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Impressions of new 1/35 Meng Renault FT-17

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  • Member since
    January 2007
Posted by the doog on Tuesday, September 10, 2013 5:26 PM

WOw, a full interior for a WWI kit? Sign me up, baby. Now I hope that that gets them thinking about the Mark IV!!!

  • Member since
    February 2010
  • From: Berkeley CA/St. Paul MN
Posted by EBergerud on Tuesday, September 10, 2013 12:21 AM

There were 1800 in or nearing service out of 3000 produced by war's end. I bet more than one unit had them. Unless the turret was a little different, it would have been nice to have colors for a US made variety - or the colors of one used by George Patton. The FT was a ground breaker in WWI but a bit player in WWII. That says good things about the design but I think it also shows a preference to WWII builds. Course there's nothing to keep a modeler from tracking down one in Russian, Chinese or Spanish service and changing the garb correspondingly.

Eric

 

A model boat is much cheaper than a real one and won't sink with you in it.

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Texas
Posted by wbill76 on Monday, September 9, 2013 8:20 PM

This is one that's on my wish list for future acquisition. As for why it would have 3 schemes from WWII, that makes perfect sense considering they were still in service at the time in Europe as well as other nations. The Germans captured many and put them to use in rear areas as well, nothing went to waste! Wink

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: San Francisco Bay Area
Posted by bufflehead on Sunday, September 8, 2013 1:17 PM

I'm jealous Eric!  I wanted this one as soon as I saw it was coming out!  It has to be heaps better than the old RPM kit and way cheaper than any of those hard to find resin kits out there.  Are you going to do a build log for us on the forums?!!?

Ernest

Last Armor Build - 1/35 Dragon M-26A1, 1/35 Emhar Mk.IV Female

     

Last Aircraft Builds - Hobby Boss 1/72 F4F Wildcat & FW-190A8

     

  • Member since
    February 2010
  • From: Berkeley CA/St. Paul MN
Impressions of new 1/35 Meng Renault FT-17
Posted by EBergerud on Friday, September 6, 2013 7:22 PM

Earlier this year Finescale had a reader poll on most desired model. As always I plugged for a 1/350 CV6 Enterprise as the most needed kit - which it is. For a tank, I asked Santa for a 1/35 Renault FT-17. The tanks was historic in design and in action. It is funky with lots of rivets and places to weather. What's not to like? The good folk at Meng have delivered and I got my kit today via eBay and Korea for just over $50.

There's a proper examination at Missing Lynx. Suffice it to say that the kit has 340 styrene parts, 68 plastic individual tracks (separated)a few PE pieces and some springs. The kit has a full interior/engine and if the hatches are left open everything will be visible. (A modeler that wanted to "button it up" would save a lot of time.) This is a small tank, so expect something about the same size as a Panzer I. Some of the parts are fiddly but attachments to the sprue appear very thin. There's a fully workable track and suspension system here if things work out - I wouldn't be surprised that if you wanted to dispense with that some more time would be saved. It can be armed with mgs or canon. Detail is crackerjack - this is a 2013 kit and it shows. And unlike kits from some companies we won't mention that rhyme with Dragon, the instructions are 17 pages long, very clear and contain full color call outs for detail parts. There are four color schemes (three from early WWII for some reason) shown on a color plate. The color references are to Vallejo Model Air paints which should make it easier to convert to Tamiya etc than calls to Gunze. This looks like a winner.

Eric

 

A model boat is much cheaper than a real one and won't sink with you in it.

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