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:

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

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

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  3. 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...

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  4. Paul
    Deathtraps? That about sums them up.

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

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  6. 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.

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  7. 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

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  8. I think there is some truth in it after all!

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

    Whew?

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

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