1:35 French Light Tank H39 - Pz.Kpfw.38H 735(f) - TAMIYA

The Hotchkiss H35 was 4.22 m long, 1.95 m wide and 2.13 m tall and weighing 10.6 -11.4 t. The hull consisted of six cast armour sections, bolted together: the engine deck, the fighting compartment, the front of the hull, the back of the hull and two longitudinal sections left and right forming the bottom. The hull was made water-tight by cementing these sections together with Aslic, a product based on tar mixed with lime. The casting allowed for sloped armour, avoiding shot traps, to optimise the chance of deflection but the protection levels did not satisfy the Infantry. Maximum armour thickness was not the specified 40 mm but 34 mm. There were persistent quality problems, worsened by the fact that many subcontractors had to be used: at first the armour was made much too soft; when hardness was increased it became brittle and full of bubbles and hence weak spots.

THE KIT:

• Length: 138 mm.
• This plastic model assembly kit recreates the H39, a light tank which served in French forces at the time of the German invasion in 1940.
• The model can be made into a French or a German captured vehicle, with the latter featuring a turret-top cupola and an antenna base.
• Assembly type tracks feature one-piece straight sections.
• Features a full body French soldier figure and a German soldier torso.
• One marking option each for French and German vehicles.
• The complex turret shape is captured in style.
• The trench tail was designed to help the H39 overcome enemy fortifications.
• The German captured H39 has a cupola with hatch and a torso figure for placement inside.