AL.BY: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 that small bubble-top box typical of Al.By. And when it comes to small scale resin kits the name of Al.By is equivalent with top quality. And this is the case with this kit as well.

As with all other Al.By kits the moulding is flawless, save for some easily cleaned off moulding flash. The level of detail, and the sharpness of the moulding is the best. (There are also some pour stubs, but these are not too prominent.)

The accuracy of the kit is very good. For one thing, the particular shape of the shield and the gun aperture is captured well. As I see it, some small things are missing. First: the dial sight. (It should stick up behind the small extra shield to the right of the shield. It is easy to build one yourself - see the special page on the "75".) Second: one small brace behind the shield. An interesting detail with this kit, is that it comes with a pair of double wheels, that were used after WW1 when towing the gun in high speed.

It comes with an adequate set of plans.

The only real problem with Al.By:s kits are that they are very hard to get. The best bet is to contact Al.By themselves directly!

What can you say? There are many "75":s out there, most pretty bad, meant for wargamers only. This is the best 1/72 "75" that you can get, followed closely by SHQ:s offering. And also, this is an Al.By kit, and they make the best small scale resin kits in the world. Very highly recommended!