WWII French Laffly V15T Tractor 4x4 wheels at 1/56 scale for resin printing

Having developed the Laffly S15T as a design request back in September 2020 I wanted to gain better value from the many hours it took me to develop that initial vehicle. This led me to start on the road of developing the other vehicle variants based on the Laffly Chasis.

During the 1930's Laffly produced a range of all-wheel-drive cross-country trucks (and tractors) for military purposes. They were often designed by Laffly and produced in conjunction with other companies such as Hotchkiss who even provided the engines. All featured an additional set of small wheels in front and similar set suspended beneath the driver's cab to help the vehicle cross ditches and obstacles.

The Laffly V15T was a 4x4 all-terrain liaison vehicle (VLTT - voiture de liaison tout terrain) used as a tractor for the 25mm AT gun.

Development of the V15T

The French cavalry was in the process of motorization pre-war. It was not satisfied with the performance Renault UE supply tankettes in their role, for towing its light artillery. This was part due to the low power, low speed and complicated wheel-train of the Renaults, to achieve reliability with high speed. For that, only a wheeled, more powerful vehicle would do. The new vehicle as planned was to be used as link "VLTT" (Off-road vehicle) as a tractor for light guns, especially the 25 mm antitank. Laffly S15 already had a nice model able to carry the heavier 47 mm APX and from its 6x6 drive extrapolated quickly the 4×4 Laffly V15T to answer this cavalry request.

Production by Laffly:

Impressed by the first tests of the vehicle, the cavalry ordered the first 100 in 1938. However, Laffly being already overloaded, its production line full with the 6x6, it could only deliver 80 in a first batch in 1939, followed by 20 in early 1940. With WW2 ongoing it became even harder to provide the vehicles, as more were to be ordered in bulk. Laffly by then was evidently no longer able to meet the demanding full-scale production. After negotiation of licences for a complete retooling and blueprints (by now property of the army, the standard procedure in wartime), production was given to La Licorne. It was setup in 1940 but was just getting started in May 1940, over 1.386 total to be deliver before the end of September 1940. However it is generally agreed that less than 200 vehicles had been delivered by June 1940. Most of these vehicle were parked when France fell, not able yet to join their units, and captured afterwards by the Germans.

French Laffly V15T Light Tractor 1/56 scale.

This model was developed from my work on the S15T originally designed at 1/28.  I have reworked the subframe suspension and driver shafts. The bonnet and cab front did not need too much re-working. The cab area and rear deck have been designed afresh based upon scaled line drawings and images of vehicles currently in museums or private ownership.

The model has been test printed by me on an Elegoo Saturn 8K printer. Using the basic settings and a layer height of 0.05mm. I include the pre-supported files that I used in the test print so you should get a reliable print. The clean up was reasonably straight forward. I use water soluble resin and clean it in very hot tap water. I did need to use a sharp knife to remove some supports that were running close to the model. So pay attention in cleaning before you cure the model. I was able to remove supports reasonably easily from the detailed subframe with out damaging any of the hydraulic parts. Just take a little care in this part of the process to enjoy the best results.

The models consists of the following files:

Main chassis of the vehicle which includes all the sub frame detail, folded canopy, folded canvas door screens, cab detailing and ammunition lockers. Various tools strapped to the sides of the vehicle.

Road Wheels. Print 4 of these.  (Please note I missed adding this to the compressed file. The Laffly Road wheel has been added as its own file as of 04/09/2023.)

Curled Stowage Securing Horns mirrored left & right. Fragile so print spares. Mounts on the small front axle before the Obstacle Wheels.

Head light Repairs. I strongly recommend snipping supports off the headlights and small front axle before "pulling" the bulk of the supports off.

Obstacle Wheels.  You need 2 and these glue just below the front number plate. Use a tiny amount of greenstuff to assist in their gluing on. Sometimes those under the hull fail to print correctly so print some spares and clip out the ruined part before curing.

Window Screen. This is delicate. Print twice just so you have a spare. Remove the ulta-tiny support off the Wipers first at the bottom where it comes up from the window frame. Watch the window tilt lock lever on the sides extremely thin.

Solid Window Screen. Though still very thin this does avoid the wipers snapping off.

Front Driver sitting on his own chair. Remove the supports on the steering wheel column first and then the wheel before pulling the other supports off.

Front passenger with map on his own chair

Front Chair for driver and passenger, you will need 2 if not crewing the vehicle.

Steering wheel if you do not want to use a driver in the vehicle.

LMG & Pedestal Mount intended to be glued on its flat side behind the Front Bench. This is not based on any research but an option most transports get in army lists.

Passenger with a wine bottle. Just be careful of the top of the bottle when removing supports.

Passenger with map, legs closer together. Be careful removing supports from the map.

This model was designed by Neal Bowskill copyright June 2023.