Schneider CA1 : The first French tank
Realization of the "beast"
First, the little experience I had of resin printing made me give up the idea of making small and thin parts like the barbed wire section. However on the photos these parts appear but are not used: The resin being too fragile, they would be immediately destroyed. In addition, it is advisable when designing the clusters to put several copies of the small parts which can be badly printed like the tail passes cut.
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Note in passing on the photograph opposite, the astonishing fineness of printing of the printer in standard resolution.
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As with previously designed wagons, some parts are photo-etched in 0.5nm brass. Among these parts, the tank commander's closing hatch, the side armor, the underside of the tail pass cut...
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The different parts will be carefully de-stemmed after having lightly "insulated" the bunch, cleaned in an ultrasonic bath and dried beforehand.
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Assembly of the different elements
View of the left side of the tank: we can see the springs made of welding wire with a diameter of 0.8mm. Also the plastic muffler, 1.5 mm in diameter, hollowed out at the end. The additional armor plate, here made of brass, was made of aluminum on other tanks so as to show traces of impacts.
The assembly does not lend itself to any particular comment except that the parts will be degreased before assembly.
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The assembly will be done using cyanoacrylate gel or liquid glue depending on the piece to be assembled.
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It will then be the turn of the assembly of the "ends of wire" of brass which represent the various railings and handles in 0.5nm and 0.8nm. The supports on the roof which in reality were added by the crews are used to hold the packages of the soldiers and the tools. This is a delicate point, you have to weld the horizontal railings directly on the tank after having glued the vertical parts to the body. A hot iron is recommended and a quick action avoids melting the model...
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On the other hand, it is necessary to re-drill the body in the places provided: I had seen on forums that if the holes were "clogged" at the end of the printing, it was necessary to modify the insolation parameters... I no matter how much you increase or decrease them, the drillings are always to be resumed during assembly!
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It is also necessary to think of blocking (with putty like Tamiya "Putty") the holes added to make the resin flow during the manufacturing process.
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The assembly finished, I spent two coats of automotive primer spray in gray color, color quite close to what I consider to be "artillery" gray, sanding down any defects between the two sprays.
On this rear view, we can see the brass parts placed under the cut-off tail, the towing hook, the tanks moved outwards on this model.
Also, you will notice that the additional armor is slightly offset as in reality from the hull: This prefigures the "spaced" armor of certain more modern machines.