Beaverette Mk.II

The Beaverette was an improvised armoured car created almost overnight in 1940 by mounting an armoured shell on to the chassis of a Standard touring car. This is the Mk.II version, which was improved in many respects from the Mk.I. It was usually armed with a single Bren gun, through firing slits at front and rear.

The Beaverette was widely used for training and by the Home Guard in the UK, and this and later turreted variants were also used for airfield defence both at home and abroad. One later model mounted the complete gun turret from the Bolton-Paul Defiant, and was used in an AA role.

Considering the panicked haste in which it was originally produced, it was surprising efficient, but nevertheless it would not have been up to the rigours of front-line service and it was never used in that role.

This 1:100 scale (15mm) model was designed by M.Bergman and slightly modified by me — I chopped the wheels off for separate printing, and replaced the very basic driver mannequin with a figure of my own design.