New 1:72nd S-Model Releases at Plastic Soldier Company

BlackWidowPilot

writes:

I'd like to see a R35 as a future model as it was heavily used. It's quite similar, so it should be easy to retool.

Actually, while the Renault R35 and Hotchkiss H35/38/39 share the same APX turret designs and armament, they differ substantially in the chassis and hull configuration due to the different power plants.

The most immediate differences are the shorter hull of the Renault R35 (hence the R35 having one less bogie wheel than the Hotchkiss machines), and the shape of the engine deck (the Hothckiss H35 had a distinctly sloped engine deck, while the H38/39 had a level engine deck noticeably longer than that on the Renault. The Renault's driver's station was located on the left side, while the Hotchkiss machine's driver's station is on the right and extends forward from the turret ring.

Back to the suspension, the Renault R35s idler wheel is at ground level and is pierced by six holes, while the Hotchkiss' idler wheel is located above the bogies in line with the drive sprocket, and is of solid construction.

Really we're looking at two machines that share their gun turret, armament, bogie wheels and their suspension in common, but that is all. After that point they're distinctly different.

I agree that a fast build plastic R35 would be a very good thing, as they were the most numerous tank in French Army service in 1940, were in use until the end of the war, and turned up in the German, Rumanian, Polish, Yugoslav, and Italian armies in combat service. Rearmed with a Russian 45mm gun, a small number of R35s served with Tito's partisans. The chassis served as the basis for a number of German conversions, including panzerjagers and munitionschleppers. Redundant APX turrets turned up in Atlantic Wall bunkers, so converting a fast build R35 into a munitionschlepper or tow vehicle for a Pak 38 means that that turret will not go to waste. Both the R35 and the Hotchkiss H38/39 later turned up in the Israeli War of Independence on both sides IIRC.

Hell, one could easily split the difference, and make a Wehrmacht munitionschlepper from an R35 chassis and mount the turret on a Sdkfz 251 "under new management:"