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Hi This my MOD of Brickmania's Renault FT tank of World War 1. The Renault FT was a French light tank introduced towards the end of WW1. Previous French tanks had followed the British idea of a large armoured box on tracks with the main gun(s) forward and machine guns protecting the flanks /rear. The problem with this idea was that the resulting tank was heavy, slow and expensive in materials and men. The solution that the French came up with was a small 2 man vehicle with driver in the forward hull, a gunner in a rotating turret (cannon and machine gun version were produced) and the engine at the rear. The idea was a success; with 5 FT's being produced for the cost of one heavy tank. On the battlefield the tanks would operate in "swarms" to overwhelm the enemy and their small size/weight allowed them to operate in woods and narrow lanes (essential once the stalemate of trench warfare had been broken). Over 3,000 were produced before the war's end and the basic design became the norm for tanks right up to the present day. This MOD is the command/communication variant, the T.S.F which stands for "Telegraphie San Fil" (wireless). Around 200 of these were built and they were used to improve communication between mobile units and for observing/reporting back on the enemy. The hull was unchanged but the turret was replaced with a fixed box-like structure containing a morse code radio and space for the operator and a commander/observer (increasing the tank's crew to 3) Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr I kept the Brinckmania hull (built using instructions from their" Great War" instruction book) and added my own superstructure. It's not perfect (the observation cupola should be half a stud wider) and the front should be sloped (I tried using cheese slopes but they looked too steep!) but overall I think it's pretty good and reasonably in scale (the tank itself is too tall but that's LEGO for you!!) I'm still trying out hatch ideas - didn't want it too bulky but I did want to be able to pose it open. I'm also planning to replace the Lego tracks with Brinckmania ones. Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Here's one of the crew... had to remove his legs for the looking out the hatch pic!! Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Finally a rare colour photo of a TSF passing some British troops (loosely based on a period B&W photo I found online) The "Tommies" are from United Bricks and the helmets/rifles are Brickarms. Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr I'm currently building a few Brinckmania models and many of them I have plans to MOD so who knows you may be seeing more soon!! Anyway thanks for looking!! Comments always welcome...
