Charioteer Mk.VIIB in Finnish Service

IBG Models, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Background

The Charioteer Tank, or FV4101 Tank, Medium Gun, Charioteer was a post-world-war II British armoured fighting vehicle. It was produced in the 1950s to up-gun units of the Royal Armoured Corps continuing to use the Cromwell tank during the early phases of the Cold War. The vehicle itself was a modified Cromwell with a more powerful gun installed in a relatively lightly armoured two-man turret.

Charioteer saw limited use with the British Army, but was used more extensively by overseas nations in Europe and the Middle East. Charioteers saw action in conflicts in the Middle-East.

Finland’s Charioteers

The Finnish Army bought a total of 38 "Charioteer Mk VII Model B", 3 in 1958 and 35 in 1960. They were removed from wartime organisation in 1972, but they remained in training use until 1980. 15 were stored until 2007 when they were auctioned off.*

FirstLook

I am not aware of any previous 1/72 scale Charioteer tanks in injection moulded plastic, so IBG's move into this niche market will be warmly welcomed by Cold War modelling fans.

IBG Models 1/72 Charioteer Mk.VIIB in Finnish Service comprises 69 parts in grey plastic, 14 photo-etched parts on one fret, and markings for three vehicles.

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Thumbnail panels:

The kit is moulded in a smooth, satin finish medium grey plastic. The plastic is flawless as far as I can see. Detail is crisp, subtle and convincing. Raised rivet heads, recessed panel lines, hinges and other structural features are all there in glorious small scale.

Parts are attached to the sprues with moderately narrow strips.

The lower hull sides, bottom and front are moulded as a single part. The rear plate is separately moulded.

The upper hull is made up from three main pieces – the front panel, glacis plate and the main hull superstructure.

The hull superstructure is moulded as one piece. I appreciate the lack of “flat pack” here.

Vision hatches are moulded shut.

Track guards are moulded as separate parts.

Assembly begins with the running gear and tracks. These have been thoughtfully designed for speed and ease of assembly with no compromise in detail. The tracks are moulded as one part with the inner row of road wheels, idler wheel and drive sprocket.

Track thickness is more than acceptable and detail is very nice.

The outer halves of the road wheels, idler wheels and drive sprockets are separate parts.

The drive sprocket teeth that correspond to the track are not present, making it easier and more precise to line up the tracks with the sprockets.

Detail parts including hangers for the track guards, headlight brush guards, handles and more are included on a brass plated photo-etched fret. They should be manageable for a moderately experienced small-scale modeller.

Tools, lights, stowage boxes and smoke discharger are supplied in as separate plastic parts.

The turret is broken down into the main upper shell, front mantlet and a base that will allow rotation after the model is complete.

Hatches may be posed open but no figures are supplied.

The box contains two styles of barrels - one with a fume extractor and one with a raised lip at the muzzle. The instructions call out the fume extractor version for use with this kit's three marking options.

The main armament will be fixed after assembly.

Markings are supplied for three vehicles on one decal sheet printed by Techmod.

All three are finished in overall Kenttavihrea (that's Finnish Olive Green to you and me).

Conclusion

This is a simple but nicely-detailed kit of a Cold War cul-de-sac. I particularly like the clever engineering of the tracks and running gear

* Historical summary adapted from Wikipedia

Thanks to IBG Models for the sample