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- Andrew
Good evening all
So with Junior's Cromwells on the paint stand, we needed something else to build at model club on Monday night and as he won't build anything German, I went for this as something a bit different and to test him a bit.
For those not in the know, like I was when I started on this little project, the Valentine Bridgelayer was based on the Valentine II/III hull. Apparently these were chosen because the torque generated by the diesel engine of these versions provided more torque for the bridge laying mechanism than the petrol engine of the other versions. The Tank Museum have one on show but it is the prototype based on a Valentine I chassis. The Russians also have one at Kubinka. There is also one at Overloon in the Netherlands but more about that later!!
In terms of the development of the bridge, one website I found put it like this (as does the Osprey Valentine book):
"A series of tanks were used as the basis for the scissors-bridge. Early development used light tanks. The project then moved onto the A10 cruiser tank, and from that to the dreadful Covenanter cruiser tank. Finally the Valentine was adopted, and entered production at the Southern Railway's Eastleigh Works"
Around 200 were made (I've seen both 192 and 239 quoted) and saw widespread service in NWE, Italy, Burma and apparently even Manchuria. Around 25 were even supplied to the Russians! Hear that John the Russians!!
In terms of NWE Europe use, I read in the Osprey book that these saw quite extensive use because there was a shortage of Churchill Bridgelayers - please feel to disabuse me of that fact if I'm wrong!!
Anyway enough rambling......
The base kit will be a Plastic Solder Company Mk II hull. As most of you know these are very much aimed at the wargamer. That said PSC do manage to get a surprising amount of detail on most of theirs kits and this is no exception - if you're willing to accept the compromises resulting from their wargaming roots. As is usual with PSC you get three kits and the ability to make different versions, so I can do something a with other kits at some point - John, the kit comes with a RUSSIAN commander!!! 
So far all we've done is build the hull and fill in the hole where the turret would go.
The bridge conversion is done by a small Somerset based company called S & S Models (link). They very much aim their products for the wargamer and basically do white metal and resin conversion sets for simple wargaming kits such as Armourfast and PSC. This conversion is no exception.
Obviously, there will be a lot of compromise in terms of quality - this is not a display conversion or scratch build - but the benefit is that it should be pretty robust; especially the bridges, as you'll see. This kit was specifically designed for the Armourfast Valentine but it should be a fairly straight forward to adapt it to the PSC hull.
ACW as usual.
All the best.
Andrew
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The Overloon Bridgelayer, very helpfully from the same unit that Junior's version will be marked up as.
PSC box art, sprue shots, destructions and the progress to date.
The instructions are not the clearest, which is not normally a PSC failing.....oh and I got 15% off the RRP too!
Doesn't look like much progress but we had a fun hour and a bit working on it!
S&S Models Bridge conversion.
As you will you get both a folded and extended version of the bridge, so it's just a case of swapping them at deployment and recovery!
The destructions. Something to challenge Junior!!
What it will hopefully look like!!
So with Junior's Cromwells on the paint stand, we needed something else to build at model club on Monday night and as he won't build anything German, I went for this as something a bit different and to test him a bit.
For those not in the know, like I was when I started on this little project, the Valentine Bridgelayer was based on the Valentine II/III hull. Apparently these were chosen because the torque generated by the diesel engine of these versions provided more torque for the bridge laying mechanism than the petrol engine of the other versions. The Tank Museum have one on show but it is the prototype based on a Valentine I chassis. The Russians also have one at Kubinka. There is also one at Overloon in the Netherlands but more about that later!!
In terms of the development of the bridge, one website I found put it like this (as does the Osprey Valentine book):
"A series of tanks were used as the basis for the scissors-bridge. Early development used light tanks. The project then moved onto the A10 cruiser tank, and from that to the dreadful Covenanter cruiser tank. Finally the Valentine was adopted, and entered production at the Southern Railway's Eastleigh Works"
Valentine Bridgelayer
The Valentine Bridgelayer was the last version of the tank to see frontline service, and could deploy a medium sized bridge while under fire.
www.historyofwar.org
Around 200 were made (I've seen both 192 and 239 quoted) and saw widespread service in NWE, Italy, Burma and apparently even Manchuria. Around 25 were even supplied to the Russians! Hear that John the Russians!!
In terms of NWE Europe use, I read in the Osprey book that these saw quite extensive use because there was a shortage of Churchill Bridgelayers - please feel to disabuse me of that fact if I'm wrong!!
Anyway enough rambling......
The base kit will be a Plastic Solder Company Mk II hull. As most of you know these are very much aimed at the wargamer. That said PSC do manage to get a surprising amount of detail on most of theirs kits and this is no exception - if you're willing to accept the compromises resulting from their wargaming roots. As is usual with PSC you get three kits and the ability to make different versions, so I can do something a with other kits at some point - John, the kit comes with a RUSSIAN commander!!!
So far all we've done is build the hull and fill in the hole where the turret would go.
The bridge conversion is done by a small Somerset based company called S & S Models (link). They very much aim their products for the wargamer and basically do white metal and resin conversion sets for simple wargaming kits such as Armourfast and PSC. This conversion is no exception.
Obviously, there will be a lot of compromise in terms of quality - this is not a display conversion or scratch build - but the benefit is that it should be pretty robust; especially the bridges, as you'll see. This kit was specifically designed for the Armourfast Valentine but it should be a fairly straight forward to adapt it to the PSC hull.
ACW as usual.
All the best.
Andrew
----------------------------------------------------------
The Overloon Bridgelayer, very helpfully from the same unit that Junior's version will be marked up as.
PSC box art, sprue shots, destructions and the progress to date.
The instructions are not the clearest, which is not normally a PSC failing.....oh and I got 15% off the RRP too!
Doesn't look like much progress but we had a fun hour and a bit working on it!
S&S Models Bridge conversion.
As you will you get both a folded and extended version of the bridge, so it's just a case of swapping them at deployment and recovery!
The destructions. Something to challenge Junior!!
What it will hopefully look like!!
Last edited:
Rick H.
....now where did I leave that fly swatter?
Rick H.