Out of the box : Neucraft models Hotchkiss H39

[lou passejaire]

Just some adds to my increasing French in Levant/North Africa armies ...
Received today from Neucraft Models, the first of my Free French tank company H39 .

Ordered on the 3th of May, 9 days from China to SW France , its always a pleasure to get stuff quickly .
The Hotchkiss H39's are interesting for wargamers as they were used as cavalry and infantry tanks, you can field them with an infantry themed force or with a motorized infantry ( Dragons ) themed one .
Once more a stunning little model, highly detailed, top quality casting easy to assembly .

There are 14 parts for this model : Tank, 2 x tracks, turret, turret door , 2 guns ( short barrel and long barrel ) ,  exhaust pipe, 2 parts of the tail, wheel, oil dispender, a stowage piece and a sprue of 8 shackles .

If you don't want to use the tail ( who was only fitted on the last models releases , mostly those with the 37mm long gun ) you have to drill a (very) small hole at the back of the motor compartement . You can even use the stowage roll under the wheel .

and i like the Hotchkiss plate at the front of the tank

The model is ready for primer in less than 10 minutes . ( and i have to wait , it rains and priming inside the house is strictly forbiden , i don't know why )  ...
He is an accurate 1/56 scale model ( if you compare to the real model size / 56 ) . It will fight without problem with AGN H39 ...


For me, it will be an infantry tanks of the famous 342th Tank company , the guys who landed in Narvik with the Legion, and went back to England, joining De Gaulle as Free French .
The tanks were all fitted with the old 37mm SA18 short gun, without tail .
The color scheme is easy to found . Due to the passion of Pascal Danjou and peoples around the "Barbotin edition" we know that the camo schemes of the Hotchkiss tanks depend of the registration number . For the 342th Tank Company, its in the 4th camo scheme : olive green and black green . No marking, except the registration number in white on black plate .

one of the 3 H39 lost by the 342 tank company in Norway .

[Truscott Trotter]

Either he is a really big bloke or that is a really small tank? 

[lou passejaire]

it's a f***ing small tank 4,22 meters long, 2,15 meters high ...

[lou passejaire]

for those wanting a different color scheme :

in the late May and the first days of June 1940, some unfinished tanks were send in the battle , no camo, no exhaust pipe etc ...
this Hotchkiss H39 was send in the fight with only the primer paint .

[Truscott Trotter]

Either he is a really big bloke or that is a really small tank? 

Wow that makes the turret about 2 feet high - so it was not a one man turret more a one midget turret? 

[YPU]

Wow that makes the turret about 2 feet high - so it was not a one man turret more a one midget turret? 

More one head, rest in tank body.

[lou passejaire]

it was a baby tank 

[Morgan]

for those wanting a different color scheme :
in the late May and the first days of June 1940, some unfinished tanks were send in the battle , no camo, no exhaust pipe etc ...
this Hotchkiss H39 was send in the fight with only the primer paint .

Surely that's an Ork dreadnought?! ;-)  Fascinating stuff - thanks for posting!