A9 Cruiser Mk I

Despite being intruduced in 1937, by 1940 the A9 was already fast becoming obsolete.  The name Cruiser is also a misnoma  as it was, by any standard quite slow.  However, after years of neglect the British Army was in no position to do without whatever armoured vehicles they could lay their hands on.  In all 125 were built by the firms Vickers and Harland & Wolf. Its armament followed a trend in the 1930s for multi-turret designs with a 2 pdr and coaxial .303 MG in the main turret plustwo further .303 MGs, each sub turret.  Consequently, they had a crew of six. A Close Support (CS) variant with a 3.7" Howitzer was also produced. They served with 1st Armd. Division in France in 1940 and were later sent to fight against the Italians in Libyat.

Of particular note is the intricate rivet detail. Jim Brown, who built the master model, has painstakingly placed over 1200 individual rivets on the hull and turrets by hand.  The model is cast by Milicast Models.