Paul Cawte delves into the world of 1/48 scale armour, as he builds Tamiya’s quarter-scale Challenger 2 tank straight from the box.
Developed as an extensive redesign of the preceding Challenger 1, the FV4034 Challenger 2 is the British Army’s main battle tank and has been in service since 1998. Although appearing superficially similar, little of the Challenger 1’s structure, armament or powerplant was retained – according an official statement from manufacturer Vickers Defence Systems, just 3% of the components were common with the Mk.2. The Challenger 2 employs a crew of four and is armed with an L30A1 120mm rifled main gun plus co-axial and pintle mounted 7.62mm machine guns; its composite armour represented a generational leap in protection over the preceding Chobham, with the new composition known as Dorchester.
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