1/35 Scale FT-17

The annual modeling show is coming up tomorrow, so I have spent a little time this week putting the finishing touches on this beauty.  I have always had a soft spot for World War I tanks, and the FT-17 is my favorite.

The kit is from Meng, and it is a brilliant design.  The tracks snap together and stay together.  I have not glued these, and I never will.

I started by airbrushing the model all over with brown.  I used Silly Putty to mask out areas for the yellow and green.  Once the basic colors were on, I airbrushed a very thin coat of the yellow to tie all the colors together.

I did a light oil wash of raw umber, then applied a heavy pin wash to all those rivets.  I tried something new, spraying dullcote through the airbrush (after a coat of acrylic clear), but it did not work too well.  The tank got nice and flat, but I got some fogging.

After the basic painting and weathering was done, I broke out my ground pigments.  All of the tank got a light application of dust pigment.  I used darker colors on the bottom of the tank and the suspension.

Here you can see my one big mistake on the build, but I'm not going to tell what it is until after the show!

The model has a great interior, if you want to leave the hatches open.

I just love the look of this little vehicle.

The kit came with all kinds of photoetched parts, which paint up nicely.

It's not a perfect model, and I have to find someplace to build that's free of cat hairs, but I had a blast with this one.