as carefully as I could with Vallejo NATO Black. It’s a bit rough, but what do you think? Under some weathering and a Matt varnish I think it should be ok.

 

 

 

Meanwhile I made a start on the hull, which went together pretty well. Cleaning up the seams did inevitably remove some of the cast texture, so I stippled some Mr Surfacer to attempt to recover it. It’s not that it’s a bad fit at all, and on the sides is going to be pretty much covered up by other bits anyway.

 

 

 

 

It is very small, not much larger than my Airfix Sherman Firefly in 1:72 scale.

The main armament is very fiddly and there was a nasty seam at the top, here is the interim stage. More Mr Surfacer will be needed to completely blend in the seams as this is meant to be a single cast piece. The coaxial MG was very troublesome (in a Bronco kit sort of way, if you know what I mean) and I ended up having to replace it with some spare scrap rod.

 

 

The main running gear bits were all painted on the sprue with Olive green and using Tamiya X85 Rubber Black for the tires and what I assume are shock absorbers. I also built and painted the sprocket and idlers, which were pretty straightforward. There was also the cupola for the turret, which had these little  hook like features which, while appearing tiny, where actually quite easy as they fitted from inside.

 

 

 

[Milan Mynar]

Nice progress SimonL.

[Rob G]

The black lining looks good. I'm useless with a brush (too much shake), so I'll stick with the pen, I think.

 

I use Tamiya liquid cement for texturing - give the area 3 or 4 good soakings with the cement, allow it to soak in, then stipple with a toothbrush. Sand gently to remove pointy high spots.

 

Those turret hooks are little gems, aren't they? Absolutely fantastic piece of design.

[ColonelKrypton]

On 11/7/2024 at 4:49 AM, SimonL said:

Sounds interesting - once dry will I be able to paint waters based acrylic varnish over the Posca lines?

 

Posca pens are a good quality water based acrylic paint and once fully cured are quite resilient, at least in my experience with their use.

 

Water based acrylic paints will dry fairly quickly but are not fully cured at that point. Fully cure takes some time and I usually wait at least 24 hours.

 

Kleer ( and it's various other names ) is not a true water based finish. Years ago when I first tried this product I had occasional issues with using it over other products. Gave it up and went to using good quality varnishes like Winsor & Newton acrylic varnish or one of the Vallejo or AK interactive products. However, I most often use one of the Tamiya or Mr Hobby clear coats in the spray cans using light misty coats to acheive whatever matte or semi gloss finish I want. 

 

As to Sharpies.  These are alcohol based and will bleed through top paint layers and are quite to susceptible to anything applied on top of them. These would be my last choice.

 

The newish AK Interactive markers  https://ak-interactive.com/product-category/paints/rc-markers/  are a good quality water based acrylic paint marker and work quite well. Not always the easiest to find in stores as they seem to sell out quickly. Their advantage over Posca markers is their availability in more traditional AFV colours.

 

I have always had a soft spot for early WWII French armour. the R35 was more like a sports car compared to the Char B1 but each has their own charm.

 

Your build is coming nicely.

 

cheers, Graham

[SimonL]

Thanks @Rob G @Milan Mynar and @ColonelKrypton. Still undecided on the final approach I will take. I don’t think the LHS has the AK interactive paint pens - anyone has experience of the Gundam markers?

[AndyK2479]

On 11/11/2024 at 10:07, SimonL said:

Thanks @Rob G @Milan Mynar and @ColonelKrypton. Still undecided on the final approach I will take. I don’t think the LHS has the AK interactive paint pens - anyone has experience of the Gundam markers?

I've got a set of Gundam markers that I mainly use to 'dot in' colours where its easier than using a fine tipped brush.

 

I've seen them recommended for this kit somewhere else, may have been on a YouTube build video. 

 

[SimonL]

Thanks @AndyK2479, I’ll take a look. Just a little progress to report. Running gear bogies painted and completed. I’ve also put a couple of coats of olive green on the lower part of the hull.

 

[Lothian man]

I used to use 

 

-matt Humbrol enamel. 

-water based Rotring drawing ink with a Rotring pen of the right thickness.

-matt polyurethane (?) Microscale clear varnish - hydrocarbon solvent based. 

 

Worked a treat. 

 

Now ... no idea where to get a hydrocarbon based varnish esp one that doesnt' yellow. And not so sure about water based varnishes.

 

But I have very recently used pens from Sakura Pigma Micron to do the lining in WW1 camouflage, on a Gruson turret by CSM. The pens are effectively disposable Rotrings of different widths, I think? This was on top of (dried!) Polly Scale, Aeromaster, Lifecolor etc. acrylics of different colours. It looked perfectly OK in the end, though I didn't risk varnishing the turret but just stuck the turret to its rails and held it by the rails to put it in the display case! Not risking handling!

 

The lady at the specialist pen shop did suggest Posca pens - instructions re varnishing here in case any were different from yours ... but I didn't try them so am watching this thread with interest as I have an unpainted R35 which I woild like to do in 8 colours plus black!

 

https://cultpens.com/products/uni-posca-marker-pen-pc-1mr-ultra-fine

 

I've also just bought, but not tried out, a few of the acrylic brush pens by AK Real Colors Markers, which look good for the thicker lines of varying width, even raggedness, one sometimes has to do. If those acrylic paints do set, then they should be varnishable even by brush. However, the thickness is tricky to control and they're probably no good for the very fine lines on many vehicles such as the R35, although great for some projects. 

 

BTW re the R35 - the old Heller kit isn't bad when compared with the new one, apart from the ghastly tracks: surprisingly good, actually, though the tracks are what swing it to Tamiya for me, no argument at all. Plus the Heller kit did have spare parts for the earlier turret binocular episcopes, and drilled out idlers to do an (I think?) earlier vehicle than Tamiya, as well. Too late for you, but might be worth a rummage in the spares box for anyone else doing it. 

[SimonL]

Thanks @Lothian man, I’ve moved away totally from hydrocarbon based solvents. So much easier to clean up for me. Still haven’t quite decided how I’m going to do the lines yet - I’m loath to shell out for something I will just use once!

 

Anyway, some progress. Finished construction of the back of the hull. Some very un-Tamiya small bits, which fitted as per Tamiya usual.

 

 

Then mostly focused on the turret.

 

 

some seams needed some attention, and then out with the Mr Surfacer to replace the cast texture.

 

 

I painted on a base coat of Desert Yellow, then knocked back the added texture a bit where it was a little extreme. Then a final coat of Desert Yellow, and the turret is ready for the camouflage pattern.

 

 

In the background are the bogies which have been prepared for weathering with a couple of brushed on coats of floor polish.

 

[Hamden]

 

Nice steady progress Simon, looking forward to more of the same

 

           Roger

[Milan Mynar]

_{Nice progress SimonL.}

[SimonL]

Thanks Roger and Milan. Gradual progress. Turret now has the main colours blocked in. I did my best to copy the pattern using pencil, then brush painted the different colours, leaving plenty of time between each one. It looks a bit stark, but hopefully the weathering will tone it down a bit.