Retrokit's 1/72
155mm Howitzer C mle 1917  

The 155mm Howitzer by Schneider, was the principal heavy howitzer piece of the French Army during the Great War. It started as a private enterprise, the design being made by Schneider to get a contract to equip the Russian Imperial Army with artillery. The gun itself proved to be an excellent piece, and when the War broke out in 1914 it was soon accepted by the French Army as well, who needed these types of modern, heavy howitzers - they had put too much faith in their cherished "75". The first model, the mle 1915, employed brass cartridges for the charge, which was seen as a drawback, and a new model, the mle 1917, eventually superceded the first.  

The only difference between the two was some alterations to the Breech. It was a good gun, pretty light (weighing some 1.245 kilos), shooting a 43.5 kilo grenade a maximum range of some 11.500 metres - there were five different types of shells for this gun, including HE, Shrapnel and Gas.

The soundness of the design was soon proved by the fact the the Americans adapted it, to equip it's Expeditionary Army in Europe - their copy was called M1917A1. It was still in both French and American service at the outset of the Second World War. (It was also used by a number of other countries, including Finland, who employed the piece with good effect during the Winter War.)

For more info on this gun, click here!

The kit comes packed in a white cardboard box typical of Retrokit's new kits, with all the parts wrapped in a zip-lock bag. The kit is done in light green resin, and consists of some 30 parts.

The moulding is top notch, sharp and clean with almost no flash, definitely en par with the very best in the business, like Al.By or 5 Star. (Also, the moulding stubs are small and easily removed.) And this despite that many of the parts are very delicate indeed. For instance, check in those hand wheels in different sizes! And the rivets are VERY nice, almost scale size, I think. Also the very intricate curved shape of the shield has been well captured. The master maker, Dominique Jadoul, has made a great job!

This kit is very accurate in both big and small details. Also, one of my old gripes regarding Artillery models in this scale, is that many vital parts are often missing, like the above mentioned hand wheels or the dial sight. Not so here. You get a complete model of a real artillery piece. Also, the kit comes with several options. You can build it either deployed or in towing mode. Also, the kit comes both with tree-spoked wheels or pneumatic ones, meaning you can build it either in its WW1-guise or as it looked when used modernized in WW2. 

As always with Retrokit, the kit comes with a very nice plan, that gives you both a history of the gun, and instructions how to assemble it - in french and english. 

You can get this kit directly from Retrokit, from 7th Company  or from Tracks & Troops.
 

This is a great kit, without doubt the best 1/72 155mm Schneider mle1917 that can be found on the market today. It's certainly better than the offerings from Cromwell and Skytrex. I find it hard to fault. A must for anyone interested in Great War Artillery!