I have a resin WWII Polish Ursus Armored car. I'd like to get some AM machine guns for it. The ones supplied look a little chunky. I've looked online and can't really find anything. Does anyone make a good representation of the Hotchkiss wz 25 7.92mm machine gun in 1/35 scale/

The 1/35 ICM French Infantry Weapons and Equipment set has a Hotchkiss M 1909 machine gun-- I believe these come two to a set. If you buy the actual WWI French Infantry figures (late war) you get one sprue of the weapons. The M 1909 is pretty close to the tank mounted weapon, except it has a wooden stock attached to the rear of the pistol grip. I think the ICM weapon could be easily modified by clipping off the stock. You can go to the ICM holdings web site and look at the weapon directly. Here's the link:
http://www.icm.com.ua/news/361-wwi-french-infantry-weapon-and-equipment.html
VR, Russ

Thanks Russ. Your reply is much appreciated.

Jeff, my pleasure. As a further note on the Hotchkiss, I believe the main difference between the Infantry weapon and the vehicle mounted weapon (besides the longer stock) was that the pistol grip was metal rather than wood, and came straight down from the rear of the trigger guard and back of the receiver, rather than curved as in the ICM set-- but it would be fairly easy too modify using the ICM set as a basis.
VR, Russ

Thanks Russ. I am going to use it on the Armo wz.29 Ursus Armored Car kit. I'll need three but the only the barrel will be visible. I also just ordered the (long out of production) now available Heller Hotchkiss Machine Gun, 37mm cannon, and Gnome Rhone Motorcycle w/sidecar kit. Not the best kits but early WWII French equipment is rare. Thanks again.

Jeff, you may not be aware of this but there is a mainstream manufacturer (it might be ICM--or Masterbox, I'm not sure without looking it up) who recently released a French WWI motorcycle, dispatch rider and tank commander-- it depicts a dispatch rider handing off a message to an FT-17 tank commander-- altogether there are three figures in the kit, and it supposedly reproduces a famous WWI French painting or photo. The motorcycle is particularly good from my understanding. The ICM Infantry Weapons set contains two sprues with double Weapons, late war helmets (which were very similar to post-war Polish helmets) -and lots of accoutrements and other weapons including a Chauchat Automatic rifle. I have several WWI ICM sets (primarily US) and have found they are very good for the money. It appears we are in a renaissance of sorts for WWI kits, so if you wait a little longer, more French stuff will certainly appear. I'm waiting for a French 75mm gun myself, as I used to work at Fort Lewis, Washington, and since 1981, two French 75s have been sitting outside the Headquarters building. They were refurbished by the Fort Lewis Museum and placed by the 9th DIVARTY when I was assigned there in 1981. When I returned for an assignment there in 2002, one of those guns was just outside my office, and on nice summer days, I'd go out and eat my lunch while seated in the gunner's seat-- probably looked a little funny because folks would stare as they drove by! I'm hoping we have some mainstream allied equipment coming down the line soon from folks like Takom or Meng.
VR, Russ

I have the Motorcycle orderly and tank crew set. It is fantastic. You actually get two sets of figures. I also have the FT-17 and A7V from Meng. Sounds like we were in the Army at the same time. I was an MP in Germany from '79-'82. I lived there as a civilian for 8 years afterward. Got to see a lot of WWII and WWI equipment. I didn't live far from a working Maginot line fort in Bitsche, France. It's nice to see Meng, Takom and ICM producing WWI subjects.

That probably was quite a sight seeing you sitting on that gun eating.

The Hotchkiss MG used on the Ursus armored car is the heavy tripod gun, not the M1909 portable one, the barrels are quite different. But Aber has the correct gun available in brass, it is kit 35 L-195, called "Barrel for Machine Gun 8mm Hotchkiss Mle 1914 used on WWI Renault FT 17/St.Chamond".

Very cool. Thanks!

Jeff. I was in the 2/11th ACR 1977-80 in Bad Kissingen FRG, left to go to Fort McClellan for Chemical school, then on to Ft. Lewis as a Nuclear targeting officer in the 9th DIVARTY (at that time our 8 inch battery was nuclear capable). I started my career as an Armored Cavalry officer though. Yes-- I'm sure I did look funny sitting in the gunner's seat of the French 75 outside my office-- but I couldn't resist. There was also a set of seats on the outside of the gun shield that the gun crew actually rode in when the gun was towed by a caisson & horses-- it must have been a wild ride-- I thought I'd look too ridiculous sitting in those seats eating my lunch though, at least the gunners seat was close enough to the ground that my feet could touch!
VR, Russ

Russ, I went to McClellan for Basic/AIT. I was at the 636 Ord.Co.,Muenchweiler FRG, as part of an MP security detachment. Shortly before my ETS the company split and the Ord. guys went to the 330 Ord. Co. and we became the 110th MP Co. I stayed in the Kaiserslautern/ Pirmasens area until 1992. My family and I went back to Europe this past April. It has changed quite a bit in 25 years. Take care.


Jeff

Just ordered a set on ebay. Thanks for the advice.

If you just want barrels then Zebrano make some nice resin Hotchkiss barrels of the French 1914 version, suitable for French AFVs (but not British). I think this is the pattern you're looking for. Vastly cheaper than Aber and don't need to be assembled

Azimut has a set of resin 8mm Hotchkiss:

http://www.phpshopxml.com/azimut.shop/CID/01afa401458eb5bf671007baf3e8f4c5/function/itemPageDisplay/shopItemCode/VERAZI35397

Thanks, that's exactly what I need.

Thank you. I look into those also.

Magic Models have a nice brass one too, if you can find it. MM3580.