Light Tank Mk.VII Tetrarch

 

The Light Tank Mk.VII, called "Tetrarch" from 1941, was intended by its manufacturer to replace their Mk.VIb and VIc, but its timing , and military conservatism, turned out to be against it.

It was in production by 1938, but before it could be built in numbers, WWII kicked off. The BEF went off to France with their Mk.VI light tanks, and lost them in droves. Partly as a result of this, and partly because the military thinkers decided that reconnaissance could be better handled by cheaper, faster scout cars meant that the army soured on the idea of light tanks and plans for the Tetrarch were scaled right back.

In the end, it stayed in service until 1949, but it saw only very limited action, and it was declared officially obsolete in 1944.

This is a 15mm (1:100) 3d print. I've painted it in Khaki Green #3 and Nobel's Dark Tarmac, which would put it at about the end of '41 or beginning of '42, just before the base colour for British armoured vehicles changed over to SCC2 brown.