1/50 Schneider CA 1 (SCW)

[CharlieC]

I don't know how this happened but YouTube threw up a video on the history of the Spanish Schneider CA.1s at https://youtu.be/2uvkVRhQIo0.


The (I think) machine generated English commentary is a bit fractured.
The TLDR timeline is:
1921 - Spanish Govt purchased 6 Schneider CA.1s to act a close artillery support for the Renault FT tanks purchased at the same time.
1922 - The 6 CA.1s were sent to Morocco and fought throughout the Rif war generally as support for the Renault FTs.
1926 - Two CA.1s were lost and the 4 survivors were returned to Spain.
1936 - The 4 CA.1s were found by Republican forces in an artillery park outside Madrid and pressed into service.
1936 - One CA.1 was sent to Toledo where it was lost.
The remaining 3 fought in the Madrid siege which lasted until 1939 - all were lost.


Charlie

[rockpaperscissor]

Thank you for the historical summary and link, Charlie.

A short progress report: Photoshop work is all done, and I will begin assembly of the revised model today. SCW Schneider 2.0 will be much more accurate.

1. The front fuel tank was removed in these later Schneider tanks, so the filler cap on my new model has been deleted, and a recessed machine gun port has been added to the sloping front panel as per period photos.

2. The rear of the new model features a fuel tank on either side of the doors. All later Schneiders added these tanks to compensate for the removal of the large front fuel tank. One of the rear doors has been modified with a rectangular port through which an additional machine gun could be fired.

3. The rounded cutout for access to the rear sprocket was too far back on the FG model. I moved it forward a bit.

4. Later Schneider tanks were augmented with spaced armored panels to further protect "weak" spots. My SCW Schneider model version 1.0 did feature spaced armor in all the correct locations. Did you notice? The panels were held off from the hull by small squares of cardstock, which is probably pretty accurate scale spacing, but may have been nearly invisible to the viewer. Perhaps I should double the spacer thickness - what do you think?

[rockpaperscissor]

Here are a few photos of the new improved SCW Schneider CA1. In addition to the changes listed in post #12 above, I also made an exhaust pipe from a paper Q-tip shaft.

[rmks2000]

Looks menacing. The exhaust is nicely curved - no wrinkling on the inside of the bend. How did you get it so smooth?

[Don Boose]

Excellent graphics, Don! Looks really good.

Don too

[rockpaperscissor]

Thanks for your continuing interest and comments, fellas. To make the inside bend of the Q-Tip exhaust pipe I decided where the center of the 90-degree curve would be. Then I used a small @ 45-degree riffler file to rasp away material a bit over halfway through the Q-Tip on either side of the center point, resulting in a W shaped cross section - the peak of the W being the center point. Then I bent the "pipe" to form a 90-degree angle and secured it with white glue. After applying several more layers of white glue to the joint, I contoured the inside of the curve with a small round riffler file.

[CharlieC]

Another way to do exhausts is to use the plastic insulation from electrical cable - pull out the copper wire and use a piece of (about) 1mm steel wire to form the shape of the exhaust. The plastic insulation can be painted with acrylic. There probably are examples of this on the forum.

Edit: Here's one I did a while ago - Robototehnik 1:50 Medium B

Charlie.