British Cavalier, Centaur, Cromwell, Comet and their variants
Cruiser Tank A24 / A27
Source text: "A photo history of tanks in two World Wars", from George Forty
The kits are converted from the 1/76 plastic Matchbox A34 Comet kit PK72, white metal 1/76 M.M.S. kits and 1/76 resin Milicast kits.
Click on the Pictures.
Click on the Pictures.
Cruiser Tank A24 Cavalier (2x)
A27L Centaur IV, with 57mm gun
Cruiser Tank A24 Cavalier
Cavalier tank has the Crusader-style rear hull, identifies it from A27 tanks. (Right) Cromwell - rear view.
A24 Cruiser Tank Mark VII, called Cavalier.
Experience with Crusader and its predecessors led to the production of the first new wartime Cruiser, the cavelier, which had thicker armour (up to 76mm), a bigger gun, the 6-pounder, and wider tracks. All this increased the weight by an extra 5 tons over Crusader, and its topspeed was lower, as it used the same engine and power train. Cavalier was only built in small numbers and was never used operationally as a gun tank, although some were converted for artillery OP use.
A27L Centaur IV, with 57mm gun
A27M Cromwell IV, type F, with 75mm gun
A27M Cromwell VI, close support, with 195mm howitzer
A27 Cromwell AA MKII with twin 20mm anti aircraft guns.
A27 Cromwell ARV MKI
A27L Cruiser Tank Mark VIII, called Centaur.
Next in the Cruiser line was Centaur.It had been intended to fit the tank with a new engine, The Rolls-Royce Meteor. However supplies were not available because all production was required for aircraft. Consequently the old Liberty V12 engine was fitted instead, as it was decided to keep the Meteor engine for the next in the line, Cromwell. Nearly 1000 Centaurs were completed. A proportion of these were later converted to Cromwell by the installation of the Merlin-engine, and others were converted tot specialised roles, so as dozers and ARV's.
The Full range of Centaur variants:
Centauer I :...First production version fitted with 6pdr gun.
Centauer III :...Fitted with 75mm gun
Centauer IV :...Fitted with 95mm howitzer
Centauer OP :...Fitted with dummy gun and extra radios.
Centauer AA Mark-1 and -II:...Fitted with twin 20mm Polsten cannon
Centauer Kangaroo :...A few had their turrets removed to be used as APC's
Centauer ARV :...Turretless version with a jib crane on front
Centauer Dozer :...Turretless version with dozerblade.
A27L Cruiser Tank Mark VIII, called Centaur.
Next in the Cruiser line was Centaur.It had been intended to fit the tank with a new engine, The Rolls-Royce Meteor. However supplies were not available because all production was required for aircraft. Consequently the old Liberty V12 engine was fitted instead, as it was decided to keep the Meteor engine for the next in the line, Cromwell. Nearly 1000 Centaurs were completed. A proportion of these were later converted to Cromwell by the installation of the Merlin-engine, and others were converted tot specialised roles, so as dozers and ARV's.
The Full range of Cromwell variants:
Cromwell I :...Fitted with 6pdr gun.
Cromwell II :...Fitted with wider tracks and hull machine-gun deleted.
Cromwell III :...Originally the Cromwell X, this was a re-engined Centauer I
Cromwell IV :...A re-engined Centauer III
Cromwell IVw :...As Mark-IV with an all-welded hull to simplify production
Cromwell Vw :...Similair to Mark-IVw
Cromwell VI :...As Mark-IV but with 95mm howitzer
Cromwell VII :...Reworked Cromwell IV with wider tracks, extra armour, suspension modifications and engine changes
Cromwell VIIw :...Cromwell Vw with Cromwell VII changes
Cromwell VIII :...Cromwell VI with Cromwell VII changes
Cromwell Command or OP :...Fitted with dummy gun and extra radio's
Cromwell ARV :...Turretless version with jib crane
Cromwell CIRD :...Mine clearing device -few only
A33 Assault Tank :...Heavy tank for assault role based on Cromwell (Excelsior) -prototype only
A27 Centaur Dozer
A30 Challenger
A30 Cruiser Tank, called Challenger.
The main drawback to Cromwell was its lack of gun power, so it was logical
to produce a tank with more hitting power to back up the 75mm gun, so Challenger
was designed to mount the British 17 pounder gun. This required a larger
turret and led to need to increase both the lenght and the wide of the hull.
A sixt road wheel was introduced and the all up weight increased to 32 tons.
Production of the Challenger was much slower than the Sherman Firefly, by
September 1944, there were only enough to provide three armoured regiments
with twelve each.
A30 Avenger
A30 Self-Propelled Gun, called Avenger.
This was a British attempt to produce a tank destroyer, armed with a
17-pounder gun, with an open-topped turret in order to reduce weight. Avenger
was a stop-gap weapon whilst the Valentine Archer SP was being put into production
and before the British began to get supplies of the American M10. Avenger
was not ready in time to be used operationally and by the time the pilot
model was completed it had been decided to switch production effort to Comet
A34 Excelsior
A33 Excelsior Heavy Tank
Only prototype with extra heavy armour.
A34 MKI Comet
A34 Cruiser Tank, called Comet.
The next logical development of the Centaur / Cromwell design was to produce
a tank that really had the firepower, protection and mobility to match its
German counterparts. It mounted a completely redesigned gun, a 76.2mm (3
inch), know as the 77mm, which had just about the same performerance as the
17-pounder, but was smaller and lighter.
Prototype Vauxhall Cromwell tank with Churchill turret
Charioteer MKVII.
Charioteer Medium Tank
(Post War)The Charioteer Medium Tank, used the Cromwell hull, with a new turret and 20pnd gun. In service to 1979 by Svensk Army
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