As the 100th anniversary of World War I approaches, it is nice to see kits such as Meng’s FT-17. Renault developed and produced the light tank late in the war, and license-built versions like the U.S. M1917 would soldier on for years (including a few in the early days of World War II). It was the first armored fighting vehicle to combine all the design features of what we now call a tank: fully tracked, enclosed fighting compartment, and a main gun positioned in a rotating turret.
Comprising more than 400 parts molded in light tan plastic with excellent detail, Meng’s kit provides a complete interior — engine and transmission, fighting and driver’s compartment, and a turret interior. The forward suspension supports are cast metal, and real springs are used for the suspension and return roller supports. The kit features nicely molded individual track links that snap together easily. Decals cover four subjects but, surprisingly, only one of them is a WWI vehicle; the other three are in WWII markings. The instruction booklet features a brief history of the vehicle, clear assembly diagrams that name many of the parts, good detail-painting instructions, and nice color side views of the four marking options. Also, the instructions clearly point out the alternate parts for each vehicle option.
I started with the interior, painting as I went along. Impressively, complex subassemblies fit perfectly; it’s almost a shame to hide them inside the hull. Even with all hatches open, you’ll never see the transmission with all its delicate linkages. If you decide to build your model buttoned up, you can skip all of the interior. But I would suggest at least installing the floor (Part A19) and the two bulkheads (parts G12 and B30) to help position and strengthen the hull’s sides.
Even with all the interior in place, the hull plates fit well. I suggest assembling the hull in one session to make sure everything aligns. I used a combination of tape and rubber bands to hold all of it together while the glue set. If you are leaving hatches open, test-fit them closed during hull assembly to check alignment. I found I needed to trim the top left side of the radiator slightly to get a better fit to the rear roof. Straying from the instructions, I assembled the hull before adding details to the exterior side panels.
Be careful assembling the running-gear pods: Mark the wheels’ subassemblies in Step 12 to avoid mixing them up. Advanced modelers might want to replace the springs for a more-accurate look: The real springs are made of heavier wire and should have more turns than those supplied in the kit. It’s a bit of a juggling act to hold everything in place while gluing the suspension together; clothespins helped a lot. I found you could add the drive sprockets after everything else was assembled.
The kit provides early (wood) and late (steel) idler wheels. The steel wheels are fine, but the wood grain is overstated. Also, the triangular segments should be even with the spokes, not inset, and the rim rivets should be flush with the wheel. Since I had chosen the WWI model, I used the wood idlers. (The marking diagrams show all four vehicle choices with steel idlers.)
The turret assembles quickly except for cleaning up and painting all the tiny rounds for the ammunition rack. Installing the gun in the mantlet, I broke the upper peg that allows the gun to traverse. I repaired it by drilling a small hole in the top of the gun and replacing the peg with a piece of brass wire. The tank commander did not have a seat, just a leather sling hanging from the turret (I bet that was comfortable!) that is supplied by a strip of photoetched metal. The rear turret hatches have two sets of locating pins molded on them: one for open hatches, the other for closed. Simply clip off the pins you don’t need.
After masking off openings in the hull, I airbrushed the entire model yellow ochre custom-mixed with Tamiya acrylics, then painted camouflage with a combination of hand-brushing and airbrushing. After a coat of Vallejo clear gloss, I applied decals using Micro Sol and Micro Set. When everything had dried, I airbrushed Vallejo clear flat, added light road dust using thinned Tamiya flat earth, washed with artist’s oils, and dry-brushed. After painting I added the tracks, which fit well.
I spent 37 hours pleasurable hours building my FT-17, mostly on painting interior details and the complex camouflage. The finished model matched dimensions I found for the real thing. More importantly, it also matched inside and out the photos in French Light Tank Renault FT & U.S. Six-Ton Tank M1917, by Witold J. Lawrynowicz, (Model Centrum Progres, ISBN 978-83-60672-00-6).
It’s good to see a WWI subject done right. Hopefully, Meng will issue a U.S. M1917 and perhaps some other WWI models as well.
Note: A version of this review appeared in the April 2014 FineScale Modeler.