MiniArt has been kind enough to send us an early look at their newest Valentine subject, the Canadian-built Mark VI (six).

Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

very clear and complete sprue shots, thanks !

Well... All but the first thirty Montreal built Valentines had a cast nose rather than the rivetted one. The first thirty were sent to Camp Borden in Ontario, therefore to represent a lend-lease Soviet vehicle this would need the cast front end.

oops, Roy

Hi Roy,
Thanks for supplying that info. Of course technically speaking I am the one assuming this is meant to depict a lend-lease Valentine (considering the inclusion of the Soviet crew). But if you are correct than this either would work for the 30 (early) tanks produced or MiniArt could opt to fix this situation by replacing it with a cast nose version.

I will alert them to this and see what they dig up. Likely they will want to corroborate your info with photo evidence so if someone has a photo of one of these cast nose versions (or knows where one is) that would be really helpful.

Thanks,
Jim

Hi Jim,

I'll look for photos when I get a little time. What I do have is this from "The Museum Ordnance Special #10 Valentine Infantry Tank" by Paul Roberts (who hangs out at Missing Lynx a lot).
"The most notable of these changes (in Canadian produced Valentines) was the replacement of the bolted front plates with a single casting. This is the main identification feature of these vehicles. The cast nose was subsequently introduced on the British made Mk. XI, however their larger turret and long 75mm gun make for positive identification." Paul goes on to say, "Of the 1.420 Canadian built vehicles 1,388 were supplied to the USSR."
In "Making Tracks-Tank Production in Canada" Clive M. Law says,
"(T)hroughout production of the Valentine, Canadian-designed development, as opposed to to minor changes requested by the United Kingdom for tactical improvement, was concentrated on projects which made for easier and better production. Notable among these were the elimination of the fabricated turret and hull nose in favour of armoured steel castings."
Hmmm, not sure where Mr. Law's going with the cast turret business but I'll look at other resources when I can.
For now-HTH,
Roy

Chamberlain and Ellis' "British and American tanks of WWII" has a lovely photo of five of the cast nosed Montreal Valentines lined up in front of a locomotive. It's on p. 177 in my edition. I have some photos of the one in Ottawa which was recovered from a Ukrainian bog but I can't seem to locate the camera card they're on. I'll keep looking.

Cheers,
Roy

Here's the definitive book on Valentines produced in Canada. The Miniart kit as mentioned above needs the Cast nose for the Lend Lease version.

SPB019 - #6 Making Tracks - Tank Production in Canada, $24.95 Clive M. Law.
The first ever examination of this unknown story. Based on official reports and coupled with many recently uncovered photographs. 56 pages and 51 illustrations.

The book is availble through the Service Publications website. No association with them.

HTH
Sean

Be warned, the book mentioned here doesn't have a clear photo of the cast nose!

Thanks for the photos Jim, look forward to seeing more on this!

So guys are you saying that to be accurate the Miniart kit needs a cast front nose & cast turret too?