Airfix A02338 British Cromwell Tank Mk.IV

The British Cromwell Tank was a cruiser tank used by the British during the last couple of years of the Second World War. Tank design is understandably constrained by trade-offs between weight (and armour / firepower) and speed. Cruiser tanks were created as an alternative to infantry tanks (which were slower, but heavily armoured and would accompany infantry) – they were lighter and although they weren’t as heavily armoured, this gave them more agility and speed.

The Cromwell tank was the fastest to be deployed by the British during the Second World War, which gave them a notable advantage in skirmishes with the enemy. Indeed, in one occasion, three tank commanders were able to leap a 20ft wide canal when surprised by an enemy squadron. While this speed did give them the edge over enemy tanks, the rough terrain took it’s toll on the tank’s suspension which wasn’t up to the job. In later models, the top speed was lowered but was still fast for the era and one of the most successful British tanks of the war.

This is a simpler model, geared at beginner to early intermediate model builders. The final model is around 8cm in length, so will require a degree of patience to assemble, but the kit is made by Airfix who have a long and respected reputation for creating high quality kits.The low cost means this is a great gift!

• Length: 8cm
• Ages: 8+
• Pieces: 91
• Scale: 1:76