It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, gonna try this one out and see how she turns out. Was debating getting group tracks for it but decided against it.
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Unfortunately, the interior of the kit (and it’s Pak40 7.5cm brother) is very wrong. While pictures of the interior of these vehicles are sparse, ICM’s interpretation of it makes no logical sense. It is disappointing considering how well done the base FCM36 is.
Well, that’s disappointing to hear, but as it’s the only game in town it will have to do. I haven’t found much in the way of interior pics so I don’t think I can do much in the way of correction.
I’m looking forward to seeing this one built. It’s a shame about to interior, but for what it’s worth at least what ICM provides isn’t inaccurate to the only picture of this vehicle’s interior that I can find on google. I do find it really unlikely that they would have left the floor of the fighting compartment as high as ICM has it though.
Assembly starts with the lower hull as usual, there is some small surgery on the hull tub sides required:
Then the tub sides fit into the bottom hull plate. Nice fit. Some brackets and return supports are also added.
Then the drive sprockets and road wheels come together, a little bit fiddly as there are no locator keys on the road wheels.
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I have to disagree, it is very inaccurate and illogical based on any picture you may find. The bottom line is it has to functional and what ICM proposes is not. While Google may not have many photos, there are enough photos available between the internet and printed matter (of both the 7.5cm and 10.5cm versions) to piece together what the interior probably looked like. How would the gunner use the sight? He’d have to be basically lying down! And here is a photo from the pretty good article from tanks-encyclopedia.com, taken of a newly built vehicle. Take a look through the driver’s port - if there was solid floor like ICM proposes, it would not be so bright - it would be dark. What you are seeing through the port is the rear firewall. And furthermore, how would the gun elevate like shown here, or in other photos with even greater elevation? It would be hitting the floor, not to mention it would be impossible to load the 35lb shells. If you also start scaling the height of a person versus how they are standing in the vehicle, everyone would be on their knees in the ICM rendition, which does not make for a very efficient combat environment.
Sorry, but this kit’s interior is wrong no matter how you choose to interpret the available photos.
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I meant, what ICM Provides (aside from the floor) is visible in the one picture that’s taken from the vehicle’s above rear. I agree the placement of the floor is impossible.
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I think we can agree the fighting compartment floor level is unrealistic, but I’m still gonna build it and see how it turns out. So far it has been coming together without any major issues. I have completed the hull tub and will be doing some painting as it will be very difficult to reach some areas with the top of the hull on.
The instructions call for the tracks to be installed now but I will thread them thru later when I have finished painting. They are two piece vinyl tracks with good detail.
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ICM’s interpretation of the FCM 36 tank:
I presume that the Becker detachment did not redesign the engine compartment so the top of it was presumably kept intact in the SP conversions.
The forward ammo bins extend downwards to the shelf over the tracks (sure can’t go any deeper)
Engine deck is where it is.
Hatches above the original (tank)fighting compartment. When/Why were these opened or closed?
Always? Only for high angle fire? The gun punched through 52 mm of armour at 500 meters, better than nothing but nothing to be proud of either. Low angle fire could be a valid operational mode.
Are the hatches closed, removed or never existed?
If they were open the left side hatch would be visible, obstructing the view of the radio
Assume that the artilleryman standing beside the gun is as tall as the officer then the soles of his boots would be level with the top of the tracks.
I would eliminate those hatches and add a shelf or platform inside the fighting compartment for that guy to stand on
Top of the hull is on, fit was good except at the front where I needed to add some filler. Exhaust is just dry fit for now .
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There are good discussions, from both a modelling and engineering perspective, of the 7.5cm and 10.5cm versions, on Missing Links:
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Merry Christmas! A little bit of work before prepping the turkey for the BBQ. Got the gun assembled and mounted and installed the floor of the fighting compartment. Gun and mount was quite fiddly to install with the floor, managed to muck it up and had to take it apart for a second go.
You can see how high the floor is compared to the gun and sight, not very practical, some major scratchbuilding would be required to open up the floor and add some interior as shown in Jfeenstra’s links. Not something I have the inclination to do at this time. Not sure how the floor hatches would open as the gun carriage goes over top of them.
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Another item of note is that the plastic is quite soft, and although the details are good and crisp the will melt away if you use too much glue. I found this out on the rear engine grill when I spilled a little too much extra thin on it.
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AAAAARRRGGGHHHHH!
Sh!t does indeed happen. I “drowned” the crew figures for my Monogram Flower Class Corvette back in 1982 (around Christmas), I still remember those figures slowly dissolving.
I focused on saving the parts for the superstructure and had to leave the sailors to their destiny 
Maybe those hatches hinged downwards?
Or they did not exist …
Probably didn’t exist…
Oh, and while the gun traverses, it cannot elevate…probably because the sight would hit the floor…
Getting the superstructure mocked up and ready for priming…
Again, fit is excellent. I thought I had munched up the front of the hull where I needed to do some filling because the fit everywhere else was so good, but saw some online builds of the FCM that had the same issue so maybe it wasn’t me…
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Painted the interior bits, dirtied the floor a bit , painted and added the charge cases.
Next is painting all the shells and mg ammo cases, ugh.
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