Landships II

RCD · Lieutenant-Colonel

Minairons 1/72 Schneider C17 155mm howitzer

Roger Todd · Legend

To be fair to them, they do bill themselves as 'fast assembly' kits for wargamers, so you shouldn't expect the detail and intricacy of a collectors' kit.

RCD · Lieutenant-Colonel

The Cromwell C17 was only there as a comparison to Minairon version to highlight how crude it is. I appreciate that was meant to be a quick build for wargaming but I did expect it At £6.30 for one gun for it to be slightly more accurate - it is the same standard as the HaTs soft plastic German and Turkish artillery sets but those sets included 4 artillery pieces, crew, with one containing limbers and the other heavy machine guns for £8.70! Personnally I feel that it was not value for money compared to HaTs hard plastic artillery pieces (4 for £5.99) or Strelets heavy artillery pieces but its currently the only C17 available.

Today I also recieved another quick build namely the First To Fight FT17(sic). The name may be wrong but the quality is excellent. I looks like a straight out the box modelling job and this also includes a magazine (pity I do not read Polish but the illustrations are good!). As the picture shows this quick build is crisp, no flash and is well worth the £7.99 it retails for!

Basically, I donot see why it should be assumed that a quick build should be crude and toy like.

-- Edited by RCD on Thursday 11th of September 2014 04:57:24 PM

Pat · Commander in Chief

RCD, thanks for the review, I can see your point. Not that it would change much for you now, but Miniairons seem to be pretty responsive to customers' feedback, and as a new company they are on a learning curve.

They are currently preparing their second artillery kit - a Vickers 105/22. If you add your comments now, you and everybody else will likely get a better product (provided you are interested in SCW hardware). I really hope the next gun will be better and sell well so they can invest in further kits.

Returning to the Schneider gun, there is a detail set from Steelworks. Not that it would help a lot with the Minairons kit but I can see it being useful for the Ace one.

I should add I have nothing to do with the companies.

Unfortunately, I cannot help with Cromwell instructions but you might want to look at the instructions of other 1/76 and 1/72 kits. The reference photos of the real thing on Landships and elsewhere might help as well. Regards, Pat

RCD · Lieutenant-Colonel

Thanks for your comments Pat and advice. I have previously started collecting pictures and plans which are on line- orginally hoped that sites like HenkofHolland etc would have a picture of the finished model but have drawn a blank so far. Using bits from the two sets I should be able to cobble up a reasonable model. Still there is the Ace products ( the instructions for this model give a good indication of what the model willlook like) to look forward to!

On the postive side the ''first to fight FT17(sic) aka Renault I recieved at the same time is a good compromise between the HaT Renaults and the RPM Renaults which I found beyond my modelling skills with its very small bits and vinyl tracks. It only took me 30 minutes to complete and I am pleased with its appearence. However, unlike the Henkof Holland reference you only get one type of turret - the octaganal version.

-- Edited by RCD on Thursday 11th of September 2014 08:24:17 PM

Ironsides · Legend

I can confirm what RCD says on the quality of the first to fight kit, though I would say the turret is not better then the Hät kit, the rest almost certainly is superior both in detail accuracy and moulding... The hull is made in a single piece with a separate underside, its made with a slide mould so all round detail is good, but not so the turret... that said you can always use a spare RPM one as they always come with more then one turret.

However I can buy two Häts for one First to Fight Renault FT so I guess you get what you pay for...

I think were pretty spoiled these days for renaults there being several good resin kits as well wink

Pat · Commander in Chief

At the risk of sounding like a Minairons agent, they have now released a Renault FT kit. It is the HäT kit (two of them) with a new sprue, including two turret versions.

RCD · Lieutenant-Colonel

Pat wrote:
At the risk of sounding like a Minairons agent, they have now released a Renault FT kit. It is the HäT kit (two of them) with a new sprue, including two turret versions.

Thanks Pat for the link. what is intersting that they are going to produce some decals for the FT including French. I will keep an eye out for these to appear on the PSC site.

Included is my hybid model. Not sure whether it is 1/76 or 1/72 as the sizes from the two companies are the same!

Pat · Commander in Chief

RCD, very nice paintjob and an excellent model. The gun shield seems thick in the photo but it is as thin as could be reasonably expected from a 1/72 plastic kit.

I will definitely get an Ace kit. Not yet sure about the crew. I have the set you used from HäT but am not happy with the figures. Airfix is to release a 75mm mod 1897 with early war artillery crew so that might be an alternative. Or I'll use HäT excellent WW1 British artillery crew with a headswap. Looking at period photos it is impressive how little uniformity the French artillery crews show.

I am also interested in the "original", i. e. Tsarist version of this gun, but unable to find a side-by-side comparison.

For SCW, there is the resin crew from Steelworks. Regards, Pat

RCD · Lieutenant-Colonel

Pat - thank you for the comments. I totally agree about the figures . I did a early period 75mm using the British artillery crew with early French heads and they do look much better. I wait with interest for the Airfix future products!