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Hi everyone, looking forward to getting started on this GB now. The subject: After difficult experiences on the earlier versions of the Churchill infantry tank, the Mk. III included some significant upgrades, some of which were retrofitted to existing tanks, also. While the Mk. III is famously connected to Operation Jubilee, it also saw major action in the African campaign and later in continental Europe. The kits: The Italeri kit was originally released by ESCI almost 50 years ago. The kit comes with two large plastic sprues and a vinyl track. Casting quality is okay with no overwhelming detail, but given its age, it looks surprisingly fresh to me. The outside detail of the vinyl tracks looks decent, but they have no inside detail. Markings are provided for four tanks, one for North Irish Horse in Africa, one for the famous King Force, also Africa plus a lend-lease vehicle in Russian markings and a Dieppe Canadian Army one, although it should be said that the kit does not provide any wading equipment as it was fitted on the tanks used during Operation Jubilee. The Dragon kit is only some 15 years old and the age difference shows, as it shows great detail, obviously using slide mould technology. Beside the plastic parts in four sprues, it includes DS tracks which look nice both on the inside and outside. However, in my kit, those were completely ruined. I don't know whether the box, that I got from an online auction, was exposed to high temperatures, but the tracks were so brittle that they fell apart even before getting them out of the plastic bag. For decals you get one 145 Reg. in North Africa and two Dieppe tanks, all Canadian Army. Also this kit does not include any wading equipment. The project: Originally, I was going to go just for the Dragon kit, but I bought the Italeri/ESCI kit for the Kingforce markings and thought I could maybe build them both in a back-to-back fashion, seeing how the kits do in terms of accuracy and detail, given their age difference. For the Dragon kit, I will go for some aftermarket, as I have to replace the tracks. Going for OKB Grigorov costs about as much as the plastic kit itself, but the detail you get is just great. I also bought some PE set from Armory for further enhancements and will replace the kit barrel with a turned brass one from Master. For the Italeri kit, I will most likely stick to homemade improvements. I would like to point out that there is a great build report by Danilo Carli on On The Way!, which will probably provide a lot of good examples. Regarding markings, I would like to go for a Kingforce and a North Irish Horse tank, using decals from the Italeri kit. For the kingforce tank, there is a great Work in Progress thread and Ready for Inspection by @Nenad, providing a superb reference in 1/35 scale. Cheers Thomas

Yep, a kit that first saw light in 1978 , back then it was one of the first Esci kits and after all its' re-issues including this 2002 one from Italeri, essentially it has remained unchanged. Biggest challenge in the build was blending (not filling) the wing roots into the fuselage, there's a h*ll of a step which was beyond my regular filler so I invested in Tamiya two-part epoxy putty which worked perfectly - a lot easier to 'manage' than Miliput IMO. I've also removed various and inaccurate 'lumps & bumps' filled the gaping location recesses for the pylons added a NeoMega resin cockpit/seat. Decals (by Berna) are for an early EC 2/5 machine. I wanted a very early almost 'showroom' finish, so kept weathering to a bare minimum. Paints are Tamiya XF-18 for the blue/grey which I slightly lightened for some subtle post-shading and LP70 Gloss Aluminium for the undersides. Not too much else to say about this one except that was a joy to build something so 'simple' after a number of complex projects... I have a definite soft-spot for all the Mirages but the F1 is definitely a favourite, maybe because I was lucky enough to see so many of them at various shows in the UK over the years. As ever all C C & Q's welcomed. Cheers from Aotearoa/NZ.