1919 Christie Medium Tank – An Idea Ahead of Its Time

This model represents Walter Christie’s 1919 medium tank prototype, an ambitious post–World War I design created at a time when armored warfare was still in its infancy. Christie was an American engineer whose ideas often ran far ahead of contemporary military thinking. His designs emphasized speed, mobility, and mechanical innovation rather than the slow, heavily armored trench-crossing tanks that had dominated the Great War.

The 1919 prototype was intended to demonstrate a new direction for armored vehicles, but it ultimately failed U.S. Army testing. Concerns over reliability, unconventional design choices, and Christie’s difficult relationship with military authorities prevented the vehicle from being adopted. As a result, the tank never entered production and remained a developmental dead end in American service.

Ironically, while the U.S. military rejected Christie’s concepts, foreign powers did not. Christie’s suspension and mobility ideas would later influence Soviet armored development, directly contributing to the high-speed BT series and, ultimately, the legendary T-34. In this sense, the 1919 prototype represents not a failure, but the beginning of a technological lineage that reshaped modern armored warfare.

This is a 1/35 scale Vargas resin model, depicting the vehicle as it appeared during early testing. The finish reflects a utilitarian prototype rather than a combat vehicle, emphasizing the experimental nature of Christie’s work during this transitional period in tank design history.