RetrokiT

"Miracle of the Marne" Renault AG1/G7 Taxi

Kit Number R72014

Reviewed By Jim Pearsall, #2209

http://www.retrokit.net/ 

Kit courtesy of RetrokiT, forwarded by Patrick Keenan of the Armored Car/Wheeled Fighting Vehicle SIG.

The History

In late August/early September 1914 the Kaiser’s Army was approaching Paris from the north. Schlieffen’s plan was working, and it looked like the French army was going to collapse.  There were enough soldiers, enough ammunition and enough equipment for the French Army to stop the Germans, but they were in the wrong places. 

Being on the defense, the French and British had to hold the entire border, with no idea of where the main assault would come.  The German plan was set like clockwork.  Because the most efficient way to move troops and supplies was by rail, the French found themselves with a logistics system which was in chaos.  They had everything they needed, but it was all in the wrong places, at the wrong times.  And the French rail system just couldn’t handle all the freight in time.  The Germans were approaching Pairs.  They were about 30 km (18 ½ miles) from the outskirts of the capitol.

General Gallieni, the military governor of Paris saw an opportunity.  The French 7th Division was approaching from the south by rail, but it was going to be impossible to get them through the city and out the other side by rail.  So he requisitioned all the wheeled transports in Paris, including trucks buses and taxis.  Compensation to the taxi companies and drivers was decided at 27% of the regular fares.

In about 2 days, the taxis managed to transport 4,000 badly needed troops to the front, many making two trips.  Supply runs with food and ammunition were also laid on.

Thus was begun the war story of “The Miracle of the Marne”.  The taxicabs had saved Paris, and probably all of France.

The 1914 Paris taxi was a Renault built vehicle, the G with a 2-cylinder engine producing 9 hp.  Top speed was about 28 mph.  Surprisingly, there are 2 survivors, one at the Invalides Museum in Paris, the other in Portland, Oregon. 

The taxi could carry up to 1,000 pounds of cargo/passengers.  The “Miracle” taxis each carried 5 troops with their equipment.  The vehicle is divided into 2 areas, the open driver’s seat, and the closed passenger area in the back, separated by a partition with windows.

The taxi is a “landaulet”, which means that the tops could be run either up or down.  The kit provides separate parts for both the drivers and passengers tops, either “open” or “closed”.

The Kit

I assembled the springs and axles to the chassis, and then painted the whole underside yellow.  I put on a mask and painted the rest of the taxi red.  I followed with black leather seats for passenger and driver, and a brown leather interior for the passengers.

I really lucked out on the wheels.  The photo indicates that the wheels/spokes were the same yellow as the underside of the taxi, with black tires.  I am also building an aircraft, (BAC TSR.2) and using Black Magic ® masks from Cutting Edge Model Works.  The unused center of the aircraft wheel masks exactly fitted the spoke area on the taxi.  Sure saved me a lot of time and effort here.

In the top picture, the entire wheel was painted yellow and the masks installed.  In the bottom, the wheels have been sprayed black, then the masks removed.

There were some difficulties assembling this kit.  One thing I would like to see improved is the instructions.  The drawings indicate where individual parts go on the vehicle, but there are no “close in” details to show how things should fit.  I’m still not sure if the rear axle sits on top of or attaches underneath the rear spring assemblies.  And I’m not perfectly certain I got the front spring assemblies in the right places.  I’m uncertain if I reversed the front and rear wheels.

The fact that the instructions were in French was actually not a problem.  My friend George was born in Maine, and was raised bilingual, French/English.  He provided a translation.  Thanks, George.

The instructions call out letters for each part, but there’s no identification of the parts, either engraved on the tree, or a diagram showing where the parts can be found.  The pictures I got from the Internet were more helpful in component placement than the instructions.  Unfortunately all the pictures on the ‘net are of the top of the car, no one bothers taking pictures of the underside.

Getting the wheels and axles to line up and look adequately aligned was also a test of my skill.  There are no alignment pins, holes or other indicators.  I did manage to get all 4 wheels to sit on the road, but working with CA doesn’t give much chance to change alignment if a part moves after you’ve removed your finger or tweezers.

Nevertheless, the parts made up into a decent-looking model.  It’s tiny, it has a lot of fiddly parts, but it’s certainly a part of history which shouldn’t be let slide.

Thanks to Dominuque Jadoul of RetrokiT for providing this rarity, John Noack for letting me build it, Patrick Keenan for forwarding it to John, and George Reny for the translation.

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