The Tank Museum Bovington - A wargamers must.

It must be at least 15 years since my first outing to Bovington and a return trip was long over due.

Bovington is the museum of the Royal tank regiment and holds the largest collection of tanks in the world.  The British Army has been training tank crews at Bovington since 1916 while the museum was founded in the 1920s on the suggestion of Rudyard Kipling.

The main building consists of 4 areas, the tank story, the WWI experience, the discovery zone and Battlegroup Afghanistan. The following pic's give you a flavour of the goodies on offer.

The best and most important hall is 'the tank story' which traces the history of the tank all the way from 'little willie' in 1915 upto the modern day and includes the museums most prized vehicles. It's airy and well lite with plenty of room to get round the vehicles.

 

The Russian Army is well represented.

 

Although the German heavy metal steals the show just by its pure size and stopping power.

The WW2 section includes the worlds last surviving working Tiger tank and a Panther whose camo scheme is not one I have ever thought of copying in miniature. 

 

Not something I have ever though of painting, any idea on where this scheme was used?

The trusty Sherman takes pride of place in the main hall.

OK a firefly.

The Discovery Zone is a very large area crammed full of tanks and armoured vehicles mostly from the WW2 era but a few gems from the cold war period are hidden away in the 

corners which is a real shame as they are some great pieces of kit.

 

 

 

I almost buckled and ordered a bunch of stuff from GHQ on the strength of the T62 alone.

 

The last area is Battlegroup Afghanistan, it's smaller than the other areas and gives a look at the vehicles and conditions from the war in Afghanistan. 

 

A great day out and with a 12 month pass, I can see myself sneaking off for another day out soon.