A MASSIVE ongoing overhaul of the Tank Museum at Bovington is taking shape.

New buildings are under construction and rare and historic tanks, including one designed to be flown into battle, are being brought out of storage.

In the latest development, the museum's bulging archives have benefited from a 40 per cent increase in shelf space thanks to a £34,000 grant from The Foyle Foundation which was created to administer the will of the daughter of one of the founders of Foyles bookshop in London. It promotes learning, the arts and health.

Janice Tait, the museum librarian, said: "With regular donations from public and private sources, the archive was almost full.

"We were delighted to receive this generous grant."

The archive holds more than 7,500 books, 250,000 photographs and almost 3,000 document boxes.

The museum, in Bovington, holds the world's biggest collection of tanks. It is only open at weekends until February 4.

The £16 million refurbishment includes the construction of a new building, which is slightly ahead of schedule, and is due to open around late June or early July.

Other new developments include a new tank arena to host tank displays from May, and a new guide to the history of the tank to open from December.

Vehicles are also being overhauled and repainted in their original colours, including a Stug III, a type of German armoured support vehicle from the Second World War. Emerging from storage will be a Churchill AVRE, which carried a massive 290mm mortar to destroy fortifications.

And visitors will also get a chance to see the Harry Hopkins, an eight-and-a-half-tonne tank that was designed to be carried into battle by gliders.