Product Features and Details
Artitec 87.035 Highlights:
Model: Artitec's 87.035 1/87 scale SOMUA S35 is a resin kit and is unpainted.
Prototype: The SOMUA S35 was the best tank fielded by the Allies on the Western Front in 1939-1940. It was developed beginning in in 1934 as a fast-moving Automitrailleuse de Combat or AMC (armored combat vehicle) for the French Army’s cavalry. Cavalry tanks were intended for breakthrough missions, designed to pursue an enemy’s armored forces after the frontlines had been breached by infantry and slower moving infantry support tanks. As the SOMUA S35 was designed to tank on other tanks, it was well protected with 40-47 mm of sloping armor on the hull and turret and it had a reasonably fast top speed of 25 mph. It was armed with a 47 mm SA 35 cannon, which could penetrate the armor of a German Panzer III and IV at a range of 1,000 m, and a 7.5 mm Mitrailleuse mle 1931 machine gun. A unique feature of the S35 was that its hull was made of four solid castings, bolting together, and the turret was a single casting; the size and weight of these castings made maintenance and damage repair very difficult and time consuming. The slow casting process and the high cost of the S35 resulted in not many being produced, only around 440. During the Battle of France S35s proved to be better than their German counterparts, tank for tank, but poor tactical planning on the part of the French high command negated this qualitative advantage.
