ESCI – 8365 – 8044 – MK I Bishop (25 pdr. Mk. I Bishop)

Description:

MK I Bishop (25 pdr. Mk. I Bishop)

Unassembled plastic model kit in 1/72 scale of a British WWII self-propelled howitzer Bishop, build over a Valentine tank chassis, fitting a 25 pounder gun-howitzer in a fully closed big turret. Only around 150 units were produced, serving mostly in North Africa and Italy.

ESCI tooled this kit in 1977, one year after the Valentine tank. They only needed to replace the Valentine turret sprue by the Bishop one. The kit shares all the good things of the original Valentine kit chassis and hull. As the Valentine, ESCI-Ertl provided link-and-length tracks that Italeri kept in their re-release as Italeri – 7054 – Bishop Mk.I. Detail of the new Bishop turret is good, thought detail of the gun itself is bit rough. Bishops usually towed an ammunition trailer similar to the one you can find at ESCI – 8045 – British 25 Pdr Gun and Crew but if you choose this option you need to scratch build the tow hook at the back of the hull as is not in the kit.

After 45 years, remains as the only Bishop tooled in 1/72 scale injected plastic.