That nicely shows the differences between the KPz 70 (Dragon) and MBT 70 (Commanders), too. The initial German prototypes also had the bins on the front corners and the vertical engine deck sides (they hold the deep-wading snorkels) but these were changed for the later prototypes.
I had a devil of a time thinking up a good way to represent the mirror, because on the real tank, the optical devices are actually vertical and the housings contain only a mirror with the linkages necessary to adjust it to alter the viewing angle. I eventually arrived at some trickery: build the face of the viewer at the bottom and at the back of the housing, and then just put a clear piece of plastic diagonally between them to represent the mirror:
This is T30 number one with conjectural markings intended to represent the vehicle at some forgotten point in time while serving as a test vehicle. (A gate guard would not have tools fitted.)
All three periscopes went missing so the model does not have any. If things go as usual, they will turn up 6 months from now in something like a submarine box. When that happens, the T30 will receive a minor retrofit.
The coolest part about this model is that the big stars on the side of the turret came from a 1/48 scale Monogram F-8 Crusader that I built as a kid.
I thought I would join the melee, but as virtually everthing I build these days never got off the drawingboard (and for very good reasons) I picked something that was at least made into a wooden mock-up.
The less than petit Char FCM-F1.
This is a hideous 1/48 3D print I got from eBay, printed with nylon spool stuff, I spent hours filling and sanding her smooth. Still not great though, one day I’ll get one in 1/35th.
Added a little pilot just for scale
It was indeed! As you pointed out - all very efficient.
I must somehow, despite the distraction, summon up some self-discipline from somewhere,and finish my RMP Berlin Wall project before tackling it. I do have some plans for it though!
'Love the Char too - I mean that’s a beast and a half.
I don’t wish to bore the @rse off everyone with my addiction.
But I think that this, the Char BB is one of my proudest model achievments.
The full build is over on ML
But here is a flavour of a super stupid design. With Paint
I have tons of this stupid stuff, Russians were mad for extra turrets, but almost every major power went down the multi-turret route at some point. Regretably most of my stuff is not painted yet. Bad Lou
