Renault FT-17 in the Dutch Army!

[hansolo]

Hi Guys,

Someone asked me to build a Renault FT-17 and a diorama, depicting a scene from before WW 2.
The dio is to be displayed at a permanent exposition about the Dutch army in WW 2.
The story is about the only tank the Dutch army had in between WW 1 and WW 2.
The reason to buy this French tank was to demonstrate to the Dutch people that flooding the fields in Holland
would deter enemy attacks with heavy armor. They would simply sink into the mud.
The tank driver was reluctant to slow down enough for the tank to sink. But after a few runs
he gave in to the commands and stopt. The tank did sink and he had to bail out.
These images were than shown to the public to give them a feeling of safety.

And here are a few of them:













This is the model of the FT-17, that I bought.
Not a great kit. Especially the instructions left some clarity to desire. Often spots where parts had to be
attached were not clearly pointed out in the instructions nor on the model. So I had to do a bit of guess work here and there.


Some build images:










I transformed a figure I had in my stash to the driver that had to bail out.






Another request for the dio was that a bunker had to be included.
This should be a Kazemat S3. Kazemat being the Dutch word for bunker.

Here are some pics of the actual restored bunker:




I decided to make the bunker out of plaster. It has the concrete kind of texture and looks and feels massive.
The mold I made with LEGO:








It was easy to sculpt to the desired shape when the cast wasn't completely dry yet.






A wooden base for the dio:


I drew out the position of the bunker and the trenches:


From styrofoam I cut out the embankment and the trenches:












I used DAS clay to blend it all together as a base for the final layer of dirt/white glue and water mixer.










The steal doors are scratch build from poly styrene plate material.








That's where it's at right now.
Still waiting for the right tracks to arrive! The kit came with tracks that didn't even slitely resemble the right tracks.
I ordered a seperate set of tracks and the seller of the kit promised me to send the right tracks asap.

Next up is probably the constuction of the tranch planks and the final layer of dirt.
With the FT-17 (hopefully with the right tracks) sinking away in the mud...

cheers

[Baardmans]

Very interesting subject!
I really need to reclaim my Lego from my home, making mold with them is easy.
And as a Dutchmen.... I think we are really stupid sometimes.

[MarkVerploeg]

Very nice project you have there Han
I didn't know we even know had a tank before the end of WWII
And i do have to disagree with Bert
We are not stupid we are over confident when it comes to war
We only thought we could beat tanks with bicycles
That is not such a weird thought
It just didn't work out all that well that is all

[hansolo]

Very interesting subject!
I really need to reclaim my Lego from my home, making mold with them is easy.
And as a Dutchmen.... I think we are really stupid sometimes.

Check!

[hansolo]

Very nice project you have there Han
I didn't know we even know had a tank before the end of WWII
And i do have to disagree with Bert
We are not stupid we are over confident when it comes to war
We only thought we could beat tanks with bicycles
That is not such a weird thought
It just didn't work out all that well that is all

cheers

[Coen]

You're a freaking machine Han!
Another master piece in the making.

[hansolo]

You're a freaking machine Han!
Another master piece in the making.

Thanks Coen,

I enjoyed your Viller Bocage dio video!
An awesome piece!

cheers

[HamilkarBarkas]

The way you made the bunker is genious! I have to keep that in mind I like the unusual subject you have chosen.
One flaw though, the Dutch Renault should have a caravan towing hook at least! haha

[Alkosh]

Using Legos to cast the bunker from plaster was brilliant!

[hansolo]

The way you made the bunker is genious! I have to keep that in mind I like the unusual subject you have chosen.
One flaw though, the Dutch Renault should have a caravan towing hook at least! haha

I'll see if if I can fix that.
It would take forever though to get to France at that speed!

cheers

[MarkVerploeg]

The way you made the bunker is genious! I have to keep that in mind I like the unusual subject you have chosen.
One flaw though, the Dutch Renault should have a caravan towing hook at least! haha

The towing hook was planned but we didn't had the time to take our army caravan to the german autobahn

[HamilkarBarkas]

The towing hook was planned but we didn't had the time to take our army caravan to the german autobahn

First week of August, every year, thousands of dutch caravans break through the German border and block the roads

[hansolo]

The towing hook was planned but we didn't had the time to take our army caravan to the german autobahn

First week of August, every year, thousands of dutch caravans break through the German border and block the roads

I admit tanks would come in handy then

[MarkVerploeg]

The towing hook was planned but we didn't had the time to take our army caravan to the german autobahn

First week of August, every year, thousands of dutch caravans break through the German border and block the roads

The Germans do the same
Although with out caravans but they land on our beaches every year
So it is kind of a people swap
We go to you and.you come to us
But a lot of those caravan.people go through Germany to go to Italy and in the proces they block our own roads first

[wappynutter]

Those images and the back story are fascinating Han, well done in choosing such an interesting project... Cool!...
Secondly, as demonstrated before, and showing in the beginnings of this thread here...... this is gonna be one AWESOME build to follow.
You skills with the styrene are second to none buddy..
Your imagination and sheer "Balls" to experiment and hack and chop kits etc.. to fit the selected subject are to be admired... well done Sir...
Add another follower to this thread... I'll pitch my tent and be round with the sausage and burgers once the BBQ is lit!.... lol..
Popcorn anyone while i'm settled here?.. hahaha...
Continued success mate... Happy Modelling..

[hansolo]

Thanks Wappy!
For this story of praise!
I'll do my best to keep you campers happy.

Cheers

[hansolo]

Hi guys,

My tracks came in!
They are not the easiest tracks to assemble! Each link consists of 4 parts!! Glueing them together cost quite a bit of patience. But somehow I more or less managed. Here is the result.







That's it for today

Next up, painting.

Cheers

[hansolo]

Hi guys,

I painted the FT-17.
The Dutch FT-17 was painted green and not in the camo colors.
It didn't have a gun or machine gun mounted.
And was used only for the demonstrations.
So it would have been pretty dirty but a bit shot up, because they did do
some firing tests on it with rifles but it wouldn't have a lot a chipped paint.

The dirt will be added when I put it on the dio and add dirt to the whole of the dio.

So here are the pics of the FT-17 plus the guy climbing out when it started to sink..

The primer color




The final color




Detail painting




Weathered




Driver leaving


Next up is putting the FT on the dio, making the tranches wooden support structures en covering everything with dirt.

cheers

[Nige1940]

As always You're doing a superb job Han ! That's bunker really is Genius !
Really nice it is to be publically displayed too . There's no greater honour for a Miniaturist .

[hansolo]

Thanks Nige. It's great to be able to contribute to a part of history this way.

cheers

[AchtungPanzer]

Its great Han ! Keep it up mate

[rodrant]

Simply Great ! The background and all the diorama build , Fantastic !

[Jack]

Looks great keep it up

[hansolo]

Thanks all you guys!

cheers

[privatepete]

Hi,I know you are very busy but have you finish the diorama or have miss it been ill because I used lego to a make a D Day bunkers so easy to make walkways, walls etc by the way its great Pete.

[JudgeDredd]

Stunning. I love the weathering. What did you use?

[hansolo]

Hi,I know you are very busy but have you finish the diorama or have miss it been ill because I used lego to a make a D Day bunkers so easy to make walkways, walls etc by the way its great Pete.

Hi Pete,

No, I haven't finished the dio yet.
I started on the S1 Scout Car for the Eye Spy Sig. That is first priority now.
The FT17 dio has to wait. There's no rush because the building in which it is going to be placed,
has still to be build.

After I finish the scout car dio that I'm working on wright now, I will finish the FT17 dio.

Cheers

[hansolo]

Stunning. I love the weathering. What did you use?

Thanks!
I'used mainly pigments desolved in water and some graphite.

cheers

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

Just catching up on this build, must say... pretty awesome
As all others were saying, making a mold with LEGO is really smart and it worked out great!
Love what you are doing here, keep up the great work Han

[hansolo]

Just catching up on this build, must say... pretty awesome
As all others were saying, making a mold with LEGO is really smart and it worked out great!
Love what you are doing here, keep up the great work Han

Thanks Dutchman! Likewise.

cheers

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi Han
I don't know if you know this but the tank you are building is still around
It is on display in the NMM in Soesterberg
A guide told me that the gun was added much later to make it look better as a display vehicle but like you mentionned it was un armed back then
It wouldn't be a match for the German armor though as it was very slow and had a range of 35 km max

[hansolo]

Hi Han
I don't know if you know this but the tank you are building is still around
It is on display in the NMM in Soesterberg
A guide told me that the gun was added much later to make it look better as a display vehicle but like you mentionned it was un armed back then
It wouldn't be a match for the German armor though as it was very slow and had a range of 35 km max

Hi Mark,

I didn't know that! I thought it got lost back then and was never recovered.
Well there you go. Thanks for the info!
And, yes, it was totally obsolete by the time the Germans attacked. (And well before that!)

cheers