John,
Welcome to the neglected period of 1/35th scale modelling...WW1 tanks.
Here are a few sites that might get help you get your groove on:
http://www.landships.freeservers.com/index.htm Great references but inclined to 1/72 & 1/76 scale
http://wwi-cookup.com/afv/index.html Good listing of stuff usable in 1/35th.
A good start for kits are the RPM versions of the Renault FT17. Be advised that if you buy the later Octagonal turret kits, you also get the round turret and both weapons systems regardless of what is on the box art. Only the decals changed. These can usally be found discounted with thorough online shopping.
If you want to go state of the art, then the resin "DES" kit is the way to go, but it runs around $80.00 in the US.
For the British Rhomboids, you have the EMHAR versions. They have the Mark IV Male...the Mark IV Female,.... the one-off Mark IV "Tadpole",.... and the Mark V 3-in-1 (Male, Female & Hermorphrodite)
Not state of the art. Some accuracy issues. With TLC, they clean up well. Just remember their color is Brown, in spite of the many artistic renditions of green.
EMHAR also produces a nice little WHIPPET Light tank. IMHO, it is the best of their kits OOB.
In Resin, Panzer Shop makes the Mark I and II Rhomboids, as well as replacement track lengths for the EMHAR kits. The full up kits run a little over a $100 USD.]
INTERUS, a Russian company makes a Hermorphrodite Mark V, but it is somewhat hard to find and, IMHO, not an improvement over the EMHAR kit and worse in some cases.
TAURO makes the only A7V kit in plastic. They have two boxes. Both boxes are the same kit with different decals. Again old kits. Not state of the art. Some accuracy issues. Only 21 of the real version made and each is slightly different from the others. If you suffer from Advanced Modellers Detail Syndrome, you will want to delve into the research done by those that came before you.
Panzer Shop also makes some other examples of tanks developed too late for service in WW1.
No one currently makes a plastic or resin copy of either the Schneider or St. Chamond. Some old kits of these important tanks were made by COMMANDERS and can sometimes be found on eBay. Be warned these are from the solid block days of resin.
Hope this helps get you started,
mike
