Dodge Tanake' Armored Car

 

A Brief History of the Vehicle

 

This rather odd hybrid was developed by the Vichy French in Beirut Lebanon, in 1941. It was based on Dodge 4x2, 3 ton trucks which had been bought from Egypt. These trucks were equipped with 12mm armor plates, and pedestal mounted guns {either a 37mm or a 25mm gun, with an FM24/29 MG mounted next to the main armament, behind a shield}. Between 20 and 30 of these vehicles were built.

 

About 16 of these vehicles were eventually captured and used by Free French forces  {in this case, a Foreign Legion unit} and used in the fighting against Rommel's Afrika Korps at Bir Hakeim in Libya, June of 1942. It was the Foreign Legion who nicknamed this vehicle "Tanake'", meaning jack of all trades.

 

One of these vehicles still exists, at a museum in Damascus Syria. 

 

What's in the box? 

 

This kit comes packaged in a sturdy cardboard carton just slightly larger than a paperback book. Kit parts are in a clear plastic bag, which is wrapped in bubblewrap. All parts were in perfect condition. The entire kit consists of just 37 resin parts! But what nice parts they are! They are very cleanly cast in a gray resin with virtually no air bubbles, flaws, imperfections or excessive flash. The detail on these parts, especially in such a small scale is very, very nice. Clean up is minimal, and the parts were easily removed from the resin sprues.

 

The kit instructions are quite basic, consisting solely of a one page exploded diagram. Given the few parts involved, it's more than adequate. A brief history of the vehicle {written in English and French} is enclosed on a separate sheet, and also enclosed is a sheet containing tips for working with resin and safety info.

 

The kit has no PE or decals.

 

   

 

The Build

 

As far as I can determine, this kit is based upon the surviving example located in Damascus. I found a photo of the Damascus Tanake' on the Internet, the kit contains features of that vehicle. In researching the vehicle, I found several good photos of the vehicle in Free French service on the Warwheels.net website which show the Tanake' without the armor plated cab side windows, and with the windshield armored "visor" raised. I located a couple of other photos of the Tanake' in use by the Foreign Legion around Bir Hakeim, so I decided to build the vehicle in that configuration.

 

The rather basic modifications that I made to the kit to depict Foreign Legion use at Bir Hakeim were; 

 

 

In the above photo you have the 3 main pieces of the kit. Note the outstanding detail in the fighting compartment, including the filled ammo racks!  The fighting compartment floor has a nice diamond tread type pattern to it. Also, clearly visible are the armored cab side windows. It's a bit difficult to see them, but a couple of vision slits are cast into each plate.

 

 

 

 Better view of the fighting compartment interior - very nice! 

 

 

 

 The photo I found of the Tanake' in Damascus had the exact same cab side window armor plate w/ vision slits as seen above.  

 

 

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 Construction of this kit went very quickly and smoothly! Here you see the results of only a couple of hours work, including time spent opening the cab side windows. The tires in this kit rival anything I've seen in 1/35th scale! Just for the heck of it, I added a dent to the left front fender.

 

 

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In the photo above is seen the pedestal with ammo ready boxes and main gun with shield. Opening up the muzzle of the main gun was tricky, but well worth it. 

 

 

 

 

In the above photo you see my solution to the missing windshield question. I remembered using Microscale's Micro Kristal Klear back in my model railroading days, and thought I'd try it. For those of you unfamiliar with this stuff, it looks a lot like Elmer's White Glue, but dries quite clear. Apply it to an opening with a toothpick or similar, attempting to get a "film" of the stuff filling the opening, and then wait....

 

Above you also see the cab interior, which plugs into the model from the bottom.

 

 

 

 

In the above photo you can see the windshield once set, and I figured that I would use Micro Kristal Klear to give the headlights a bit of shape as well.

 

 

Above, a general view of the fighting compartment showing the ammo storage and spare tire mounted in rearmost compartment. Nice detail IMHO!

 

As I stated above, this kit went together very well. Even the dreaded "Tricycle Effect" regularly encountered with four wheeled vehicles never showed up! The fit of parts was very positive. This kit can be {and was} easily put together in an evening. I spent far more time {enjoyable nonetheless} researching the vehicle than I did building it. 

 

Painting / Finishing the Tanake'

 

As I opted to depict a Free French vehicle in use near Bir Hakeim Libya, I painted this armored car the ever popular sandy yellow, based on photos. I basecoated with a mix of Tamiya Dark Yellow {2/3} and Tamiya Buff {1/3}. To simulate sun fading I lightened this basecoat mix with a bit of Tamiya Flat White. Simple build, simple paint job! As mentioned earlier, this little guy came with no decals, nor any suggestions for markings. So, I took the liberty of adding the Cross of Lorraine to each door of the vehicle, this was commonly seen on Free French vehicles. I also lettered the license plate with some old N - scale letters and numbers that I had.

 

I airbrushed Future over the Tanake', and then washed it with a mix of Winsor and Newton Burnt Umber and Turpenoid. I then did some chipping with Tamiya Red Brown and a  #2 lead pencil. Following chipping {which doing in 1/72 scale was a whole 'nother issue to me, compared to 1/35th} I blended in the chipping slightly with the same sun faded paint mix used earlier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Conclusions

 

This was just my second 1/72 scale kit, and the first in resin. I have to say that I was floored by the quality of the castings, and the fit. This sort of building experience makes me remember just why I started building military models in the first place. I genuinely enjoyed putting this little kit together from start to finish.

 

For a look at Retrokit's line of products, check out www. retrokit.net. Their products can also be obtained there. Retrokit makes kits of some pretty obscure items. I'd like to commend them for making some not commonly seen subjects available to modelers!

 

Pros - outstanding quality of kit component casting and fit, little known but highly interesting subject matter, ease of assembly and the general information provided with the kit is good. This kit was just fun to build.

 

Cons - some decals and information on possible markings for this vehicle would have been nice. But in all fairness, sources for these may not be readily available and / or simply do not exist.

 

Highly Recommended

 

Thanks to RetroKit for the review sample!

 

Reviewed by Chuck Aleshire, AMPS Chicagoland