Well… OK.
I have the Char D2:
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and the FCM36:
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…as well as the AMR33, AMR35, and Lorraine 38L, plus some wheeled vehicles. No Hotchkisses (I have old Battlefront for those.)
My common gripes are because I'm picky about details. Whoever sculpted these tanks for QRF took some shortcuts. The small wheels in the suspension look like they were sliced out of plastic rod, with no details: no rims, no centers, but the odd hole instead. The drive sprockets on the Char D2 are woeful: only a vague approximation of the shape of the real thing, no teeth, and not even round. The main armament on the Char D2 is supposed to be the SA35 (long 47mm) variant of the later production run. It's cartoonishly oversized.
None of that will bother most wargamers.
Look at the online review of the FCM 36 on the product page:
"Possibly slightly too 'short' (but I have only photos to go against), this model nicely captures the interesting shape of this French light tank.
Casting is very crisp.
Had some trouble getting the track units to butt cleanly into the hull and needed to bog the gaps. The front idlers unfortunately seem to be floating in space. Slightly crisper engine grill detail would have been nice."
The point about the compensating idlers is semi-valid. The real ones did sit out in front of the front edge of the glacis. What's missing in the model can be fixed by sticking a couple of small triangular pieces of plastic card inside the idlers, "attaching" them to the hull, just like the real thing.
The larger problem is the fit between the track sections and the hull. The real thing had an angled metal structure which came to a sharp edge where the two parts of the models meet. It was probably the only way to sculpt the pieces for molding, but making the break on that aharp edge is unfortunate: the upper (hull) part aims high, the lower (track) part doesn't aim up as much, and the edges don't meet. You can fill the gap with putty, but then you don't get the distinctive sharp edge.
Note how for their painted model photo, QRF didn't even bother to fill the gap:
picture
As the reviewer said, the engine grilles are irregularly scribed. A lot of flat planes on the hull surface aren't flat. The tracks, like many QRF vehicles seem to want to act like a rubber band and "balloon" into a ciircle, counter to the effects of gravity and the suspension system; fortunately, because of the track covers, that's not so obvious pn the FCM 36 as on other QRF models.
Again, things like that are unlikely to bother most wargamers.
Size? Honestly, what does it matter? *All* 15mm/1:100 manufacturers are all over the place when it comes to size. But if you want specifics, here are the details:
Char D2:
- Actual length: 5.46m
- Model length: 5.6cm (103%)
- Actual width: 2.22m
- Model width: 2.3cm (104%)
- Actual height: 2.66m
Model height: 2.5cm (94%)
FCM 36 (which the online reviewer said was 'short'):
- Actual length: 4.46m
- Model length: 4.7cm (105%)
- Actual width: 2.14m
- Model width: 2.25cm (105%)
- Actual height: 2.20m
- Model height: 2.2cm (100%)
And yet again, no doubt close enough for most wargamers.
I spent too much time around tanks. I know how they work, and what they should look like in order to look like they work. So I'm picky. Geoff knows this.
If you're expecting the quality of detail you get in Battlefront resin hulls, you'll be disappointed. I got these tanks early, when the molds were fresh, so as the reviewer says, the castings are crisp: like Old Glory when the molds are new, and better than Battlefront's track sections when theirs start to wear out.
No major problems with assembly. There are no guides for the Char D2 track sections, so you'll have to refer to photos when aligning then to the hull. There's the gap on the FCM 36. You may need to drill out some of the turret mounting holes or shorten the posts on the turrets. These aren't too hard to fit with small rare earth magnets.
Allen
paints up some WWII Soviet aircraft.
