An interesting tank that was designed during WWI, produced when the war finished and finished its career during the Battle of France at the beginning of WWII is the Heavy tank built by the French :
Le char FCM2 C !
It was a modern tank for its days, well armed and well armored. The tank had two turrets, the one in front to destroy enemy strong points, the one at the rear of the tank to fight enemy infantry. Three machine guns were also installed in front of the tank body, one each side and one in front.
Such heavy tanks were supposed to breakthrough the trenches and open the path for the infantry. The tank was slow but it was conceived for a trenches war, the idea of huge tanks assaults with tank fighting tanks, will appear a few years later.
The tank order was finally canceled with the end of the war. However 10 were produced.
http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/france/FCM-2C.php
The tank never saw improvements but an attempt to install a short barrel howitzer was made and conducted to the creation of the FCM 2C Bis. The howitzer was fitted in a turret that could rotate. Shells were brought to the howitzer with a chain mechanism inside the tank. Some authors write that the rear machine gun was replaced by a 75 mm gun. Maybe a 75 BS as used in some Renault FT 17 ? I never saw evidence that this was really done. The side machine guns were removed.
The tank finally went back to its original design and the howitzer turret removed. Some authors say that the turret was ent to the Mareth Line in Tunisia. Not sure this really happened. I tried to find pictures of a bunker with this turret "then and now" but never found any evidences.
Documents about the specific tank are rare and the plans must be regarded with suspicion. I spent hours on the few known pictures to try to guess the details.
For my conversion I used the excellent Meng rendition of the FCM 2C, you can almost build it eyes closed. The turret is not an entire scratch built. I bought a resin that was conceived using the 3 D technology. It was a long job and the result is very nice. However I have my own conception of the turret and modified the otherwise excellent resin one. According to me the turret had two doors at its rear, The two parts of the turret were assembled with bolts. The tank also had a long stick on the right side to clean the barrel from the ground. These are my interpretations of the rare and far from neat known pictures. The PE parts that would cover to air filters on the top of the tank mustn't be used since they were not fitted on the real tank.
The tail is a Niko Models product. Very nice and easy to assemble!
Model painted overall green, AK mud.
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| Fresh from the fields!!! FCM 2C Bis in overall green. |
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