Wow, my second tank finished this year! The ARL 44 Heavy from France. Very bizarre AFV. I’m not going to bore with details, you can go here for the full story but it’s another weird AFV I love these so much.
The Amusing kit is fantastic. I blanched a bit at the complex suspension system but it went together without any issues. All in all it’s one of the best fitting 1/35th tank kits I’ve ever built.
BIG thanks to Stikpusher, GMorrison, and Capt Mac for helping me with the French tank crew. They’re not entirely accurate but they should be close enough. And not sure the guy is right for a French farmer but I wanted a guy to indicate the size of the tank and he’s all I had.
As usual any of these you can click on of the photos for a bigger picture:
A very nice build of an uncommon tank! Until Amusing Hobby came out with the kit, I was unaware of the ARL44. I wonder what the designers were thinking when they decided to put the OVM tools on the front glacis plate?
I guess putting the tools on the front glacis plate makes them easy to get to. Makes sense for a peacetime tank- but yeah kinda bad idea for combat…
BTW: This was the second Amusing kit I’ve built. I’m on number three now- their British Conqueror Mk II. They’d not as detailed as Takom or Dragon but the fit is fantastic.
Very nice work my friend, I see your flare for the figures and base with cobbled stone pavement, leaves and mud tracks. This will be a great addition to your collection.
That built up incredibly well, just an outstanding build.
Nick Moran would be able to tell you better, but, from what I remember of his accounts of the French war, those were laagered in the rear, being held “in reserve” doe a push that never coalesced.
What’s still amazing to me is that the Germans never repurposed them.
Those cobblestones are great. It might have wanted the farmer to be leading a cow, but you leapt more than enough hurdles for this.
Mike: Lol, I sprayed the base with matte varnish but it still looks shiny. I decided I liked the shiny ‘wet’ look so I just left it that way.
The base was a cobblestone rolling pin from Green Stuff World in Spain. You just cover the base in plaster and then roll the pin over it granting a cobblestone finish.
The plaster had some dips in it that didn’t cover completly so I added some leaves over the bad areas. Here also I used a Green Stuff World product - a leaf punch. You just stick a leaf, coloured paper, or whatever in there and punch out a miniature ‘leaf’.
Captain: Thanks! This was a post-war tank though. The French didn’t start production until 1944 when the Germans were run out of France. I like the idea of a cow, and I have Tamiya’s livestock set- I may have to stick a cow in a future build…
