Tamiya's French Light Tank R35 is a new tooled kit of the pre-World War II tank. By the 1930s French military planners could no longer ignore the obsolescence of their masterpiece FT17 tank from late WWI, and work started on a genuine successor to fill the void. One of the answers they came up with was the R35 light tank, which utilized rolled steel lower and three-piece cast upper hull designs and was armed with the short barreled 37mm gun. It was crewed by two. When hostilities with Nazi Germany burst into life in May 1940 the R35 was right in the front line. While it showed its armor was reliable, the 37mm gun was inadequate when it came to take out German armor. The Fall of France in June 1940 meant that production of the R35 was curtailed to approximately 1,600 units. This new kit consists of four sprues, a small decal sheet, instruction sheet and some poly caps. Two of the sprues are the same since they are the tracks and suspension. The turret comes loose. There is no photo etched or clear parts included. The instruction sheet is 21 steps long and is typical Tamiya folded design with it being five pages long when unfolded. I like to copy each page separately, three-hole punch the copies and put them in a binder to make a booklet. This is so much easier to just turn pages then fold and unfold the long original instruction sheet. There is a separate booklet of background information on the tank and two color plates for painting and decal placement. The decal sheet is only about 2 by 5 and has about 20 decals for two vehicles.

I don't give away excellent ratings, and if it's a good product I'll say so. Average isn't bad, and average isn't good, and that is the rating I give the R35 French Light Tank by Tamiya. Most Tamiya models that I have put together at least have a section of them that is a zen and the art of modelling moment; a sweet spot of satisfaction, where all is right between you and the model. Not so much with this one. It went together okay, but it was more of a one-note part after part march than a delightful waltz. Particular problems of the model include loosely supported suspension pieces, and a no-fun link and length track. The good points are the easy to locate parts with no flash, pits, or problem pieces. The trickiest part of the model for me was trying to determine how to match the complex painting scheme, and when to apply it. A person definitely needs to wait on placing the shovels and such of step 13. But there are other details spread about in other steps that you should wait to apply until after the camouflage is finished. If you don't want to replicate the paint, then this is a straightforward quick build. But if you do want to copy the model, including applying the intricate design, it is much more time consuming and the instructions far less friendly. If you are just getting back into modelling, I would pick something else. This just isn't infused with artful engineering. If you want to grow as a hobbyist and the subject appeals to you (a French light tank is kind of cool), then this might be fine. My personal opinion, for what it is worth, is I would spend my precious model money on a different kit.

I just finished this tank. I looked at it for a long time before I purchased it and am I glad I did. What a great build, I cannot say anything bad about this kit. Everything went together great, fit perfect. Again, piece together tracks, so I assembled and painted the suspension and road wheels. I also painted the inside of the fenders, but did not attach then set the tracks, they are very small and can be easily dropped. So, I put a shop rag under the tank so they wouldn't bounce in fear of losing one, again glued all road wheels minus the sprocket worked perfect. The one thing I enjoyed the most was painting the camouflage pattern. It is close to a WWI style. I had done such a pattern, which took a lot of time, but was cool to do. Very happy with the outcome, would recommend this for any model builder.