Planning ahead with a selection of classic British tanks!
While I'm still not in a position to easily be able to make models again at the moment, there's nothing stopping me planning my return to the hobby. The find of a random 1/76 Airfix Cromwell tank kit in our attic has given me the idea for a little display set of several British tanks spanning the Northern European Theatre from D-Day to VE Day - I'm calling the project 'From Normandy to Berlin in British Tanks'.
Looking Forward by Looking Back!
I thought to myself that it would kinda be nice to restart my future modelling by doing a sort of historic retrospective project. Not only would it be interesting to base a project of a very important historic military campaign by way of highlighting the spearhead of the British Army's offensive against Nazi Germany, but it would also be nice to do so in a way that also looks back art the history of classic British models.
Although the Airfix Cromwell kit isn't actually an old model - this new tooling dates back to just 2011 - the actual notion of producing models in the 1/76 scale can be looked upon to be a little dated nowadays.
Having decided to do a small set of models based around my Crowell kit I felt that is was right to keep them all in the same scale, which sent me into a bit of a quest to round up a selection in what is becoming a less popular scale in the face of the dominant 1/72.
Luckily for me, both Airfix and Revell have clung on to a fair amount of their legacy kits and I have been able to dip into these to collect my project pieces. But I can see how the writing is one the wall for the 1/76 scale and in the near future these kits - like old soldiers - may simple start to fade away. 😞
But enough of the sad face, let take a look at the good news and the kits I am gathering together for this project.
Some Oldies, Some Goodies...And a Couple of Not So Goodies!
The line-up I have for my 'Normandy to Berlin' collection - after some amount of Googling to see what's available - is as follows:
- 1. Airfix M4 Sherman Mk. 1
- 2. Airfix Churchill Mk. VII
- 3. Airfix Cromwell Mk. IV
- 4. Revell Sherman Firefly
- 5. Revell A-34 Comet Mk. I
These kits highlight the all the main battle tanks used by the British Army in it's drive to Berlin. I've not included light tanks - like the Stuart - or tank destroyers - like the Achilles - as I want this to be a relatively compact display set and for it not to grow into a collection of British AFVs!
The series begins with the 'classic' Airfix Sherman, which I see as representative of the D-Day landings as the M4 Sherman was the backbone of the Allied armoured formations going into 1944. Here I managed to get hold of an old boxing (1976) of a tooling of the Airfix model that is actually as old as I am! This tooling goes back to 1961! 😂
THE AIRFIX M4 SHERMAN Mk. I
Boy, this takes me back. Anyone who is a model maker of my age probably started with this kit as back in the 1960s this was essentially the old game in town.
I was lucky enough to spot this vintage version on eBay, so I grabbed it. It's listing on eBay describes it as original and still bagged BUT I have a slight suspicion - having examined the the bagged parts - that someone has pulled a fast one and bagged up themselves a newer example of this kit and stick it in a old box! But, hey-ho, I'm not one of those boxed example collector weirdos, I just need the kit to build.
AIRFIX CHURCHILL Mk. VII
Now this is a kit that I never built. I think that back in the 1970s this wasn't such a popular one as in hose days kids of my age then didn't think British tanks like the Churchill were 'cool'! Luckily, these days, British WW2 tanks are having a bit of a re-assessment by the military geek fraternity and they aren't as 'uncool' as they used to be!
The Churchill is a good representation of the drive through Normandy as it's is often featured in photos of the time as the British Army rolls into liberated French towns. The Churchill's thick armour made it a great 'assault tank' I think.
I haven't bought this one yet, but it's on my shopping list for next month...
AIRFIX CROMWELL Mk. IV
As mentioned, this is the kit I found in our attic that kicked off the idea for this project. No idea why I bought this or how it missed my big clear out of models that I did to 'wipe the slate clean' for a fresh start in the hobby.
That said, I suspect I picked it up as it was on sale somewhere and because it's one of my favourite WW2 British tank designs I couldn't resist shelling out the price.
The Cromwell - along with the Sherman - was iconic of British breakout from Normandy and the 'race' to Berlin. The tank's high mobility seemed to have had it at the forefront of any charges though the disintegrating German attempt to stem the Allied advance. But this may have only been because it's distinctive look made it stand out from the hoards of Shermans!
REVELL SHERMAN FIREFLY
Here's another nostalgia inducing classic kit that give old modellers like me a warm fuzzy feeling inside! 😄
This goes back to 1974 and the company Matchbox who decided to get in on the plastic kit market. This was fantastic for us young modellers at the time because - as I said before - Airfix war fairly much the only game in town when it came to armoured vehicle kits. Furthermore, Matchbox really got us all excited as their kits were not only moulded in multiple coloured plastic (yes, I know, a pretty elementary marketing gimmick) but they also included a small bit of diorama onto which you could base your finished model!
Yes, that's how easily pleased we were in the 1970s! 😂
I'm put the original Matchbox box art here for some extra nostalgia, although Revell took over these kits in the late 1990s and it'll be the Revell boxed version that I'll be buying next month...
REVELL A-34 COMET Mk. 1
And here we have the ultimate evolution of the British tank in World War 2 - the beautiful Comet! Now before you nerds out there chime in and say 'Well achully... The ultimate tank was the Centurion Mk. 1'...Chill! Yes, they did *just* manage to get a few prototype Centurions onto the field prior to the German defeat, but it literally was just a handful and they we not at the front line and were just for testing the design.... So there!
(In fact, the Americans beat us to it with the deployment of the next generation of main battle tanks with their M26 Pershings which got to the front in July 1945 and actually saw some action!)
In Conclusion...
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