Bonjour! We have something a bit different today. This is a French tank from the Great War, and it is a very special one because it is considered to be the tank that changed all, and the first modern tank. Until the Renault FT-17 showed up, all the tanks were basically massive steel boxes with cannons and/or machine guns on the sides and in the front of the hull. This tank was revolutionary, firstly because of its size; being very light and manoeuvrable, it was able to go where heavier tanks just didn’t dare, and secondly because of the revolving turret. Yes, this was the first tank with a revolving turret on top!
There were two versions of the tank with the main difference being the turret. The “Girod” turret, which was the early version, and the “Berliet” turret, which was the mid and late one. Meanwhile the Girod version was made with casted steel and a rounded shape, the Berliet was hexagonal with bolted plates. This one was cheaper and easier to produce but I like it more, because IMHO it fits the tank’s hull/body much better.
Besides that, and as a curiosity, the tanks were considered male or female depending the weapon they were carrying. If it was a Hotchkinss machine gun they were considered female and if it was the 37mm Puteaux cannon they were considered male. I was unsure of which weapon to fit on mine, so I put the machine gun in the turret and the cannon in the tail of one of the tanks. Not sure if replacing the weapon makes a transgender tank of it, lol, but if yes, so let it be! Here, at Rad Industries, we are LGTBI+ friendly.
But hey, we are here for talking about the kit! Thanks to my lovely wife, I got a “Takom” kit, in my beloved 1/16 scale. This was my first Takom kit and I must say that I found a beautiful toy with astonishing quality. The parts fit as good as in the Tamiya kits, and the feel of the plastic is also as good as Tamiya or maybe even better, but every single part is much more detailed. You can even open the hatches, which come with hinges, so, go and figure. This model comes with some extra bits and even an, Oh là là!, fully detailed interior. The building process was long but very easy to follow due to a well made and clear manual. Seriously, I was really surprised about the kit quality, much better than what I found in my Trumpeter’s T34 or other brands meanwhile it was also reasonably priced.
I liked so much, that for the first and the last time in my modelling history, I had to get two, because I enjoyed it a lot. Having full interior to build and paint exponentially multiplies the fun. Oui, it has the fuel tank, oil tank, radiator, four-in-line engine, transmission and even machine gun ammo drums. Don’t worry, if you decide to assemble the cannon version it comes with 37mm ammunition racks too, but sadly without the rounds.
I decided to not to glue the motor, radiator and fuel tank, so I can extract them for diorama purposes.
As far as I know, there are at least four versions of the kit. Some come with the Giraud turret, some with the Berliet turret, and the kits I have to my fortune comes with both. Due to that I ended having two spare turrets I had the idea of using them as ground defense cannons along my diorama, and they do the trick.
Painting process.
After the basic primer spray, I did not know which color scheme to use. The nice box art suggested the use of German Panzergrau as it was in WW2 service under German flag, either captured or under Vichys regime. Even when tempting, I already had my Panzer III and a Panzer 38(t) wearing the grey, so, I considered it boring and discarded the idea besides of the need of more allied tanks. I took a look at the tank encyclopedia for gathering ideas and inspiration and then I decided to do my own, I wanted each tank to be different to anything I had, and I can’t be happier of it.
The only thing is I was reluctant to try that three tone camo in the “Chevalier” tank, because I was unsure of the end result. In fact it did look awful until I put those black stripes on it, separating the camouflage patches. That did the trick, now it looks sweeeeet to me.
Oh, and of course all those markings, numbers, names and hearts and spades were painted with my own stencils and the nice set of decals went to Ebay.
They are lovely, aren’t they? Good quality, great looking, reasonably priced and with sturdy tracks for those who might want to RC it.
I don’t want to finish this entry without giving thanks once again to my dear wife for getting this kit for me. I love you!
Oh, L’amour! Mon Chéri, Omolette du Fromage…
RAD INDUSTRIES 
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