Renault NC-27
Kit # MT72809 Preview by Rob Haelterman

The NC-1 (later called NC-27) was one of the last derivatives of the FT-17, but not a very successful one.
Compared to the FT-17, the hull was up-armoured, a completely new track assembly used and a more powerful engine installed. The turret remained basically unaltered, housing either a MG or a 37mm gun. The tank was only used by the French for testing, and according to my sources one specimen was exported to Yugoslavia, Japan, Greece, The Netherlands and Sweden. (The latter is preserved in a Swedish museum.) Some sources claim (but this is more disputed) Belgium also got one vehicle, while others claim that Poland got 24 that were fitted with thicker side armor. Belgian historians on the other hand are pretty sure that Belgium never got one.

Japan got ten and called it the Otsu-Gata Sensha. It was the only country ever to use the tank in anger, which happened in China in the early 1930s. They installed a new gun, improved the armor and installed an indiginous engine.

The kit mainly consists of a solid resin hull, two track assemblies a turret and some smaller parts. All are very crisply cast, without any warping. Preparation work will mainly consist of removal of the casting carrots and filling in the occasional air bubble, although these bubles are rare and mostly found in harmless places.
A manual is not provided (always a weak point for Modell Trans), so you will have to go by the drawing and the pictures that are provided and (possibly) the walk around found on the net. Once the parts have been cleaned up and you figure out where to put all of them, assembly should be as quick as superglue can dry.

Marking options are not provided, nor are decals, and as information about this tank is sparse (to say the least) you will have to use some artistic licence.

Parts are included to build the Otsu-Gata, but these are limited to the gun. Modell Trans does not show how these are to be used, so you the pictures on the net will have to resolve that issue. My guess is that you can use these parts to represent a vehicle with either a Japanese MG or a canon.
As the Otsu-Gata was also re-engined, one is left to wonder if this modification brought external differences with it. The impression I have from pictures is that the slope of the engine compartment was more pronounced (compare the photographs on the Landships site, paying particular attention to the tow ring), which would basically rule out the option of building this kit as a Japanese specimen, at least if one believes the gun and engine were changed at the same time.
On the other hand, I still have to see a clear side view of the Swedish specimen to ascertain how correct the slope of the engine deck is for that particular vehicle. It might just be that the slope was the same for all NC-27 variants and that it is only an optical illusion that led me to believe that the Japanese vehicle has a different engine deck. This would mean the slope in the kit is wrong for all versions.

Also note that the Yugoslavian tank seems to have worn a completely different type of track and that sources claim that the Polish examples had thicker side armor, without any indication how this would have changed the appearance of the tank.

Sources

http://www.landships.freeservers.com/nc27_info.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Char_D1

http://www.aviarmor.net/tww2/tanks/france/renault_nc.htm

An article on OTW on how to convert the NC-27 yourself can be found here:
http://www.onthewaymodels.com/articles/LReynolds_Renault_NC-27_article.htm

 

Sample kindly provided by Modell Trans.

 

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Article Last Updated: 18 March 2012