I couldn't help doing a new aluminum barrel, although Tamiya's is finely represented. The muzzle has been done from brass which a material easier to work with).
I partially re-built the box on the barrel (near the mantlet) with the help of plastic card. The canvas cover has been made with lead foil from a bottle collar. I shaped it prior to gluing it with CA cement.

I re-built the two small panels on each side of the turret roof and added the anti-slip coating  in their center.

The both handles located at the front of the turret roof get a reinforcing plate that is bolted. The other handles on the roof haven't been modified that way.
 

Another feature of the SXXI is the new TC sight which is technically improved. This sight is developed from the one fitted to the UAE version.
To do that, I had to scratch build the sight housing which has a more square and stocky shape. I used a block of resin I sculpted and scraped with a scalpel blade.
To do the little window, I used an old microfiche I cut to the desired dimensions. I added the wiper and the washer. The holes on the frame are drilled with a 0.2mm drill.

I enhanced the vision blocks by reshaping their edges with plastic card, some bolts have been added.

Now, I'm done with the major modifications!
The course of the building should develop normally.

The saga continues with the ultimate detailing step. I solved the lack of roughness of the anti-slip coating by applying on the model a mix of sodium bicarbonate and Tamiya putty diluted with acetone. I prepared the surfaces with some Tamiya masking tape.
The TC and gunner's hatches, the rear turret bin lid and the 3 figures are the bonus provided by Blast-Models for the release in France of the Tamiya kit.

Here and there, I added some bolts. A few personal improvements have been carried out on the muzzle reference system and the rear bin fasteners.
From a little piece of resin I sculpted, I redid the MRS. In fact, it lacked some details especially concerning the bolted plate. So, I added the missing sockets as well as the bolts. The remaining parts of the MRS were made of Evergreen rods and plastic card.

The rear bin has been improved by the addition of the fasteners springs made of 0.2mm copper wire coiled around a 0.3mm piece of copper wire I tightened with pliers, the spring of it helping the process.

As a preamble to the hull and running gear assembly, I want to tell that major differences exist concerning the roadwheels. The new outer faces are covered and get 8 bolts around their periphery. In the center of the wheel, the 8 bolts are not bolted to the hub anymore but directly to the wheel. So I had to redo each wheel (12 in all!).
In this case, I drilled out the periphery with a 1mm drill and a homemade template to guarantee an equal distance between each hole. This has proved necessary to take into account the difficulties linked to the angled wheel face.
Then I set small bits of rod in the holes located at 0.5mm from the outer edge. I added bolt heads made of hexagonal rod. Furthermore, I must tell that the molded bolts on the wheel periphery have been removed with a lathe by cutting the external part of the wheel.
I made the bolts from a purpose made mold: in a piece of brass, I drilled 1mm holes, rather close one to each other, then with a hammer and a hexagonal wrench, I stamped the holes to get a hollow hexagon.
Then you just need to soften a piece of plastic sprue with a candle and to stamp it in the hollows to get a full series of similar bolts. Now, you just have to sand the end to give the same height to the bolts and cut them away with a razor blade.

The new tracks of the SXXI are in metal like the ones fitting the M1A1 and A2 Abrams. So, no trouble here, I used the AFV CLUB reference #AF35012 : these are individual link tracks that need no glue or the assembly. Moreover, they favorably replace the molded ones of the Tamiya kit. Three full hours are necessary to get superb tracks which fit without any modification.

Concerning the anti-slip coating, as mentioned above, I used sodium bicarbonate mixed with Tamiya putty diluted with acetone.

At this stage, I worked on the barrel again after having seen on pictures that the joints between the thermal sleeve elements were not enough marked. Concerning the holes on the underside of the barrel ... they have been represented!

Following are some overall views of the "beast" in progress. In this case, I temporarily assembled some elements (like the skirts) to give a general feeling of what will be the French armed forces future tank.

As mentioned above, the figure comes from Blast-models.

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