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Tank, Heavy, No. 2, 183 mm Gun, FV215 - British Heavy Gun Tank, 1950-1957
Following the unveiling of the IS-3 at the Berlin military parade in 1945, a rush to ensure the west's tank arsenal could take on this new threat started. This produced countless different designs, among them the British development of a 183mm anti-tank gun that could fire a HESH projectile capable of defeating anything it faced in one hit (the idea being it would guarantee a "mobility kill"). This development was due to the fear that the conqueror's 120mm gun wouldn't be enough to counter the IS-3 (it actually could go through an IS-3 just fine). The trick was then mating the gun to a hull, thus producing the FV215. Built on the FV200 universal tank chassis, with a massive turret to house the 183mm gun, the FV215 would have been the second of Britain's "heavy gun tanks" after the FV214 Conqueror. Development started in 1950, and ended with multiple wooden mock-ups built and only a few turret faces produced before the whole project was cancelled in 1957. As a separate point, to address the name of the tank (FV215), the official title was Tank, Heavy, No. 2, 183mm Gun, FV215, and there is no such tank as a FV215b, or FV215a for that matter. This also means that any additional FV215b mounting a conqueror's turret would never have existed, as there was no need to replace the FV214 Conqueror with something that mounted the same gun that initiated the whole FV215 project in the first place.
This behemoth of a tank has been recreated in Lego, and the now-popular tank can roam the battlefield at last, waiting to evaporate any IS-3s that haven't broken down already. This model has a set of articulating tracks, a fully rotating turret, elevating and depressing gun, and 3 hatches that can fit Lego minifigures. It should also be noted that the boxes next to the turret ring are positioned as they should be according to surviving images of the wooden mock-up, and not according to a certain game's model of the tank. |
$49.99
1040 Pieces
Digital instructions set with step-by-step guide for the model displayed here and parts list for ordering pieces.
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