Recalling the Birth of US Tank Corps
5 of Hearts, 344th Tank Battalion, on display

This project is a vignette depicting the Renault FT-17 of the 334th Tank Battalion, 301st Tank Brigade, American Expeditionary Forces from 1918. The setting is an indoor museum display. The 344th Tank Battalion was equipped with FT-17 tanks received from the French. The U.S. did not have any tanks of its own through WWI. Late in the war, the U.S. began production of the M1919 Light Tank, which was a licensed copy of the Renault FT-17. The M1919 never saw combat in WWI as the war ended before production.

The famous "5 of Hearts" from the 344th Tank Battalion is the vehicle depicted in a fictional museum setting. This is one of the first U.S. tanks ever to see combat. Following WWI, the real "5 of Aces" was brought to the U.S. for storage and was displayed outside at the U.S. Army Museum at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland until 2017 (or so).

The tank was then moved to Fort Belvoir in Virginia for display in the newly constructed National Museum of the United States Army which opens on June 4th 2020. The real "5 of Hearts" is freshly restored and now wears the same livery as depicted in this vignette.

The kit was built OOB and painted with Tamiya Color and Vallejo acrylics. The tracks were painted with acrylics (Pavement color) and weathered with Winsor & Newton oil paints (Raw and Burnt Umber, Raw and Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre).

The diorama setting was scratch built from styrene sheeting, tubes and rods to create the display wall, staff only utility room, display sign and railings.

The display wall was styrene sheeting sandwiched with two sheets of colored foam board and reinforced with scrap metal to retain the curved shape. The display wall support structure and lighting scaffolding was scratch built from a sheet of soft plastic grid bought at Michael's craft store. The lighting is Nano sized Chip Pico LEDs lights from Evan Designs housed in scratch-built styrene tubing. The mural on the display wall was custom made from downloaded internet photos and MS PowerPoint.

The figure is from a French company REEDOAK (No. 350000) with the face and arms painted with Abteilung 502 oils and the rest in Vallejo acrylics.