TAMIYA 300035221 1:35 WWII British Cromwell Mk. IV Cruiser (1) Tank ‎300035221

Tamiya 300035221 1:35 WWII British Cromwell Mk. IV Cruiser (1) TankPrior to the outbreak of WWII Britain relied heavily on military alliance with France. It was felt that the large French army would be able to check any German expansion in western Europe should existing treaties be violated. As a result the British Army had been neglected so that when war came the Royal Armoured Corps had only a handful of modern tanks in service. Many of these were sent to France with the BEF only days before France was defeated all were abaondoned as their cres were evacuated back to Britain. The result was that new tanks were rushed into production without proper testing and were to prove unreliable in combat. As no new tank engines had been developed most of these tanks were powered by the Nuffield Liberty an American engine designed in WWI to give an output of 200bhp. Nuffield increased the output to 350 - 410 bhp and this was used to power the A13 A15 Crusader and A24 Cavalier. The engine proved adequate in the A13 and Crusader due to their modest weight but in the Cavalier it was a disaster and the tank was unfit for combat. In 1941 Rolls Royce produced a de-rated version of their Merline aero engine used in the Spitfire Hurricane and Lancaster aircraft for tank use. Named the Meteor this engine developed 600 bhp more than enough for current needs. The successor to the Cavalier the A27 Cromwell was designed to use this new engine and a pilot model was ready early in 1942. Unfortunately Rolls Royce was fully committed producing the Merlin and so was unable tomanufacture the Meteor in any quantity. The production of the Meteor was passed to the Rover Car Company which had been tooling to produce the Merlin. Setting up this new engine production line was to take almost a year. While the facilities for producing te Meteor engine were being set up it was decided to continue production of the A27 using the Liberty engine as a temporary measure. This version was designated the A27L Centaure and the Meteor powered tank the A27M Cromwell. Leyland Motors were contracted to build 4256 Centaures with other companies producing a further 2000 vehicles. Though not all these contracts were subsequently filled and it is not known exactly how many A27s were produced. The Centaur Mk.I entered production in the autumn of 1942 and was armed with the 6 Pdr. gun. This was followed by the Mk.III with 75mm gun and Mk.IV which mounted a 95mm howitzer. Early in 1943 most Centaur Mk.I were converted to the Mk.III by changine the armament. The a27M Cromwell Mk.I entered production in January 1943 but only a few were produced before production switched to the Cromwell Mk.V with 75mm Q.F. Mk.V gun. By mid-1943 enough engines were being produced to allow some of the older Centaurs to be converted to Cromwell these tanks mounting the 75mm gun were designated the Cromwell Mk.IV and this became numerically the most important mark. Most if not all Centaur tanks were built with an internal