Darren Baker takes a look at the Light Tank M24 Chaffee (British Army), the second rendition of this subject from Bronco Models.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Thanks Darren,

Another one for the buy list.

Al

Thank you Alan, this is one of those kits that took a lot of time to find anything that could be faulted, with the string tow cable being the only weak link that jumped out at me.

Darren

Great review, and I have been eyeing this kit too. Actually I have a gift certificate for the local hobby store, I may have to add it to my stash, and re-adjust my queue..

Thanks for the great review
Kevin

Kev if you want to go for the American version I have a corrected turret I can send you.

American version???? I am Canadian, you know part British, no yankee here. And you know that I will put Canadian markings on it.

Exactly...this kit is perfect for a post war Canadian Chaffee.

Jason

I read somewhere that Canada did have a few Chaffee's in the closing days of the war, I believe they may have been used for recon or hq tanks. I also believe that a few Chaffee's were part of the Canadian Victory Parade in Holland. Problem is I can't seem to find the reference again. Does it jar any memory of this?

Thanks
Kevin

From the very limited info I have seen on the Chaffee in Canadian service during WWII they appear to have only been with the 4th Armoured Division...and only at the Brigade HQ level...one of them being the Brigadier General's tank.

If there's any fault to the Bronco Chaffees, it's that some pieces are simply too small to effectively use, and that the directions would have you assemble some tiny little pieces early that will of course get lost in the process of completing the rest of the build. There's only a few small details I've been able to find to add, but overall, the detail is great.

This is a superb and very welcome kit however there are problems with some of the marking options given:

There are 5 options:

1. HQ Tp 5RTR22 AB 7 AD Germany 45. "Kelly' Aye" T 330415 Overall OD
2. C Sqn Recce Regt 5 ID 1946 "Chieftain" T330512 Overall OD
3. Newly Delivered for Evaluation Winter 44 England T330411 Overall OD
4. 3 RTR 22 AB 7AD 1944 - "ANNE" T 441275 Shown in the colour guide as a Dk Grey but tells you to paint OD
5. 1 RTR 22 AB 7AD 1945 - "Trigger Happy" T330553

Nice to get five choices however there appears to be quite a few serious errors particularly with Formation and Aos in these two options.
1. 5 RTR was the junior Regt in the Bde yet the Aos is 52 (1 RTR) when it should be 53. The Tac Marking is in Yellow (1 RTR Snr Regt?)
4. 3 RTR by my reckoning (and I am happy to be corrected)was the second Regt of 11 AD in 1945 and not in 7AD. The grey scheme is intriguing even though it tells you to use OD. Additionally the Tac marking in Red (5 inside a Square) 5 TP Bsqn (?)should be in Yellow being the Second Regt. The T Number range seems to me to be far removed from the original range considering only 302 were recieved (speculation until I find the number breakup which I have somewhere)

Schemes 2,3 and 5 seem OK

These are not insurmountable problems but very confusing and a pitfall to the unaware modeller. I am very satisfied with this kit and plan to do a Guards one from it so it is no big deal to me and the decals will come in handy for other projects. I'd be interested to hear others opinions on the markings.

Just a heads up for those who don't normally do Brit stuff.
Al