SHQ:s 1/72 75mm Cannon mle 1897

The French "75" - or to be more precise: Canon de 75, modèle 1897 - was a new and revolutionary piece of weaponery. The truly great invention, and a tribute to French engineering skills, was of course the hydro-pneumatic recoil system, that allowed the whole recoil to be absorbed by the carriage. 

This meant that the gun - if properly placed - could be fired without moving at all, which meant that the gun layer didn't have to relay the gun after each shot, perhaps only checking it, and that it could be reloaded a whole lot faster, as the loader only had to wait for the gun tube to recoil back, before putting another round into the breech. The result was a rate of fire never seen before: a maximum of 20 shots per minute was possible - one shell every 3 seconds!

At the outbreak of the war in 1914, the "75" was the main gun of the French Field Artillery. Every Division had one Artillery Regiment attached, consisting of three groupes, each with three batteries equipped with four guns, or 12 guns per groupe, or 36 guns per Artillery Regiment. The Army had a total of 1.011 of these 4-gun-batteries in service in August 1914. 

You could very well say that the "75" was the main gun of the French Army in 1914, period. The French had an enormous faith in this fenomenal gun, with it's tremendous rate of fire, ease of maneuver (it was light) and accuracy. The gun was also very sturdy.

It had some problems but remained a formidable gun, that, if the conditions were right, could make a very telling effect indeed. And it is a testimony to the excellence of this gun, that it was also adapted by the US Army, and later also by the armies in Poland, Greece, Portugal, Romania, Portugal, Estonia and Lithuania. It was also used by a number of countries in WW2.

For more info on this gun, click here!

Contents of the kit:

The kit comes packed in a small ziplock bag. The kit itself consists of 15+ parts, all in White Metal. The moulding is sharp. There are some easily cleaned off moulding flash. One of the wheels had a faulty spoke, but I guess this was just bad luck. 

The accuracy of the kit is very good. You get two types of wheels: one pair with 14 spokes, that was most commonly used, and one pair with 12 spokes, that were used on Polish "75":s. The particular shape of the shield and the gun aperture is comparatively well captured. The shape of the brrech is a bit "blurred" but still adequate. A good ponit with this kit, is that is pretty well complete: it HAS a dial sight - a pet peeve of mine, as they are almost always missing in arty kits in this scale -, with the small outer shield integral to it. Also the kit comes with an Earth Anchor, the contraption that was fitted under the wheels when it was deployed for fire.

It comes with an adequate set of plans.

You can get SHQ kits from, among others, Tracks & Troops. 

This is a very good "75", one of the very finest in 1/72! It is only bested by Al.By:s offering, but then again SHQ:s kit is more complete, coming both with a dial sight and an Earth Anchor. (Perhaps a kitbash between the two offerings would make the ideal "75"?) Highly recommended!