& :"Redleg" here yet again. I took a close look at the photo of the vehicle towing the camouflaged 155mm GPF and I am certain that it is actually a Renault EG heavy artillery tractor due to the construction of the cargo box (note the front seat walls, the Latil's were made of metal, not wood), the wheels (note especially the hubs, these were the kind seen on Renault vehicles of this type, not Latil) and how far to the rear of the vehicle the rear axle and wheels are placed; those of the Latil series were just a tad farther forward, barely noticeable in fact. Compare in Vanderveen's "Observer's Guide Army Vehicles Directory: to 1940" or even Jean Gabriel Jeudy's superb "Les camions de la victoire: 1914-1918".
Also does anyone know if the French kit maker "Des Kits" is still a going concern. I seem to remember that they advertised several models of artillery, including a GPF and a C17S (in resin?). I bought some resin add on stuff for M-4 Sherman tanks several years ago, and the quality seems good. Also is the maker Al. By. French as well?
AL.BY is the firm of Alain Laffargue, one of the pioneers of small scale resin models on the Continent and maker of a huge range, which unfortunately now is very hard to get. His wife used to run the production side, but when she fell ill he got into trouble, always having been in greater demand than production could keep up with anyway. Worth searching for though!!!
As information, AzimutProductions also made a 1/35 kit of this veheicle (all resin with PE parts). I still have an unbuilt example in my stash. I keep waiting for it to grow into 1/32.
I've got some M-4A2 transmission covers and engine decks from them to convert one M-4A3 Tamiya kit to a British M-4A2 (Sherman III for the Brits out there) from either the Italian campaign or North West Europe ca. 1943-1945 and then another to a Marine Corps M-4A2 at Tarawa. Have yet to start most of my ambitious projects due to living in an apartment only slightly larger than a walk-in closet. And you are correct, the stuff from "Dés" (I forgot the accent, it means dice) is exquisitely made and detailed. The French make alot of really great stuff (and like everyone some real caca: the Chauchat comes to mind), anti-French American attitudes and ignorance aside (after all, almost all of our artillery was French from 1917-1941/42 or so, and many of our subsequent designs were largely based on French design practice. Obviously we had enormous respect for France and things French, even after the catastrophe of 1940 [denial that at that moment France had been knocked for a more or less permanent loop?]. Even the Sherman was largely influenced by the design of the superb Somua S-35.)