British Chieftain MBT - Kagero Publishing

[Mike]

Chieftain Main Battle Tank
Kagero Publishing

The Chieftain MBT was the natural successor to the Centurian, and utilised the new armour to give it the edge over the "Red Menace" on the battlefield, which was envisaged to be the border between East and West Germany in the Cold War era. It put right the wrongs of WWII, when British armour had been under armoured and under armed by equipping the turret with a 120mm rifled gun, ensconced behind the aforementioned composite armour, although it wasn't the fastest tank on the battlefield as a result.

The Book
The subtitle reads "Development and Active Service from Prototype to Mk.11", which is an accurate description of this interesting tome. Part of the PhotoSniper range (number 7), the book is an oversize A4 size in portrait form, perfect bound at the left hand side as you'd expect. The thick card jacket is printed in full colour on the outside with a glossy picture of a Chieftain hull-down in camouflage on the front, and some profiles on the rear.

The first 26 pages are devoted to the development and service of the tank, and it goes into detail from the beginning to the every end, interspersed with some interesting and relevant photos. There are also two scale three-view drawings of two marks of the Chieftain, in 1:55 scale, which I'm guessing was "page scale" to allow the drawings to be as large as possible. The next section spans the following pages to page 50, documenting the tank in derelict and in-service settings, with some interesting captions that offer insight into what the Chieftain was like to work on and crew. This section has a black background to differentiate it from the rest, which also makes it easier to find. Pages 50-62 are taken up with a detailed walkaround of both the exterior and interior, getting into nooks and crannies that you wouldn't normally see.

The final 9 pages (10 if you include the back cover) show the variations in camouflage of the Chieftain in service with the British Army, Iran, Kuwait and even one found in Iraq in 2003, thought to have been crewed by defecting counter-revolutionary Iranians during the Iran/Iraq war.

Conclusion
If you're serious about the Chieftain, this is an excellent book for reference, but should also make for a good read. Written by Robert Griffin, it is entirely in English (some Kagero titles are mixed Polish/English), and with colour photos throughout (where the source material allows), plus some handy engineering-type drawings, it gives plenty of inspiration for the modeller and diorama builder.

Now we just need a new mould Chieftain model that doesn't blur the distinctions between marks. Let's hope our friends at Meng are looking in! Also, don't forget that the Chieftain was often paired with a 432 for exercises, so you'll need to pick up one of those too, and do your bit for keeping model shops in business

Review sample courtesy of

[Julien]

Looks like a great title. Always my favourite UK MBT, always saw them rumbling around Germany when I was a boy.

Julien

[JasonC]

Thanks for the review, looks interesting and I really like the Chieftain as a modelling subject. However, I don't think the Chieftain used Chobham armour.

cheers,

Jason

[Mike]

I can remember being told the Chiefy did use Chobham armour many a time as a kid, and it was developed around 1960, but Wiki reckons it was first used on the Abrams Maybe it was just propaganda at the time to convince the Communist foe that we were invincible? Could it be the Stillbrew package being colloquially termed as "Chobham Armour" due to lack of knowledge in the media? I suppose I could also just be mis-remembering... like I do

[Panzer Vor!!!]

The reason the Chally and Abrams are slab sided is you cant bend the new Chobham armour so it was not fitted to the Cheif . The Cheif had Still brew fitted hence the bulges on the turret front (nick name Dolly Parton)

But ive heard the chally 2 now uses a upgraded armour .

[crobinsonh]

Chally 2 uses Dorchester armour as I understand it.

[MASH4077]

Self-protection

The turret is protected with second generation Chobham armour. A nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) protection system is located in the turret bustle. On each side of the turret are five L8 smoke grenade dischargers, from Thales AFV Systems Ltd (formerly Helio Mirror Company).

Challenger 2 can also set a smoke screen by the injection of diesel fuel into the engine exhausts.

[Panzer Vor!!!]

ok i was nt sure of the name but ive heard that name

Chally 2 uses Dorchester armour as I understand it.

[Julien]

The Chieftain 900 was supposed to be an upgraded version with chobham armour but it never happened, I think the only one is at bovy?

I dont think the MOD ever said what the composition of stillbrew was did they?

Julien

[Panzer Vor!!!]

no the mod never discussed stillbrew but then they never discussed chobham or dorchester , all i know its a mix of steel plate plastic and ceramics ??? how that stops a shell ill never know but theirs one thing i know we invented it !!!!!!

[p-26luvr]

Since I am looking for more info on this tank your review is very timely. Thank you. Carl T

[Julien]

no the mod never discussed stillbrew but then they never discussed chobham or dorchester , all i know its a mix of steel plate plastic and ceramics ??? how that stops a shell ill never know but theirs one thing i know we invented it !!!!!!

Yep, and it was so good the US bought it.

I think its something to do with ceramic is really hard so can stop the kinetic penetrator rounds, I know the Russian experimented with glass for the same effect but found it could not stand repeated hits.

The real secret with the armour is "how" its made, they will never divulge this.

Julien (Still hoping we will get a new tool 1.35 Chieftain)

[Panzer Vor!!!]

Too True chap , as to the new cheif its either Meng or Afv but a model company have visited the t/m and measured up the cheif among other tanks but i dont know who it was

[Riggers]

Gentlemen,

Now being an ex-Gunner & having driven the Chally Mk1 in 1985 (first duty was Royal Tournament - Army Year), I was told in my AFV Recognition course that the sloping sides of battle tanks is because of the difficulty of when a round hits the vehicle, it won't penetrate 'as much' as opposed to a more 'straighter' angle (if that makes sense).

If a HESH or HEAT round hit a Chally tank with Chobham armour (named after Chobham Common research centre, Surrey), ,it'll simply 'slide' upwards rather than fully penetrate it....same with a HE round. Hence 'most' battle tanks have angular turrets.

The only tanks using Chobham armour are the Abrams & Chally 1 & 2.

Just my 2p worth...........ATB from an ex- 'Long Range Sniper'

[Mike]

Thing learned for today duly stored in (sadly unreliable) memory

[Panzer Vor!!!]

Gentlemen,

Now being an ex-Gunner & having driven the Chally Mk1 in 1985 (first duty was Royal Tournament - Army Year), I was told in my AFV Recognition course that the sloping sides of battle tanks is because of the difficulty of when a round hits the vehicle, it won't penetrate 'as much' as opposed to a more 'straighter' angle (if that makes sense).

If a HESH or HEAT round hit a Chally tank with Chobham armour (named after Chobham Common research centre, Surrey), ,it'll simply 'slide' upwards rather than fully penetrate it....same with a HE round. Hence 'most' battle tanks have angular turrets.

The only tanks using Chobham armour are the Abrams & Chally 1 & 2.

Just my 2p worth...........ATB from an ex- 'Long Range Sniper'

The same reason the T34 was a success and introduced sloping armour but i was told by a tankie officer that the new armour wont bend i dont know if its correct .

[Riggers]

The same reason the T34 was a success and introduced sloping armour but i was told by a tankie officer that the new armour wont bend i dont know if its correct .

The turrets are cast, so there is no bending required!

When I worked in Italy (Nuova Breda Fucine Spa), we used to manufacture Leopard tank turrets & their gun barrels & they were all cast, no welding/bending required.

ATB............

[JasonC]

There are different ways of making an armoured structure. With steel armour, the options are casting or welding (plus more 'antiquated' methods, such as riveting). A cast turret typically has smoother angles and few sharp corners. See the Chieftain, Sherman, T-55, etc. as examples. Welded armour was made up of rolled plates (either flat, or curved in one direction only) and thus featured lots more flat surfaces and straight lines, e.g. Panther, Tiger I & II, KV-2.

The Chobham style composite armour is not capable of being cast, simply because it is made up of different layers of materials. Much easier to do this flat I presume. Hence the big, flat areas seen in things like the Challenger, M1 and Leopard 2.

As far as armour sloping goes, Wikipedia has a decent explanation. With tradional AP shot, it basically comes down to increasing the effect thickness by giving the round further to travel through the armour.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloped_armour

cheers,

Jason

[Rodders]

Hi,

I've tried to find this book in the UK from a seller who uses paypal but can't find anyone. Can anyone help me to find someone who has this book and uses said paypal,

Thanks.

[John B (Sc)]

My understanding is that Chobham and similar armours work, at least in part, by allowing the energy of the incoming round to be dissipated sideways into the layers rather than through them. Rather as you will see happens if you try to hammer a hole in slate by hitting hard and rapidly. The slate, being fissile - having a plane of weakness, splits laterally. To make a hole in slate it is best to chip gently, or drill, slicing the layers away.

Having alternating steel and ceramic layers with very different strength and brittleness characteristics should help in this energy disspipation or redirection. It is probable the alternating layers also ensure a round gets spread out, squashed, to reduce point impact energy, which will also reduce net penetration depths.

Cheers,

John B

[Rodders]

Hi Mike,

I've got some money in my paypal account now and have ordered this from the book depository, so if anyone just uses paypal that's the only place i could find it. Thanks for the review the book looks good. I'll be hopefully using the book when i do the Tamiya Chieftain the wife got me for christmas. Please ignore my post above.

regards.

[Rodders]

Received this book about a week ago. Really good, would recommend it to any chieftain builder.