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Hi Andy,

The Crusader did suffer from mechanical problems, but these were resolved by 1942; however, the Crusader was obsolete - as a tank - by then. I guess that's why they decided to use the hulls.

The Crusader III AA Mk I
(with 40mm Bofors) 238 were built in 1943, and 210 were listed in service by Dec 1943.

The turret was a bit slow to engage low flying aircraft which is why they switched to 20mm for the Mk II. Not sure if you'd want to model this by reducing it's RoF or it's Fire Control or something...

However, it was still an effective weapon and I even found an interesting account of it being used on the front line in a direct fire roll with great effect.

The Bofors did have AP rounds issued. A semi-AP round was developed in 1941 followed by a full AP round. Britian produced one million AP rounds for the Bofors.

The Crusader III AA Mk II & Mk III
(with twin 20mm Oerlikon) 345 were built in 1943, 299 built in 1944. 163 were listed in service by the RAC in Dec 1943.
21st Army group shows they have 252 in service in June 1944.

The Mk II had some cramped crew issues which were resolved in the Mk III by moving the radio into the hull and adjusting the turret.

They were being phased out by August 1944 because of the few Luftwaffe targets. But they were still shipping them to Europe in August 1944. Many Brigades started to use the crews as tank crew replacements; some units kept them and they were still in service in 1945.

The 17 Pdr gun tractors you mentioned were called Crusader Towers. I found that 474 were produced in 1944 and 126 in 1945.

I you want references for any of this, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

cheers,