Renault FT & M1917, by Samir Karmieh, Topdrawings 47 (Kagero)
The Renault FT (frequently referred to in post-World War I literature as the FT-17, FT17, or similar) was a French light tank that was among the most revolutionary and influential tank designs in history. The FT was the first production tank to have its armament within a fully rotating turret. The Renault FT's configuration – crew compartment at the front, engine compartment at the back, and main armament in a revolving turret – became and remains the standard tank layout. As such, some historians of armoured warfare have called the Renault FT the world's first modern tank.
Over 3,000 Renault FT tanks were manufactured by French industry, most of them during 1918. Another 950 of an almost identical licensed copy of the FT (the M1917) were made in the United States, but not in time to enter combat.
The Russian T-18 was a derivative of the FT as the Russians re-built and copied a number of FTs, which served with the White Russian forces in their civil war.
Renault FT tanks were also fielded in limited numbers during World War II, in Poland, Finland, France, and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, although they were already obsolete. In 1940, the French Army still had eight battalions, each equipped with 63 FTs, as well as three independent companies, each with 10, for a total organic strength of 534, all equipped with machine guns. These were put to use after most of the modern equipment was lost in earlier battles.
Many Renault FT tanks, which were then in reserve, were brought into french service at the start of WWII with many examples captured and used by the Germans, mainly for static, second line defence and for patrolling occupied Europe. Vichy France used Renault FTs against Allied invasion forces during Operation Torch in Morocco and Algeria but they were no much for M4 Sherman and M3 Stuart.
Kagero Publishing continue to release many interesting books in their highly successful and popular “TopDrawings” series. These books provide scale drawings, as well as large colour plates/profiles, and are great looking reference books for modelers at an affordable price.
Number 47 in this series is about the famous French tank Renault FT or FT17 (and the American made equivalent M1917) of WW1 & WW2. This 24 page, A4 size, soft cover book provides pages of excellent 1/16, 1/35 & 1/48 scale plans, plus many details/cutaways not to scale, by Samir Karmieh. An introductory text gives us a basic background to the ship, and this is presented in both English and Polish.
As well as the selection of scale plans, four central pages and the back cover present 10 (ten) big realistic colour profiles, with excellent artwork by Arkadiusz Wrobel.
Scale plans include large side, front & top views in 1/16, 1/35, 1/48 & 1/72 scale and we can see how small this tank was! The turret deserves special attention (both cast turret and multi-faceted plate turret) with separate close-up, multi-view plans, not in scale, plus two isometric ¾ views of the left/right side of the tank, showing a lot of external details, as well as the interior in a cutaway.
As a bonus there is a separate A3 size sheet with side views of the early & late steel/wooden idler wheels and beautiful cutaway drawings, showing the vehicle’s interior. Also as an extra, there is a set of vinyl masks for the markings seen on the profiles in 1/16 scale (this is clearly scribed on one of the masks). Nice touch, especially if you plan to build the Takom kit.
All in all a highly recommended book, which will help you a lot when building/superdetailing a scale model of the tank (like the Takom 1/16 scale, Meng 1/35 scale or FlyHawk Model 1/72 kits) or simply wish to study all the details, without much text but with clear, accurate, all-time classic drawings and profiles. You can even check the accuracy (or inaccuracies!) of your kit against these superb scale drawings.
You can order the Renault FT TopDrawings No.47 book here.
