Thursday 1 June 2023

BPM 15mm Somua

 I needed another Somua for a specific scenario (something else which didn't turn up in the QRF order) so I thought I'd try a BPM one. As it is has a complex hull and turret shape, I went for a resin print. It is a small tank so a fairly cheap one to try out.


And what a beauty it turned out to be. Crisp and delicate, with no cleanup or assembly required at all. That also looks suspiciously like a scale diameter gun barrel.


No striations at all on the rounded hull front. Amazing! I did it in generic three tone camo like my other Somua so it can fight for the Germans too. No unit markings on it. It got a brown wash which brought out some of the detail and a bit of a dry brush. The wash hardly stained it at all.


Lovely engine deck grills which took the wash and drybrush very well. You can also see the very sharp detail on the turret, even the lower hinges on the rear hatch are nice and clean.


Here it is with my QRF Somua (right). They are virtually identical in size, which is great, but you can see how much more blobby the metal casting is compared to the resin, and the gun barrel is like a tree trunk.

I'm very pleased with that indeed, a worthy addition to my French troops and a glowing advert for 3D printed models.




6 comments:

  1. It looks great - need to start ordering some bits from BPM.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I gather their 6mm stuff is very good too. The quality has improved dramatically since they first started producing them.

      Delete
  2. Butler's Prited Model are getting to be rather good as their range increases so much. It seems to be displacing at lot of the traditional manufacturers.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The economics of 3d design are interesting as every stl can be modified (relatively) easily to produce variants, and then be available for ever. Unlike moulds and masters.

      Delete
  3. Good job, models for the French have not been the easiest to find, 3D is changing all of that and much more.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That was why I went with QRF originally, there aren't that many affordable French models out there, and I refuse to pay silly Battlefront prices. The PP offerings are OK but they are a bit bloated and not cheap.

      Delete