| Catalogue No.: | Not Known |
| Scale: | 1/35 |
| Media: | Injection Styrene |
| Review Type: | In Box |
| Rating: | Highly Recommended |
S u m m a r y |
| Contents: | 327 parts in grey styrene plus two in black vinyl |
| Price: | CDN$35.00 (approx. US$23.75 at mid-July 1998 rates) |
| Advantages: | first real kit of this vehicle in styrene; partial interior; all major armament options included in each kit (three in series); kit design and research assisted by Steve Zaloga |
| Disadvantages: | vinyl tracks not an advantage in this kit |
| Recommendation: | to all armor fans and historians, as this tank was widely used by most of Europe and the US over the course of its 30-year career |
F i r s t l o o k |
One of the most sought after kits for years by many armor fans and historians has been the
most significant early tank which reached general production. The little Renault FT from
the First World War was the first tank to combine the features which are still most common
today in a single chassis: forward driving compartment; turret with all around traverse;
commander's cupola; and rear engine/rear transmission and drive. All modern tanks stem
from these little vehicles, which were very successful when used correctly during the war.
They continued in use in their domestic form through WW II, as well as in their foreign
copies and analogues (i.e the US Six-Ton Tank, the Russian copies, the Italian Fiat 3000
copy, and others). One was even noted as in use in Afghanistan as late as 1979.
There have been a large number of attempts to model the FT over the years in resin, and
most of the major resin manufacturers have had a kit of one or more FT variants out over
the years. The best of the lot were the NKC ones from France, but these were hard to find
and expensive. The advent of RPM's kit from Poland solves many of those problems, and
should be welcomed by all concerned. There was more than enough warning that this kit was
coming, as RPM released a set of single-link tracks for the kit, as well as the turret
sprue, early in 1997. Now it is here in three versions: a French WW I machine gun version,
a French WW I cannon version, and the German rear area security version used during the
occupation of France in WW II.
The "FT-31" designation has little or no impact on the kit, as all three are
identical less decals. (All it means is that it is an FT machine gun tank upgraded in 1931
to mount a lightweight Lebel 7.5mm Mle 31 machine gun in place of the old 8mm Hotchkiss
"heavy" machine gun.) The tank is modeled with later production steel idler
wheels and the "omnibus" third pattern Girod cast/rolled turret with separate
cupola. It comes with the basic attachments
found on this vehicle, including pioneer tools, a bucket, eight spare single link track
sections, and a 24-link chain to wrap around the tail. The latter has some large gaps in
it to permit assembly, and most modelers will want to replace it with model ship chain if
possible.
The kit manufacturers received some assistance in the way of plans and advice from Steve
Zaloga, and the work shows. This is one of the best of the RPM kits – reputed to have
been cut by Maquette in Russia for RPM – and is a very nice and accurate little
beast. The one major drawback of the kit is the vinyl track, which does not capture the
spirit or the look of the original. This makes it curious as to why RPM would include it
with the kit along with a section of their excellent single link track for this model, but
the only assumption which can be made is complaints on the Internet and in modeling
magazines by modelers about single link tracks. (Note that the single link tracks for this
tank consist of five parts per link, but they do capture the look and feel of the
prototype much better than the vinyl kit tracks.)
The kit provides for two versions of this tank – one is a French tank used at Aleppo,
Syria, in 1940 and the other is a Luftwaffe airfield security vehicle from the Occupation.
The after-market boys should have fun with this kit, and it should only be a matter of
time before etched brass and resin conversion kits appear on the market for the little
beast. (All it really needs are the wooden idler wheels and plate turret to make any
French version of the tank, and a few other parts to convert the model to a US-built Six
Tonner).
The best references to check on for this vehicle include the now out-of- print
Osprey/Vanguard Number 46 on the Renault FT by Steve Zaloga and the opening section of the
Stuart book by R.P. Hunnicutt.
The box art is quite laughable – appealing to the SGF no doubt – in that it
shows SS panzergrenadiers advancing through the woods with flames in the background and a
camouflaged FT with steely-eyed driver in black panzer uniform driving the tank ahead of
them. Forget the box art and buy the kit or one of the other versions anyway – it is
a nice model and can fit into ANY collection!
The review sample was obtained from Airconnection at World Expo 98
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