RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

A search shows that no one has yet done much with the TongDe Chaffee, so here's my simple build. (My unboxing blabber and photos are at: viewtopic.php?p=375380#p375380.)

1) I wanted to change the RTR camouflage simply because it is similar to a WWII German Tri-Color.

2) Seeing MrChef's attempt at Black Basing, I wanted to try the technique. Shock! I had no black acrylic primer (I will get some.) However, I do have plenty of Vallejo's Dunkelgrau primer, seemingly close enough for the effect. I also do not have any photos of the all-black stage . Too bad: for about 48 hours I had a Dunkelgrau M24 Chaffee Beutepanzer.

3) Now I have sprayed on some Vallejo FS Olive Drab, good ol' " 'Murrican" tank color. I picked up two online tips for more easily "marbling" the paint. One is to use pulled-apart steel wool (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1TJSLoQqZY&t=143s). The other is to use a special mask available on eBay (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnerFV2nT_I). Since I had steel wool, I used the first. Here are some photos of the results. More anon (i.e. soon, well, maybe soon).

That looks good

Hi Doc - good to see something different like the Chaffee. Are you going for a Vietnam theme?

I appreciate you said it would be a quick build, but it would be great to see you erase those blobby bolts from the front of the tank and replace them with something crisper. Doesn't have to be expensive, hexagonal rod is quite modest in price.

Estnische: I'm afraid I will disappoint you. Ouch! I now see what you mean by "blobby bolts." I wish I had noticed and thought about those much earlier. But I have so many projects, so many with little errors, and so little time, that I am blobbing on. My apologies to you and all who can do so much better than I.

Doyle, David. M24 Chaffee, Vol. 1: American Light tank in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Legends of Warfare; Ground. Schiffer Military, 2019. ISBN978-0-7643-5859-3.

I considered Vietnam as the French use them as well as the U.S. in Korea. As I am the son of a U.S. WWII veteran, long deceased, if a tank served in WWII, I tend to prefer it that way. Moreover the Walker Bulldog was replacing the Chaffee (although not in U.S. service). I did notice that the carrier rack on the back of the TongDe is said to be anachronistic for WWII, yet Doyle's book shows a photo of one on 4 May, 1944. Certainly such a rack was on M4 Shermans.

Here are some photos of the TongDe Chaffee, now in its Olive Drab base coat over the "black basing" technique. The camera shows some of the tonal variation, as does magnification, and it looks even more subtle to my bad old eyes. If I use the technique again, I will use a flat black primer and perhaps a lighter tone of the base paint. I would also use the technique of a special mask as recommended in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnerFV2nT_I. The pulled-apart steel wool worked for me, but it left some fuzz, a nuisance I easily sanded out and resprayed.

Amazing work mate
sometimes until its pointed out that something is wrong/not correct that we notice it but file it away for future builds

I decided that since this was not to be so much a build as a finishing, I used AK mud, Magic Grime, a wash, and whatnot more I cannot even remember. The black basing paint technique was subtle, so it is obscured by weathering.
I cannot bring to mind any other tank that has a "windshield (windscreen) for the driver. I thought about filling the holes and skipping it, but WWII photos show it. So I added a clear window, wishing all along that TongDe had provided a clear window in the kit.
No registration number came with the TongDe markings; rather, I found 30127281 from my folder of decals left over from some other U.S. tank, likely an M4. The TongDe markings do include the stars for the sides of the turret and the big one for the front. Of course, such a big star on the front says "Shoot me here!" So in keeping with U.S. tanker practice, I skipped it. (Some tankers covered the stars with mud. But I noticed in photos that a number of Chaffees retained the turret stars.)
The Chaffee comes with a rear carrier curiously held in place by a rather too squarish tarp roll. The carrier is anachronistic for WWII, so I skipped it, filling the holes. (Some WWII photos show a somewhat smaller carrier with an open heavy wire mesh basket, but it seems that not all Chaffees were supplied with one.)
You might notice in this photo that the turret bustle is open on the bottom. I was disappointed that it is so, but left it because the tank is rarely seen from this low angle. Were I to do another TongDe Chaffee, I would fill the emptiness.
I cannot confirm that the gun-cleaning rods were ever mounted on the left side. However, I know from photos that tool placement on U.S. tanks varied greatly from unit to unit, maybe even among tanks in a given unit. So I decided to move the cleaning rods from the rear to the left side where there seems to be plenty of room.
I did some Photoshop adjusting, but this overhead shot still looks way too green. The Vallejo paint certainly is not so.
I could see that the thick, plastic antennae supplied with the kit were just waiting to be broken and would certainly prevent the tank's going back in packing. So I cut off the plastic antennae and added brass stock ones. I had no steel stock of the right size, so I primed the brass and painted it steel.

Wow Herr Dr that looks brilliant mate you have done a good job on it

Thank you: you are kind, Alan. Of course, for weathering we both know that, e.g. HERMAN BIX is a real pro!

Yeh he and others are awesome at weathering and wearing of their tanks
But i really do like what youve done and could be my next step along that road