M24 CHAFFEE WALKAROUND

It was designed as a replacement light or reconnaissance tank to supercede the American M5 Stuart. The Stuart was under-gunned, hard to maintain & its high profile & poor off-road ability left a lot to be desired.

The M24 set out to rectify these shortcomings. It was based on the T24 concept. The brief was to keep the vehicle under a 20 tonne weight limit. As a result, it was thinly armoured but the glacis was set to a strong incline at 60 degrees. The drive train was supported by torsion bar suspension, moved by a twin Cadillac 8 cylinder power plant fed through a hydraulic transmission.

As regards armament, a lighter variant of the 75mm gun was sourced from the B25H Mitchell ground attack aircraft. This significantly up-gunned the firepower of recon units when compared to the M5's 37mm gun, although taking on most German tanks was out of the question. The tank was also vulnerable to most German anti-tank guns & throwaway weapons. The M24 relied instead on speed & agility to fulfill its mission with speeds of 25mph off-road & 35mph on Tarmac.

When the tank debuted in late 1944, reports were favourable, especially when it came to the gun & the improved mobility, but it didn't appear in any significant numbers to really make a mark. Instead, it was used as a stopgap in Korea by the USA & by the French in Indochina - notably at Dien Bien Phu.

Here's a photoset to help you detail your scale model M24s.