Monday 1 October 2012

Renault FT-17

No French Army of period between 1918 and 1941 - would be complete without a few Renault FT light tanks.  As is well known, many of these were still in service with the French army in 1940 and some subsequently found work with their new owners.  Additionally, many had been exported as far afield as Spain and China between the wars. 
These three FTs were built from the good old Matchbox kit and are all subtly different.  On the right is the version with the Hotchkiss MG, at left is one with the (very) short 37mm Puteaux infantry gun and without the usual tail skid. 
In the centre is a model which came into my possession in the early '80s as scrap and which I eventually rebuilt (quite badly) as a TSF radio tank.  I know - radios in tanks - they'll never catch on!

9 comments:

Al said...

Cool, matchbox kits are nice, Airfix didn't do anything French did they?

Paul said...

Nice looking trio of deathtraps Tim. Good to see a bit of variety here.

Tim Gow said...

Al
Airfix certainly never did any French AFVs. Even aircraft were a bit thin - nothing between the Spad and the Mystere. Unless you count the Free French markings in the Blenheim kit...

Tim Gow said...

Paul
Deathtraps? That about sums them up.

The Dancing Cake Tin said...

Very nice tans, Tim. I've got a couple of FT-17s myself, Armourfast I think.

Tim Gow said...

Dancing Cake Tin
The Armourfast FTs are slightly bigger and probably more robust - but a bit of fragility seems to suit the nature of the original.

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

Don't forget to mention that the front wheel of these things were wooden

Or am I swallowing an urban battle myth?

I should have Googled before wrote ...

:0

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

I think there is some truth in it after all!

http://landships.activeboard.com/mobile.spark?p=topic&topic=50441062

Whew?

Tim Gow said...

Geordie
I have some balsa on standby in case the plastic wears out...