¹⁄35

H39 Hotchkiss

Bronco's H39 Hotchkiss is a very nice kit, but cane be improved with a little work in some areas during assembly, like fitting the tracks around the sprockets (going around the sprocket link by link, top to bottom gives best results and makes for an easier fit) as there are too few sprocket teeth in fact there should be 24 and the model only has 22.

Fixes for the kit

Interior fixes:

• Suspension stations assembly, fits together ok, but the upper joining stubs are too Short on most parts and need to be extended with sheet styrene,
• Deleted locating tabs on the vision port plates in the turret,
• Added transmission belt to the engine pulleys.

Exterior fixes:

• Hull/ final transmission armour parting line had to be repositioned some 2.5 mm to the rear, previous line was filled with stretched sprue and sanded smooth, after tracing new line,
• Cast texture was added using liquid styrene glue technique,
• Fender front supportshad also be moved 2.5 mm to the rear,
• Added plastic bolt heads to pickaxe brackets,
• Muffler was completely redone using kits part body as a base,
• -Stowage tray on the trench crossing device had its front and rear edge lowered by about 2.5 mm to match its appearance in the photos,

Painting

Superstructure was primed with Humbrol 33, base coat is the Vallejo ModelColor olive drab and red brown stripes are mixed from red and OD acrylic paint. I did a little fading on the camo but it's really subtle. Detail painting was done with Vallejo and GW acrylics. Weathering consisted of artist oil filter and dusting was done with MIG pigment called European dust. My Hotchkiss was eventually put on a base with Infantry tanker beside the machine. I am well aware that the tank is a cavalry one and as such should be accompanied by a Cavalry tanker, but since there are no such figures on the market as far as I know, he has to "watch" the tank until someone actually sculpts appropriate figure.