British 17pdr Anti-tank gun Mk.I

Plastic kit from BRONCO, for the asembly of a British 17pdr Anti-tank gun Mk.I of WW II, on 1/35 scale. Includes sprues with plastic parts, assembly instructions, P.E. parts and decals. 

After the French war ended in early 1941, due to the rapid increase in the armor thickness of tanks at that time, the idea of ​​developing a 17-pounder anti-tank gun was promoted. The plan to install this new type of artillery on a gun mount with a pair of wheels was adopted in July 1942. The Royal Arsenal received an order for 100 prototype guns and immediately set up a small production line to produce the artillery. But in the autumn of 1942 when the German Tiger tank appeared, the situation became more urgent. Before the design of the special gun mount was completed, the first batch of artillery had to be temporarily installed on the 25-pounder gun mount. These new artillery pieces were first put into use on the North African battlefield in February 1943. The 17-pounder gun produced later was installed on a specially designed gun mount. The 17-pounder gun was developed into seven models (from MkI to MkVII). The main difference between each model is the change in the position of the barrel or mount. The 17-pound anti-tank gun is the more powerful weapon of the same type of artillery in WW II. It has a caliber of 76.2 mm (3 inches) and can fire APCBC armor-piercing projectiles with a muzzle velocity of 2,900 feet per second. It can penetrate 140 mm thick armor from a distance of 1,000 meters from a 30-degree angle. This is enough to deal with the threat from Tiger and Panther tanks during the battle. In the summer of 1944, a more powerful APDS armor-piercing projectile was developed for the 17-pounder gun, which could penetrate 195mm thick armor at a speed of 3,950 feet per second. The initial test shot was unsuccessful, but it achieved better results after reducing the content of gunpowder in the bomb. In fact, the more successful performance of the 17-pounder gun is placed on a tank. The more successful example is the production of 2,200 Sherman Firefly tanks. Other tanks equipped with this artillery include the A30 Challenger and the A41 Centurion; and the A34 Comet tank is equipped with a 17-pound variant (77 mm caliber) gun. The self-propelled gun vehicles also equipped with 17-pound anti-tank guns include M10 Achilles, Valentine Archer and A30 Avenger.