1:72 Bowman Mk. I tank destroyer, 2 Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, April 1945

[Dizzyfugu]

1:72 Bowman Mk. I tank destroyer of the British Royal Armoured Corps, 2 Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, Petershagen (Western Germany), April 1945 (Whif/Hasegawa kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr



Some background:
The Light Tank M24 was an American light tank used during the latter part of World War II and in postwar conflicts including the Korean War.
In British service it was given the service name Chaffee, after the United States Army General Adna R. Chaffee, Jr., who helped develop the use of tanks in the United States armed forces.

The M24 had a relatively low silhouette and a three-man turret. Its torsion bar system was to give a smoother ride than the vertical volute suspension used on most US armored vehicles.
On October 15, 1943 the first pilot vehicle was delivered. The design was judged a success and a contract for 1,000 was immediately raised by the Ordnance Department. This was subsequently increased to 5,000.

1:72 Bowman Mk. I tank destroyer of the British Royal Armoured Corps, 2 Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, Petershagen (Western Germany), April 1945 (Whif/Hasegawa kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Bowman Mk. I tank destroyer of the British Royal Armoured Corps, 2 Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, Petershagen (Western Germany), April 1945 (Whif/Hasegawa kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Production began in 1944 under the designation Light Tank M24. It was produced at two sites; from April at Cadillac and from July at Massey-Harris. By the time production was stopped in August 1945, 4,731 M24s had left the assembly lines. Some of them were supplied to the British forces, including a special tank destroyer variant, the Bowman.

The Bowman was developed through the need to get the British 17 pounder anti-tank gun more mobile. This weapon was very powerful but also very large, heavy and could only be moved about the battlefield by a vehicle, which made the gun more effective in defence than in the attack. An extemporized modification of the Churchill tank had been tested in 1942 as a self-propelled gun; the "3-inch Gun Carrier" and the US was expected to be able to provide the 76-mm armed M10 Wolverine through Lend-lease.

1:72 Bowman Mk. I tank destroyer of the British Royal Armoured Corps, 2 Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, Petershagen (Western Germany), April 1945 (Whif/Hasegawa kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Bowman Mk. I tank destroyer of the British Royal Armoured Corps, 2 Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, Petershagen (Western Germany), April 1945 (Whif/Hasegawa kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Further domestic projects were considered using obsolete tank chassis, including the Valentine, for its reliability and low profile (leading to the Archer) and the Crusader, for its good power-to-weight ratio. In development were also battle tank designs using the 17-pounder, which led to the Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger tank (and its post-war variant the Avenger SP gun) derived from the Cromwell cruiser tank. Another very successful outcome was the Sherman Firefly conversion of the Sherman tank.

The 17-pounder was able to penetrate some 140 mm of armour at 500 m (550 yd) and 131 mm at 1,000 m (1,100 yd) using standard Armour Piercing, Capped, Ballistic Capped (APCBC) ammunition at a 30-degree angle. Armour Piercing, Discarding Sabot (APDS) ammunition shown here could penetrate some 209 mm of armour at 500 m and 192 mm at 1,000 m at a 30-degree angle, which on paper could defeat the armour of almost every German armoured fighting vehicle at any likely range.

The Firefly and the M10 were effective carriers, but what was lacking was a smaller, more agile, light chassis, similar to the American M18 Hellcat tank destroyer, which was not very popular due to its very light armor and the open turret.

1:72 Bowman Mk. I tank destroyer of the British Royal Armoured Corps, 2 Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, Petershagen (Western Germany), April 1945 (Whif/Hasegawa kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Bowman Mk. I tank destroyer of the British Royal Armoured Corps, 2 Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, Petershagen (Western Germany), April 1945 (Whif/Hasegawa kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Reason behind this additional vehicle was that the powerful blast from the 17-pounder gun kicked up large amounts of dirt as well as smoke, making it difficult for the gunner to observe the fall of the shell, forcing him to rely on the commander to observe it and to order corrections. Dirt and dust also revealed the position of the tank, so that carriers of the 17 pounder would have to move every few shots.

With the modern M24 chassis available, trials to mount the Sherman Firefly turret were made in summer 1944 by the British Army, as well as with a more reliable Diesel engine than the original twin petrol power unit of the M24. This engine offered several benefits, like a more secure type of fuel and more torque, so that a quicker acceleration after firing and a compensation for the slightly increased all-up weight was ensured.

1:72 Bowman Mk. I tank destroyer of the British Royal Armoured Corps, 2 Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, Petershagen (Western Germany), April 1945 (Whif/Hasegawa kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


This new combination was successfully tested under the name "Bowman".
The Bowman carried a five-man crew as well as 45 rounds of main gun ammunition for the 76,2mm gun. A coaxial 0.303" machine gun against soft targets was fitted, as well as an o.5" M2 Browning machine gun on a flexible ring mount for use against aircraft and infantry. The M24's hull machine gun was omitted in order to save space and weight, even though the original opening was just plugged and not removed.

Production started in late 1944 at Massey-Harris, in parallel to the standard M24, and the Bowman entered service in January 1945. It was, due to its late introduction and limited production numbers, only used in North-West Europe.

The Bowman's success was limited, since it did not encounter its enemies, the heavy German tanks, anymore. While its small size and good acceleration made it agile especially in an urban environment, the heavy gun and its massive recoil stressed the light hull and suspension. Another factor that made the tank rather unpopular was the cramped turret – a weakness that it shared with the Sherman Firefly.

1:72 Bowman Mk. I tank destroyer of the British Royal Armoured Corps, 2 Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, Petershagen (Western Germany), April 1945 (Whif/Hasegawa kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


By the end of the war, only 152 Bowmen had been produced. The Bowman was, despite its turret, classified as a self-propelled anti-tank gun and was operated during the war by the Royal Artillery (RA) rather than by Royal Armoured Corps units, as were the British 3in SP, Wolverine and 17pdr SP. Achilles.

Post-war, the Bowman served with some units of the Royal Armoured Corps in the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) into the early 1950s, but were phased out during the advent of the Korean War.



Specifications:
    Crew: Five (commander, gunner, loader, driver, co-driver/radio operator)
    Weight: 20.5 tonnes (45,155 lb)
    Length: 7.48 m (24 ft 6 1/2 in) including gun, 5.03 m (16 ft 6 in) excluding gun
    Width: 3 m (9 ft 10 in)
    Height: 2.77 metres (9 ft 1 in) w/o AA machine gun
    Suspension: Torsion-bar
    Fuel capacity: 110 US gal

Armor:
    15–89 mm (1.7 – 3.5 in)

Performance:
    Speed: 52 km/h (32 mph) road, 36 km/h (22 mph) off-road
    Operational range: 161 km (100 mi)
    Power/weight: 11.6 hp/tonne

Engine:
    Detroit Diesel 6V-71 7.0L (426ci) V6 Diesel engine, rated at 238 hp (171 kW)

Transmission:
    GM Hydraumatic 4F

Armament:
    1× QF 17-pounder (76.2 mm) gun, 45 rounds
    1× Co-axial 0.303 in (7.62 mm) Browning M1919 machine gun, 5,000 rounds
    1× Flexible .50 in (12.7 mm) Browning M2 AA machine gun, 440 rounds



The kit and its assembly:
This little whif tank is actually a remake of a kitbashing combo I did when I was about sixteen, from the rests of two Matchbox 1:76 kits: a Chaffee hull and a Sherman Firefly turret. There was no historic ambition behind this, just the use of some leftover parts.
Anyway, despite being lost during moves the basic idea never left the back of my mind, and when I stumbled upon a 1:72 resin conversion set with a Firefly turret from Wee Friends I thought that I could recreate the model - on the basis of the Hasegawa M24 Chaffee.

The original Matchbox kitbash was the benchmark. The Firefly turret with white metal parts went together with almost no cleaning, fit and detail is excellent. Just some covers and visors had to be scratched and the M2 machine gun from the Chaffee was added.
The M24 chassis was built OOB, just the hull machine gun left away (styrene plug added in its place). The mud guards were left away and the fenders dented (heated and bent). Some dents were also added to the rubber cushions of the main wheels. Building went straightforward, basic assembly lasted only a single evening. Later some packed tents/tarpaulins (scratched from paper tissue and white glue) were added.


Painting and markings:
Again, the original build was the basis: it carried the British Army's "Mickey Mouse" scheme from late 1944 onwards. This consisted of an overall base in "Khaki Green" with a disruptive black pattern on top. The latter was applied freehand with a brush at army depots, either by soldiers or civilian employees. It was mainly used on "softskins", though – tractors, trucks, and armored/scout cars. The pattern was to be "applied to all top surfaces, with extensions down onto the vehicle's sides, und along the bottom edges of the vehicle"; "the underside of the chassis was also painted black".

Variations of this pattern included random black disruptive patterns, used on self-propelled howitzers, und "black wavy pattern", used on Universal/Bren Carriers only, and bold black curves painted on the sides of some few tank hulls. Black disruptive pattern was not normally used on tanks, because British tank crews made extensive use of hessian tapes und foliage for breaking up the vehicle's silhouette. But it looks cool, so I used it on this tank, too – and black/green schemes were used by the British Army after WWII, too, so I stuck with it.
The basic Olive/Khaki Drab tone (officially No.15 B.S.987C-1942) is hard to define, though. It's a dull grass green, much more intense than the American Olive Drab. Color recommendations consequently vary and include Humbrol 86 or 159, or mixes. Using a color pic of an Archer tank destroyer as benchmark I used a 2:1 mix of Humbrol 86 and 83 (Light Olive and Ochre), plus a bit Humbrol 80 (Grass Green).

1:72 Bowman Mk. I tank destroyer of the British Royal Armoured Corps, 2 Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, Petershagen (Western Germany), April 1945 (Whif/Hasegawa kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Bowman Mk. I tank destroyer of the British Royal Armoured Corps, 2 Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, Petershagen (Western Germany), April 1945 (Whif/Hasegawa kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Bowman Mk. I tank destroyer of the British Royal Armoured Corps, 2 Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, Petershagen (Western Germany), April 1945 (Whif/Hasegawa kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The black fields were painted free hand with Matt Black (Humbrol 33). A nice detail is the white lower front end of the gun barrel, seen on a British Sherman Firefly: it's countershading to make the barrel appear shorter. The upper side of the whole barrel remained camouflaged in dark tones to conceal it from the air, though.
Weathering was done with a dark brown wash, then the markings were applied: they belong to a 1:76 Matchbox Comet. More weathering was added through careful dry-brushing with earth, sand and grey tones. Sand/dust was simulated with a final light wash with simple water-based paint in Umber and Ochre, heavier in the wheels' area, plus some pigments in the lower sections.
The black vinyl track received a cloudy coat of an uneven mix of acrylic silver, black and red brown, and later some little dry brushing with silver. The same was used all round the hull, too, and some rust was simulated with thin Sienna.
As a final step the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Revell).

1:72 Bowman Mk. I tank destroyer of the British Royal Armoured Corps, 2 Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, Petershagen (Western Germany), April 1945 (Whif/Hasegawa kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Bowman Mk. I tank destroyer of the British Royal Armoured Corps, 2 Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, Petershagen (Western Germany), April 1945 (Whif/Hasegawa kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Bowman Mk. I tank destroyer of the British Royal Armoured Corps, 2 Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, Petershagen (Western Germany), April 1945 (Whif/Hasegawa kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr



A rather nostalgic piece of modelling, but, nevertheless, a little piece of whiffery. 

[The Chaos]

loogs good. I like It 

[Captain Canada]

That's a nice looking little tank ! the turret looks great on it.

[Martin H]

gonna be a bit cozy in there for the crew with that soddin great 17 pounder in the way 

I like it!

[Dizzyfugu]

gonna be a bit cozy in there for the crew with that soddin great 17 pounder in the way 

I like it!

Thank you all. Yes, pretty tight. But it's the Firefly turret, so it must have worked, somehow... 

[zenrat]

Cool.