1/50 Laffly 80AM

[rockpaperscissor]

THE MODEL

I present my recolor/resize of CT Ertz's 1/72 scale kit that can be found at Landships II. Like CT's Burstyn tank that I completed last month, the fit of every part was spot on, and assembly was trouble free and straightforward. CT's original model doesn't have a lot of detail and glue tabs are not provided, so I wouldn't recommend his kit for inexperienced builders.

I added panel lines and rivets as well as some extra parts for layering. I also drew in glue tabs where I thought they belonged to make building the kit easier. The machine gun port on the rear of the turret was merely suggested in CT's kit, so I designed a new part to go there. CT's kit's wheels are all the same, but period photos of the armored car have concave rear wheels, so I designed more accurate multi piece wheels for the back.

I know my armor models aren't weathered enough, so I got the brilliant idea of presenting my Laffly armored car as if it was an exhibit at an outdoor military vehicle museum. I think it's pretty effective and explains why it's so clean.

As with the Burstyn tank, I'll submit my version of the Laffly armored car to Charlie Clelland in case he would like to host it at the Landships II site.

HISTORY/DATA

First produced in 1935, and considered obsolete when delivered into service, this armored car carried a crew of 4. Its main armament was a 13.2mm turret mounted heavy machine gun. It also carried two 7.5mm machine guns, one mounted in the rear of the turret, and another that could be fired through a port in the front of the car. It was powered by an 80HP 4-cylinder gasoline engine, which could move the 8-ton vehicle along at a maximum speed of 50 MPH. A total of 28 examples were manufactured with a few survivors still in military service as late as the 1950s.

Now, on to the pics!

[Texman]

Outstanding work Don! And it fits well with the museum idea.

[CharlieC]

Don's 1:50 Rescale & Recolor of the Laffly 80AM Armoured Car model is now on Landships II. Usual URL - http://landships.info/landships/models.html


Select either CT Ertz or Don Weeks as designer.


Regards,


Charlie

[John Wagenseil]

Next to the Laffly Armoured Car download on the Landships II webpage, is the Holt One Man tank.
Here is a video of it conquering the mean streets of Stockton, California.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53-HdUwcX1c

[CharlieC]

The reception was for Col. Ernest Swinton, formerly secretary to the Landships committee which guided the initial development of tanks in the UK. The suited gentleman is one of the Holt brothers (may be Pliny Holt).
At a guess the meeting was after April 1917 when the US entered WW1.
The larger vehicle is a Holt 75 tractor used extensively by the military in WW1. Stockton, CA back in those days was a thriving manufacturing town, it didn't start to die until Holt pulled out of Stockton in the 1920s when they merged with Best and became Caterpillar located in Illinois.


Charlie

[smithdr]

That's a real beauty, Don. And such a neat presentation! Lovely...Dan

[Don Boose]

That Laffly was a good-looking machine, to my eye, and this model exhibits all the hallmarks of your outstanding builds: clean, precise construction, attractive coloring, subtle weathering, and eye-catching display.

Don too

[rockpaperscissor]

My thanks to all for your comments. The .rar zipped file of my recolor/resize over at Landships II also includes a slightly modified display base with a dirt road texture instead of the armor museum setting.

It's a really nice model. CT is best known for his American Civil War Naval subjects, but his collection of vehicle kits are equally well designed.

[rmks2000]

Look forward to seeing this beauty in Virginia this year.