Mr Panzer's 1/72 Semovente 105/14 Conversion Kit

In the final months of WW1, the Italian Army, which had developed a keen interest in armoured vehicles, aquired four FT-17's from France: two with cast Girod turret (1 MG, 1 cannon) and two with riveted Omnibus turret (both equipped with MG). The Italians first just wanted to produce a simple copy, but soon started modifying and improving the existing FT design, a process that eventually would end in perhaps the best tank of the early Twenties, the FIAT 3000.

Also, in the end of 1918, the idea came up to use the existing FT chassis for a Self-Propelled Gun. The Girod cannon armed FT-17 no 66947 was selected for prototype work. The project was led by an Engineer named Bennicelli, and was done by Ansaldo. It was a simple conversion: the turret was removed, and a 105mm Howitzer installed in it's place, facing backwards. Also, the vehicle had no space for the ammunition, which had to be transported separately, which off course limited it's tactical useability (at least as long as there was no separate fully-tracked supply vehicle, i.e. also a FT-17 supply variant). In april 1919 the first Semovente 105/14 was showed off, in presence of the King, at the Stadio di Roma. The Italian Army had plans to order 12 Semoventi 105/14, but nothing came of this. 

The kit is made from light-grey resin and is - like the original - simple enough: it contains six parts, including baseplate, shield and barrel with cradle. The moulding is sharp and with only some small amounts of moulding flash.

The kit comes without a basic instruction, which is a bit problematic, as there is no intuitive way to assemble the kit. Especially since it requires you to doctor the FT-17 kit: the part that look like a box is the new driver compartment front, and in order to fit you will have to remove the top of the kits drivers compartment. Click here to see a (poor) photo of my build in progress, and you will understand.

It is intended for the RPM FT-17, but it fits the HÄT FT-17 as well. The gun will take some extra detailing, like handles, a traversing wheel and a dial sight.

You can get this kit from Tracks & Troops or from Smallscale.de. You could also contact Mr Panzer directly.

A simple, efficient kit, that will grace any FT-17 collection. Could have needed better instructions, though.