French Somua CODER

3D-printed resin kit for a French Somua CODER bridge-laying vehicle

• 1:72 scale
• unbuilt, unpainted
• paint and glue not included

In 1937, the Société Coder de Marseille was commissioned to develop a special engineering vehicle (a self-propelled bridge). It was intended to allow tanks to overcome the so-called "dragon's teeth"—anti-tank obstacles. The bridge-laying mechanism was to be hydraulically operated. The design was based on a modified platform of the Somua MCL 5 half-track, featuring a more powerful six-cylinder engine, the MSCL 5. A prototype was completed in September 1939 and subsequently tested. The bridge-laying principle involved the vehicle driving toward the obstacle with the loaded bridge, activating a support integrated into the bridge segments to increase the vehicle's stability, and then moving the bridge over the obstacle using a hydraulically controlled, deck-mounted cone actuator. The bridge was 2.2 meters wide, 8 meters long (in reality, it spanned an obstacle 6–7 meters wide), and had a load-bearing capacity of 20 tons. Testing involved 100 crossings with Somua vehicles and 60 crossings with B-1 vehicles. The driver's cab and engine compartment were armored with 8–10 mm thick sheet metal. The CODER concept offered several advantages over conventional, manually deployed drawbridges. Nevertheless, the project was discontinued in May 1940. The prototype fell into German hands; its whereabouts are unknown.