Interior photos of Renault FT tanks with Girod turret and 8mm Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun

[denizp]

Hello all,

I am trying to figure out the interior of this model of the Renault FT tank (similar to this one: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/takom-1002-renault-ft--267802 with the circular Girod turret and the Hotchkiss machine gun) for a scratch-build project on the 1/35 RPM kit. I am specifically looking for the inside of the turret and the fighting compartment. I checked out the FT-17 Walk Around book by David Doyle and a bunch of online walk around photos, but there are no clear photos of this specific combination. I think the Takom kit above is also wrong, because the ammunition drums depicted on the walls must be for the 7.5mm Reibel machine guns, as all photos of the Hotchkiss machine guns show strips of bullets fed from the left side. Similarly, the ammunition racks (parts F18 and F29 in step 6) shown on the Meng kit with smaller holes (as compared to the ammunition racks for the 37mm Puteaux SA18) don’t make any sense for the Hotchkiss, as it would mean individual bullets had to be filled in. I don’t think they had ammunition belts for this machine gun.

I would appreciate any photos showing the ammunition racks/interior for the Hotchkiss model and describe how the machine gun was reloaded (the strips look very tedious for a single person).

Thanks in advance

Deniz

[Frenchy]

Did you see this thread ?

https://forum.pages14-18.com/viewtopic.php?t=52866

You can translate it with Google translator if need be…

H.P.

[denizp]

Thank you so much, this is exactly what I was looking for. The Google translation is wonky, but it led me to a bunch of other sites/forums, like these:

Missing-Lynx-Ammo storage for Hotchkiss and Reibel machine guns used in...

Artillerie Spéciale - Stockage des munitions dans le char Renault FT - Forum...

and the Weald foundation’s restoration of the Hotchkiss FT has all the detailed photos and how they came up with their design (look at 2016-2017). Unfortunately, the articles are behind a paywall, but I think I will get a quick subscription to read through their restoration stages:

2017 - The Weald Foundation

But their conclusion seems to be the rectangular boxes with 2 large openings in the middle as shown here on both sides of the fighting compartment:

and you can barely see it installed on the left side in this photo:

[denizp]

And I found this, too, explaining the Hotchkiss M1914 ammunition and belts in much more detail.

FRENCH FEED-DEVICES AND STRIP LOADER FOR HOTCHKISS MODEL 1914 MACHINE GUNS -...

and this is not an Renault FT, but the long articulated belt hanging from the left side might be how these were also used on the FT.