RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Another beautiful build. I do get visions of you making the tips of the cigarettes light up, and a working arm, putting the cigarette to the mouth of one of the soldiers or the commander and the tip glowing brighter, as if they a taking a “drag”.

Thank you Manu-Military, Kaczor, Herman, PainlessWolf and Meter rat,
With practice, things seems to get easier with every build. I need to push things further to create challenges. Its fun to explore and try new things. This is where i am in my knowledge and skill path. I like building stuff with my hands, i've always been a hands on guy. I've looked at buying a 3D printer during the holidays and i am sorry to say, i find it really too complicated for me to have fun with it. So, we all have our own ways and skill sets. For the time being, i'll stay with my plasticard and brass strips, and let smarter guys deal with 3D printing.

Continuing with the build.

The first aid kit box is installed on the left fender. The box is coming with the Tamiya M-26 Pershing sprue that has the commander's cupola. It finally arrived last week after being stuck 45 days in Frankfurt with the 1/16 Heller Stug III ordered from Axel. Wow, people, that Stug will be superb, comes with Schurzen, metal barrel, detailed gun breech but no interior. That gun breech can be used on open top vehicles armed with the Pak40 instead of being hidden inside.
Trying the 1/16 Aber US antenna kit no 16055 for the first time. What i thought was a pack of 5 antennas is actually a single one in 5 sections that can be linked together for a giant antenna, and a small etched part if the antenna is positioned bended with a retention wire. However, there is enough material here to create the two separate antennas that i need for the M24.
The Aber radio antennas are mounted on the M24, two sections for each. As Conti was a Command tank, code named "Bison Authority" at Dien Bien Phu, i felt it was important to show mounted antennas.
Now, the Aber .50 machine gun ammo belt. Can't believe i am doing this again.
Same as last time, two rods are applied on each link and the etched fingers are folded around the rods using the tip of a blade.
Perfection is humanly impossible to achieve with these links, i have to be happy with what i can achieve. Still, it's not bad.
Individual etched links are put on one by one, then a brass ammo round is inserted with a small drop of superglue under it to keep it in place. Then the fingers are finetuned in place. This is real small. A belt of 30 rounds is created in about 3 hours
Keep in mind that the ABER M2 .50 cal ammo boxes are M2A1 boxes introduced in the 1950s, these are not WW2 boxes, so be careful regarding using these for a WW2 tank. Even for this build, i am not too sure if the M2A1 boxes were in use in 1954 Vietnam. Anyway, they look good and the individual ammo is really meant to fit in them because the box walls are very thin, as they should be. I have two boxes, one has its lid removed to fit in the cradle mount and arming the M2, the other, shown closed as extra ammo, is placed at the foot of the M2 base.
continuing right away on following post

The Browning M2 is armed. I put in a black plasticard part inside the box to raise the ammo at about half level. I always showed the ammo box completely full on previous builds, but it is realistic to make it half empty with such a nice ammo box, as shown here. A 30 round belt is enough to create two layers of ammo inside the box, and load the tip of the belt in the machine gun. I do not think it can get better than this for the cost and the few hours of work involved. The Browning M2 on top of a 1/16 RC tank is so visible, its worth going an extra step to make it look real good.
I really like this new box, it is adding much to the realism instead of the thicker resin boxes. And forget about using the Tamiya ammo box that comes with the M2, its too small to take the ammo.
You can see the overlapping ammo.
The belt is in, first ammo round is ready to be charged.
I was not happy with the smaller figure that i put on the right fender with its small back pack with no explanation as to what he was doing there. I studied some pictures to give me some ideas. I think the French were using the American VHF AN/PRC-10 portable radio, as shown on the back of the soldier encircled in red in front of Conti. The picture is vague, i am not sure but it does look like an AN/PRC-10, narrower, thinner and longer than the more common WW2 era SCR-300 seen elsewhere in Indochina and still later in Algeria. Here we go, he will be a radio man. I'll call him "le p'tit radio" (the short guy with the radio).
Details on the AN/PRC-10 radio, aka "Prick 10". Introduced in 1951, it replaced the bulkier SCR-300, but still used crystals. It was replaced by the transistorized AN/PRC-25 in the mid 1960s.
I decided to repro an AN/PRC-10. Recreated in plasticard. It was simpler than anticipated.
The backpack is recreated in brass.
Continuing on following post

Now, "le p'tit radio" is much more interesting than before, and integrates better with the three officers for the historical vignette on the tank.
The other soldiers were a bit more finetuned, thinned and with slings added to their guns. These figures were initially created by AC models. They were heavily modified and thinned because i think they were too much loaded and bulky, especially the legs. These are still impressive and massive figures, a good representation of Foreign Legion strong men.
The base for this figure is the same as the one above. Its backpack has been completely removed, body thinned, arms repositioned, and the head comes from the 1/16 Kirin Soviet VDV figure, leftover from the Soviet BMP-1 Afghanistan build from a few years ago.
This officer is equipped with a WW2 SCR-536 "walkie-talkie" in the left hand, and a M1 carbine with extended folding stock on the back.
continuing on following post

Showing the updated figures on the static vignette.
That's it for now. Next step, the tie-downs and some more finetuning.

Regards, Louis

Louis,

Wow, simply wow! I had a set of Aber 8mm belted MG rounds, didn't even think about going there! I gifted them to Jimster for helping me with some issues. He seemed to have no trouble with them. I didn't feel like sending away for some super small Swiss surgical instruments designed for use on mice!

Cheers,
Eric.

"Wow, simply wow!" Whew! Astounding work, isn't it? First the tank, and now the figures and their equipment!

Thank you Eric and Herr Dr. Professor !

Final touch on the model itself before painting.

Hub caps are a problem for the M41 and are also for the M24. They need to have 4 pins instead of 6. View of the M24 roadwheels.
However, the Shapeways 4 pins M41 hub caps are too thick. And no comments on the grainy material used which is visible at close ups.
At least i could thin the base a bit.
Looking a bit better. They are held in place with a few drops of superglue as they should remain removable for heavy maintenance when required, without destroying them...
. View of the tie down style used on the M24.
Done in thin 0.5mm brass rod for a realistic scale. The process of bending these had a 50% casualty rate. I will have to make more.
Last views of the model before painting.
Next step, painting planning on following post.

Louis

Few pictures exist of the M24 in battle at DIen Bien Phu. After the surrender, all photographic French material was seized by the Viets and their Soviet propaganda advisors. Their idea to represent the battle to the world and for posterity was to make reprehensive patriotic post battle reconstitutions. It shows lot of Viets running around over French positions, smoke and communist flag weavings. It shows French forces surrendering, exposing these prisoners to humiliations, looking weak and miserable, then walking in mass toward their death in concentration camps, Stalingrad style. An experienced team led by Russian film maker Roman Karmen was sent to Dien Bien Phu to manage the filming of this propaganda picture.

The few pictures seems to have been taken early.

I only found one color picture of a French M24 in Indochina, looks like Dien Bien Phu because of the camo pattern on the tank, the plain and mountains in the background. But it could also be anywhere in Tonkin. The soldiers are at rest, the situation seems peaceful before any battle or incoming artillery, the guys are smiling, its sunny with beautiful blue sky, not the monsoon, with a intact tent and French flag in the background. If it is Dien Bien Phu, it is early before fighting broke out. The picture shows what seems to be light green and red brown camo lines over Olive drab, with a lot of yellow dust on the chassis. The red brown might actually be made of local earth. Note the very large tarp wrapping the M2 Browning. This tank has a different configuration than Conti, with different items around it, including fender configuration, metal boxes for storage, ammo box on right side of the turret, metal tracks.
Shown here are the best two black and white pictures of Conti, showing the name "CONTI" over a black rectangle on both sides of the turret, and the overall camo style on the turret side, with the exact color difficult to determine.
Note the camo lines well visible over the mantlet. The marking on the upper glacis has been interpreted by Star Decals as being a small French flag, followed by " IC 94264", with a badly centered black "20" over a yellow square on the lower hull.
The Bronco kit provides camo schemes for some tanks at DBP. The camo seems to be heavy on the yellow sand color lines. Colors and markings for the tank "Bazeille" below are not consistent with other camo or decal sources. But it is technically possible that camo and markings were redone multiple times over the four months at Dien Bien Phu. The blood of crewmen and of the dead soldiers that were pilled up on the rear deck of tanks returning to base might have required multiple washing with new camo applied.
One option is to show the tank when it arrived at DBP, in plain US Olive drab.
Some web search provided some interesting display. Not sure where the author took their reference and at which time these camo might have been used, but i did not find photographic evidence of this camo and lettering for the tank Conti.
Bison decals has a sheet on French Tanks in Indochina.
Again, i could not determine where this camo style for Conti might have been used.
Star Decals has an excellent decal sheet with painting info, which i purchased. It seems to have been thoroughly researched, and is a good match with available photographic references.
The idea is to be realistic, but considering my limited painting skills, it might be difficult to repro this camo, and have a good looking model. I will certainly try. If it ends up looking like a circus, Plan B is to repaint it Olive Drab and show the tank Conti as it was in the first few weeks at Dien Bien Phu before the application of camouflage.

Another color graph found on the web is great looking and is consistent with the camo shown on the Star Decals sheet with light green and red brown lines over Olive drab, with lots of yellow and earth dust on the running train. This is actually a very good looking camo and it will be my guide for the painting, i am still wondering how to do it through. I think i will have a couple of practice run before trying anything on the RC tank.
Next step, painting.

Regards, Louis