Tamiya's recent release of the British Cromwell Mark IV tank fills an important niche in late WWII armor and offers modelers numerous conversion possibilities

History

Developed as a replacement for the Crusader cruiser tank, Britain's Cromwell tank made it's combat debut in June 1944 with the D-Day invasion.

In a sense, the A27 cruiser tank was really two tanks. It was designed around the Rolls-Royce Meteor engine, a modification of the highly successful 600 hp Merlin engine used in the Spitfire fighter aircraft. Problems with development and production of the engine, however, led to the first production run of tanks being equipped with the same 395 hp Liberty engine used in its predecessor, the Crusader. These Liberty-engined tanks were designated A27L (L = Liberty engined) and were known as Centaurs. Later, as the Meteor engine came on line, the A27M (M = Meteor engined) emerged as the Cromwell tank. To further confuse the issue, many of the original Liberty-engined Centaurs were re-engined with Meteors, thus becoming Cromwells.

The tank was originally designed to carry a 6 pounder gun, but this was later amended to a 75mm weapon firing the same ammunition as used by the Sherman tank. Some Centaurs and Cromwells were built carrying a 95mm howitzer for close support operations. Others were built with dummy guns and extra radio equipment to serve as command vehicles and artillery observation officer's vehicles.

The hull of the Cromwell tank was changed somewhat during it's production run, with a side opening door being added for the driver, matching the type of door already in place for the hull machine gunner. These are known as type F hulls. The Tamiya kit is a type D hull. The change was done as the type D hull's driver's roof hatch could be blocked by the turret if it was traversed to the right, preventing the driver's escape in an emergency.

A typical Cromwell Mark IV combat tank in northwest Europe in 1944-45 carried a crew of five men (commander, gunner, loader, driver and co-driver/hull machine gun operator). It weighed 61,600 pounds, carried a 75 mm gun with 64 rounds of ammo and two Besa 7.92mm machine guns with 4,950 rounds. It had a top speed of 40 mph that later was governed down to 32 mph. Speed was its greatest advantage - an essential factor for a tank which primarily served in the reconnaissance role ahead of the main body of the army. During its serving in NW Europe, some tanks were modified with hedgerow cutting devices. These were known as Cromwell "Prongs." Many also had cowls added to the engine exhaust to reduce dust ingestion into the engine/vehicle.

Numerically the most important British-built cruiser tank of WWII, it served as the basis for dozens of conversions and was the progenitor of the later Avenger and Comet tanks. After WWII, Mark IV and Mark VII (and perhaps other marks) Cromwells saw service in Palestine, and some Mark VII's were deployed to Korea when fighting broke out there in 1950. There are reports of captured Cromwells being used in combat there by Chinese or North Korean troops.

The Kit

Tamiya's kit provides the modeler with a Cromwell Mark IV British cruiser tank Mk. VIII, A27M. The option is provided of building the tank in two versions, with a total of five different markings -- three for re-engined Cromwells (formerly Centaurs) and two for original production built Cromwells - the principal difference being the presence of the Centaur's internal track tensioning system or the presence of the Cromwell standard external track tensioning system.

One of the marking variants is for the re-engined Cromwell named "HELA," the 1st Polish Armored Division command tank used by Gen. Stanislaw Maczyk. Unfortunately, "HELA" was a command tank with a dummy gun. Tamiya doesn't provide the dummy gun or the additional radio antenna found on these vehicles. I scratch built the dummy gun from styrene rod for my model and used a British-style radio antenna/guard and mount from another kit. "HELA" also carried three jerry cans of fuel on the left rear fender which I will add later on this year (the local hobby shop was out of Tamiya Jerry cans).

Construction began with the rear hull plate, then moved on to the road wheels, idlers and drive sprocket. Tamiya's traditional polyvinyl tubes are used to hold the wheels in place on the hull. The individual road wheel arms were attached next (these can be positioned so as to show the tank crossing rough terrain, if desired for a diorama), along with the front and rear hull plates. Step four involves attaching the outer side hull armor plates and parts C26 and C27, the external track tensioning adjustment system (if desired -- leave these parts off if building one of the three Cromwells with serial numbers in the 187XXX series for which markings are provided). Slip the wheels on their hubs and add the track. The track is made of a new material which is connected with the same cement as used for the model (just don't use too much or the connection will dissolve). According to the British technical manual on the Cromwell, if properly tensioned, the track should touch the tops of the middle three road wheels on each side - use superglue to make it so. Tanks in service for a long time often experience stretched tracks and its not unusual to see the tracks touching all five road wheels - much to the regimental sergeant major's dismay, I'm sure.

At step 6, the upper hull is added to the lower hull/track/roadwheel assembly. If building a Cromwell with internal track tension adjusting system, open the holes on part B14 on the forward lip of the hull and install parts A16, the track tension adjustment system access ports. Do not install these two pieces if building either the tank with the serial number in the 190XXX range or the Welsh Guards tank which carries no serial number. Both of these have the external adjusting system.

The driver's/hull machine gunner's front plate is next on the list and the driver's vision hatch can be shown fully open, partially open for combat driving, or closed. Three storage boxes are assembled next, one going on the left track fender and two on the right. On later marks of the Cromwell (VII and higher) the installation of a side-opening escape hatch resulted in extra stowage boxes being added to the turret side and the forward box on the right fender was removed.

By this time you'll be at step 9, attaching hull top details and the screen for the exhaust. If building a Cromwell with the "Normandy cowl" exhaust deflector (an optional piece), do not install the mesh screening. Note that the Normany cowl provided in the kit is a late style that would have come into service well after the breakout from Normandy. Many Cromwell tanks in Normandy had field-improvised cowls fitted. If building a tank without the cowl, I'd recommend buying the Tamiya photoetch metal exhaust screening for the Cromwell. The engine exhaust screen really looks woven.

Front and rear mud flaps are attached next, along with the stowage boxes and engine hatch access covers. Tamiya took a short cut and molded the handles to the hatches into them. Some modelers my wish to super detail their model by adding handles of thin wire. Periscope covers are added next to the five periscopes (three on the hull and two on the turret roof) and the co-driver's side escape hatch doors is assembled and installed. If building a late Cromwell with the external track