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British and Commonwealth Armoured
Vehicle Stowage Diagrams Part 1: Canadian and American-Built Armour 1939–45
by Barry Beldam
distributed by Quartermaster’s Depot, ISBN 0-9734277-6-0, 84 pages,
spiral bound.
Modellers have been using stowage diagrams for a long time now, as guides
to external equipment placing and for internal layouts. Unfortunately
many of them are not particularly easy to find, but Barry Beldam has been
collecting and has given us a very handy set here. Nearly all are multi-view
diagrams with internal layouts, though in a few cases he’s still
looking for more information. The vehicles covered in this volume are:
C15-TA armoured truck, Fox Mark I armoured car, Lynx Mark II scout car,
Otter Mark I light reconnaissance car, Ram Kangaroo, M24 Chaffee, M3 Grant,
M3 Lee, LVT Sea Serpent flame thrower, M4A4 Sherman V, M4A4 Sherman VC
Firefly, M4A4 Sherman V Duplex Drive, M4A4 Sherman V Crab Mark II, Staghound
Mark I armoured car, M3A3 Stuart V, and M5 and M5A1 Stuart VI.
The LCT and Sherman Crab show external stowage only, but all the others
give quite enough to give a good start on a complete interior if wanted
and definitely enough to model what shows through the hatches. It is interesting
to see the differences between Lee and Grant stowage as well as those
between the M4A4 versions! The Stuart VI diagrams do not cover the M5,
only the M5A1 with its radio in the turret and hence slightly different
internal stowage arrangements. Apart from that my only caveat is that
as stated these are the Commonwealth arrangements, so not reliable for
modelling US vehicles unless you check that their stowage arrangements
were not altered. Instrument panels and other major items didn’t
change, but British and Commonwealth practice sometimes moved minor items
around.
This is a great reference source, and another 7 volumes are forecast
to cover wartime and post-war British-built tanks and other armoured vehicles.
I can hardly wait to see these – recommended!
Readers in the UK can order from Barbarossa Books, where I bought my
copy. Although at the time of writing their website seems to be offline
the telephone number is 01621 810810.
John Prigent
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