The Valentine was built in larger numbers than any other British tank of WW2, and that does not include the ones built under licence in Canada. It was initially a private venture design from Vickers who drew from their experience developing some of Britain's early "cruiser" tanks. The design featured similar hull and suspension configurations to these earlier designs. It was not a fast tank having a modest 15 mph top speed but then that was adequate for its designated role of infantry support. The Valentine was a simple an extremely reliable design with a diesel engine and this was never more evident than in the pursuit of the Afrika Korps following El Alamein. The Valentines were in the vanguard and travelled huge distances on their own tracks. The early marks that saw action in the desert campaigns were armed with 2 pounder guns. These guns had a reasonable performance in the early war years in the anti tank role but which had no high explosive capability. By 1942 they were definitely outclassed and the lack of HE shells made dealing with anti tank guns and "soft" targets difficult. The Valentine could absorb a lot of battle damage and still keep fighting. Diesel power meant that the Valentine did not "brew up" as easily as some of the other tanks used by the 8th Army. It may seem strange that a Russian manufacturer should choose to produce a kit of such a tank, the fact is that the Russians received large quantities of Valentines under lend/lease. Reputedly the Valentine was the only British tank that the Russians specifically asked for more of. The bulk of the Canadian production went to Russia as did a small proportion of British production.

I have noticed a lot of variation in terms of equipment stowage and camouflage in the few references that I have on Valentines. Colours in the desert varied a lot. Some were plain sand, others had the diagonal "Caunter" disruptive scheme as on my model while later in the campaign hard edged disruptive schemes with black over sand appear to be very common. Early vehicles seem to have carried small stowage boxes on the turret rear. Some Valentines carried the Lakeman Bren AA mounting on the turret. Many Valentines carried racks for the 4 gallon "flimsy" cans mounted on the hull rear. There were also variations in the pattern of sand shields to consider. Canadian Valentines featured a cast nose and this feature could be considered if doing one of the Russian vehicles. The kit has some conversion possibilities with Allan & Dragon having already released the Bishop 25 pounder self propelled gun. Later versions of the valentine itself had revised turrets with 6 pounder and even 75 mm guns. Valentines were converted to DD tanks before the Sherman was standardised in this role. The 17 pounder Archer self propelled gun also used a Valentine hull. Other specialised versions like bridge layers were also built.

The Model

The kit was originally tooled in Russia by Allan Hobbies. Dragon have released a version of it under their Imperial series banner. They have tooled new tracks for this kit that look to me to be more accurate than the Allan originals that I have seen in pictures. Well, what do you get for you money when you open the box? You get a very basic kit that makes up into a model that is dimensionally quite good but lacks refinement by today's standards. Much of the detail is very heavy and solid looking in true Russian style.


I was asked to build the kit straight out of the box by the local distributor. Anyone who knows me will realise that because of my case of terminal A.M.S. this was no easy task for me. I confined my "improvements" to the odd bit of filling, adding radio aerials, drilling out gun barrels and scribing out the end of the exhaust pipe.

I built the model in three subassemblies; the lower hull, upper hull and turret. The lower hull went together without too many problems. I found that the suspension arms and mounting points required some filling, although this was hidden when I added the track guards. Some care needs to be taken when aligning the all the roadwheels as it is easy to get these all out of line. The suspension can be positioned to conform to uneven ground with relative ease, a feature useful for diorama modellers. I had difficulty in aligning the drive sprocket with the rest of the kit's wheels. It did not seem to come out far enough from the hull. The tracks were tedious to clean up and assemble but do look good when done. I must admit that I did not add the top run of tracks between the idler and sprocket as they cannot be seen behind the large sand shields and thus saved myself hours of pointless work. The hull presented few problems in assembly. The main problems here relate to the crude detail of some of the kit parts. The grab handles on the engine deck are too thick the fenders and sand shields are also way too thick. The tools provided in the kit are poorly detailed and really should be replaced. Some tools are not provided eg. There should be a bent tubular tool mounted on top of the large stowage bin. I think this may be some kind of track adjusting tool but I am not totally sure of this. A rear view mirror is provided but again this is way too heavy for my taste. The electrical wiring going to the various lights on the fenders is moulded on and could be replaced by fine wire for better effect. The drivers' hatches have solid handles moulded on which should be replaced with brass wire or similar. The fender brackets are again way too thick and are best replaced. Most 8th Army Valentines had rails attached to the sand shields. These rails were used to mount canvas covered frames that were painted to make the tank resemble a truck from a distance (The 8th army also made trucks look like tanks in a similar way). The rails can be added from styrene strip with minimal effort.

The turret is not bad but could do with a few refinements. Some minor filling was required at the front and on the rear bustle. When I build my next Valentine I will replace the 2 pounder with a Jordi Rubio item. The sighting vane on the turret roof is best replaced with fine card or brass sheet. The turret hatches may be modelled open or closed but no figure was provided. No real interior detail is included apart from a crude representation of the gun and it's breach. Two radio aerial mounts are provided in the kit although these are again quite crude. I added radio aerials from fine steel wire. 8th Army vehicles would often fly signal pennants from these aerials and these could be added to provide a splash of colour.

Painting and Finishing

I chose to paint the model as per the box art with a Blue on sand disruptive scheme. I used XTRA Colour British gulf war sand over a dark earth undercoat. The Blue was also from XTRA Colour with a misted overspray of the base Blue to which I added a touch of white. I discarded the kit decals for the white/red/white flashes and instead masked and sprayed these. This seemed easier than trying to decal over the humps and bumps of the kit's turret. Details and fitting were then painted, wooden handles were base coated in Tamiya sand acrylic. I over painted these with raw umber artists oil paint to simulate wood grain. The model was then lightly dry brushed with artists' oils. Pastels were sparingly applied to finish the weathering process. I used a sandy mix to get into nooks and crannies and black around the gun muzzle and exhaust pipe. The model was mounted on a small irregular base that I made to represent a piece of the North African desert. I think scenic bases make a big difference to the presentation of a model as they place it in some kind of real world context. Another advantage of place a model on a base is that there is no need to handle the finished model when moving it around.

Conclusion

Despite my reservations regarding the finesse of the kit I must say that the finished product looked very attractive. It captures the look of the original very well and could form the basis of an excellent model for someone who is prepared to do a little work. The bottom line is that the finished result looks like a Valentine and it is priced far cheaper than the resin equivalent from Accurate Armour. I think this kit is a step in the right direction in terms of filling the enormous hole in the range of Allied subjects. Construction and cleanup (excluding tracks) took only two or three evenings work out of the box. I treated this project as a painting and finishing exercise and gained a lot of satisfaction from trying a few new things. Modelling is a lot more relaxing when you are not agonising over some gap in your reference material. I actually got to finish a model in under 2 years elapsed time and as a result I may try this kind of therapy again.

References

AFV 1919/40. British Armoured Fighting Vehicles. Profile Publications 1970.
Museum Ordnance Special No. 10 ":Valentine Infantry Tank ", by Paul Roberts. Darlington Productions.

The Valentine in North Africa 1942-43, by Brian Perret. Ian Allan, pub. 1972. ISBN ???.