I have looked over a lot of photos of the Char B1 and what stands out to me is it's rugged surface texture and raised detail. From the rough cast texture, seam lines and foundry marks to the large bolts, rolled plate steel and hard edges .
I really wanted to showcase these factory processes on my model, so first up I applied a casting seam line to the turret. The line runs all the way around the lower half of the turret. I made up some epoxy putty and rolled it to about 0.5 mm thick. Using a wet toothpick I applied the putty to the turret in small portions and moved it into place. Gently blending it to the turret and flattening it slightly.
Once that had dried I added texture to all of the parts that were cast steel. This was made up of 1:1 Tamiya's basic putty and extra thin cement. The mix was then applied to one small area at a time as it has a short working time. The cement in the mix would then soften the surface of the plastic, I used a stiff brush to stipple the surface to replicate the rough texture that was cast in sand. When it had hardened I used a micro sanding pad to blend the effect to give it scale and uniformity.
I then moved on the the rolled steel texturing, very much the same process as the cast texture. This time the putty mix was applied to the larger flat panels on the hull in a sporadic pattern. I sanded the surface until it was quite smooth leaving only a few pits and imperfections.
There are quite a few screw heads seen on the turret and the periscope. To replicate these I drilled out holes with a 0.5 mm drill bit. For the screw heads I cut a piece of 0.5 mm brass rod and inserted it into the hole just below the surface to simulate a recessed screw. there were 6 in the periscope, 3 on the top front of the turret and 4 on the back of the turret.
I spent a good chunk of time researching the foundry markings and the most common areas to find them were on the turret, the front axle, the 47 mm gun shield, the co-axle machine gun guard and under the drivers vision slit. For the actual markings I used a left over set of foundry markings from Archer fine transfers. They are water slide decals with raised detail so it will not be lost after painting. As with all water slide decals I used Micro Set and Micro Sol to secure them into place.
I have a couple more things to add before the next video, stay tuned!.