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  1. Hi, This is a 1:35 model of the Churchill Mk. VII, British Infantry tank. This is Tamiya KIT no. 35210. I made it as a movable model. The only additional parts are the AFV plastic tracks and couple small accessories like bucket, swags, chest, the rest is OOB. Constructive criticism is encouraged. I MADE SOME CHANGES I THE MODEL, CAN YOU SEE THE DIFFERENCE ? Below I show how does it ride Models finished in 2021/2022 - "Sturmgeschutz III ausf G (1:35 vintage Tamiya)", "Matilda MK II (1:35 vintage Tamiya)" I invite you to see the rest of works on my site "about me"
  2. Resin Tracks for Churchill and M4 Sherman Tanks 1:72 OKB Grigorov In this review we're looking at a couple of sets of OKB Grigorov's resin replacement tracks. As with the Panther turrets we reviewed a while ago, these don't appear to be intended for a particular base kit, so it'll be up to you to pick the appropriate model and address any fit and finish issues you find. The two sets we have here are both intended for tanks used by the Allies. The Churchill tracks represent the heavy cast steel variant, while the M4 Sherman tracks have added grousers (or cleats) for improved traction over rough surfaces. The tracks are well made, with sharp details and no flaws that I could see. Once removed from the pouring stubs, the tracks are fairly flexible but would probably still benefit from being warmed in hot water prior to fitting in order to improve flexibility. Tracks for M4 family, T51 with grousers Tracks for Churchill Tank, Heavy Cast Steel Conclusion I can't really fault either of these items from OKB Grigorov. The quality of production is very high indeed and they will provide additional options for modellers wanted to add detail to their small scale tanks. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of
  3. Hello everyone, Here's my take on Churchill Mk.III. This is the first time I am building Churchill, and it was quite fun. It is 6 pdr armed Churchill Mk.III tank, member of the experimental "Kingforce" unit, named by its commander, Major King. Here's some history about the unit and tank and it's crew. Small number of Mk.III Churchills were sent to the Middle East for trials. Six reworked Mk.IIIs were shipped to Egypt where they arrived on 1 October 1942. They were dispatched by rail to the Mechanisation Experimental Establishment at Cairo where they were immediately prepared for service. Some field modifications were applied: side rails to carry ‘Sunshield’ frames were fitted, stowage bins fitted to the rear of the turret, canvas screen known as a ‘dodger’ was fitted between the front track-guards, and the tanks were then painted with a disruptive camouflage pattern. Tanks arrived painted in Lightstone No.61, while the disruptive camouflage was orange/chocolate paint (from witness accounts), probably locally produced Camcolour, A/19 Chocolate Brown. Special Tank Squadron to operate these Churchills was formed on 14 October 1942, commanded by Major Norris King M.C. with Lt. Deans as 2IC of the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars whose administration the unit came under. The unit was known as ‘Kingforce’. Most of the men newly arrived from the U.K. with very little experience of Churchills. There was now time for any rehearsal and very few 6 pdr rounds were fired before the unit was deployed. The unit left Cairo by rail to Burg El Arab by the 20 October, then by tank transporter to Tel El Aisa, then on their tracks forward to the HQ of 7th Motor Brigade to which it was attached arriving by the 23 rd October when the battle started. The 7th Motor Brigade was at this time part of the 1st Armoured Division. Thank I am building is representing one of them, commanded by 2/ Lt. Appleby, T31665R. On 26 October, three tanks, T68189R, T31665R, and T68186R moved forward in support of the Queens Bay’s Shermans assaulting Kidney Ridge and they soon came under fire. T31665R under 2/ Lt. Appleby advanced over a ridge and immediately came under intense enemy fire. The tank then reversed smoking slightly, stopped, and then burned intensely with only one wounded crewman surviving. Later examination revealed 38 frontal hits, some from 75mm, one of which had penetrated the turret front. This had done the main damage, with two 50mm penetrating hits elsewhere. There were 8 hits on the rear of the tank from British 6 pdr guns, 4 of which had penetrated, as a result of the Australian anti-tank gunners not recognizing an unfamiliar tank approaching them covered in smoke. On the other hand, Major King’s tank had more luck. It took 8 non-penetrating hits and claimed 4 hits on enemy tanks with 45 rounds expended. The objective was not taken and during the night of 26/27 October, the Motor Brigade including ‘Kingforce’ was withdrawn into reserve for a week. The unit participated in one more action, on 3rd November to support the 2nd Armoured Brigade Shermans. After this action, tanks returned to Alexandria, and the unit was disbanded. The test showed that Churchills IIIs were formidable and reliable tanks, able to take a tremendous amount of punishment, and at that point in time, they were the safest Allied tanks to be in. It is not known what happened with Kingforce Churchills after the Second El Alamein battle, but additional Churchill IIIs were deployed later during Tunisian Campaign. The kit is AFV club No. AF35153, with an addition of E.T. Model No. C35-006 PE set and TMD Matilda auxiliary fuel tank. Even though the box art shows Kingforce Churchill, kit itself need some changes in order to represent this particular tanks accurately. You can find out more about the changes needed in WIP section. The kit itself is really great, I have no complains whatsoever except some changes needed to accurately represent Kingforce Churchills, although, this does not even qualify as complain This is maybe the best AFV Club kit I built so far. Model is painted with MRP Light Stone and Gunze mix for A/19 Chocolate Brown camcolour disruptive paint. Weathered with pigments and MIG's nature effects. Cheers, Nenad
  4. With 5,768 built (plus circa 1,600 remanufactured), the A22 Churchill is by far the most numerous heavy tank of the WW2 Western Allies, surpassed only (by a small margin) by the Soviet IS series (6,108 built – but 40 per cent of them post war). Weighing 40 tons it was also the heaviest British mass-produced tank until the introduction of the mighty 52-ton Centurion shortly after the VE-day. Contrary to popular belief (caused by the naming of the Soviet KV and IS heavy tanks after Kliment Voroshilov and Iosif Stalin), its namesake was not British PM Sir Winston C., but his distant ancestor, Sir John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, one of Britain’s greatest commanders from the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. Being better armoured than any other British wartime tank, the Churchill was a straightforward implementation of the WW1 “lozenge design” heavy tanks (with unprotected tracks surrounding the full-width hull with side entry hatches) into the WW2 reality. Although underpowered, deadly sluggish and (initially) inadequatly armed, it was able to negotiate hills and terrain obstacles impassable by all other vehicles – an advantage that turned out to be an unpleasant surprise for the German staff officers first at Dieppe and then in Tunisia, Italy and Normandy. Moreover, from it's mid-life upgrade (when up-armoured and fitted with a 75mm cannon) it proved to be an almost immune adversary even for the latest German Tiger and Panther tanks. Just over 300 of the earliest Churchills followed the twin-gun layout used by several large tanks between the wars (and the US Lee/Grant during the war) – the Mk.I used a 40mm AT gun and a co-axial MG in the turret and a 95mm howitzer in the hull front apron, while in the Mk.IICS the main gun positions were swapped. But it was the Mk.II (1,120 built with the Mk.I turret and an MG replacing the hull-mounted howitzer) that became the pattern to follow for all later variants. Almost 700 Mk.III built introduced the 57mm turret gun and catwalks covering the upper tracks. 1,620 Mk.IV, which followed, differed only in having the cast turret instead of the Mk.III welded one. Then some 240 Mk.V (Mk.IV with 95mm howitzer instead of 57mm cannon) and 200 Mk.VI (similar, but armed with a 75mm cannon) appeared, but the Mk.VII (combining the 75mm gun with some 50 per cent improvement in armour thickness) became a milestone. Although weighing 43 tons, it became (at last) impenetrable even by the 88mm PzKpfw VI Tiger gun. The 1,400 Mk.VII and the 200 close suport Mk.VIII were built – almost identical, but armed with a 95mm howitzer. The variants listed above add up to 5,770 vehicles in total – drastically less than 7,370 (second only to the Valentine), given in several sources. The difference is due to several hundreds of Mk.III/IV/V and VI tanks remanufactured with Mk.VII-type hulls and (sometimes) turrets. In this new configuration they were called Mk.IX, X and XI. Although thirty early Churchills were used by Polish armoured units in the UK in 1942, none of them were used in combat. That’s why I decided to build the Mk.IV (main production variant) in the SCC.2 camouflage that fought in Tunisia in 1943. Crewed by five and powered by a 350hp liquid-cooled Bedford flat-12 (horizontally opposed) side-valve engine, a standard Churchill Mk.IV was armed with a single 57mm (6-pdr) gun and two 0.312” MGs. The 2011 Dragon kit is considered the world's best Braille scale Churchill kit as the only other options are the 1970s Hasegawa and ESCI/Italeri kits and the slightly smaller 1/76 Airfix kit. Actually – as the standard Mk.IV (#7424) boxing has been unavailable for years (strange, isn’t it?) - the kit I managed to purchase was the #7507, portraying the NA-75 variant, i.e. the Mk.IV fitted (in Tunisia) with a 75mm cannon taken from damaged US Shermans. The #7507 boxing contains 78 styrene parts on 4 sprues and two continuous “bandage” tracks. The decals are provided for three British tanks (British SCC.15 Olive Drab overall, not to be confused with the US Olive Drab) fighting in Italy in 1944. As I wanted to model a variant with a 57mm gun, some surgery of the turret front wall was necessary (the kit #7507 includes barrels for both the 57mm and 75mm cannon, as well as the 95mm howitzer). Otherwise the model was made OOB, with the exception of drilling the cannon muzzle and two exhaust stacks, separating the exhaust mufflers from their top cover, and making two antennas of Aber 0.3 mm steel wire. My model shows the tank from A Squadron, the North Irish Horse regiment, 25th Tank Brigade, participating in the May 1943 Allied Parade in Tunis. BTW, the same description is applied by Dragon for their #60503 die-cast model, but the markings are totally different. Dragon puts the bridge tonnage limit (40) on the nearside, all three red/white/red rectangles are omitted, as is the regiment mobilization code 24229 on the front apron, and the triangles on the turret are shown in yellow, while the North Irish Horse – as the senior regiment within the brigade – used red colour. Moreover the digit “3” shown by Dragon has a rounded top half, while in the Tunis Parade photos both Churchill Mk.III and Mk.IV from North Irish Horse have a white “3” with a horizontal top. The paints are (as always) Humbrol enamels, painted with Italeri brushes. In this case #29 was used for SCC.2 Service Colour and #253 for SCC.7 Dark Olive Green (on auxiliary petrol and oil tanks located on the rear mudguards). Decals are courtesy of my drawer: every red triangle is made (line by line) of the Mirage Grant red square, the white “3” in the centre of it (1.8mm high) consists of the bottom part of “5” and upper part of “7” from the same kit, the bridge tonnage marking is ACE FV101 Scorpion “10” with a black “4” superimposed on “1”, the red/white/red rectangles are cut from the Intech TBF Avenger rudder markings, while the white 24229 (1mm high, each digit cut out and applied separately) above the hull MG comes from the WarlordGames WGB-DEC-028 sheet. Finally, the Vallejo matt acrylic varnish was brush-applied overall. The pictures are taken with an LG smartphone. Comments welcome Cheers Michael
  5. This is a re-box of the venerable ESCI Churchill. I recall building the AMRCR version upon a time (as in 1981). Like most of the ESCI kits, this was "upgraded" with hard tracks in the ESCI/ERTL era, and that's what's in the Italeri box: Four of the six subjects in the Italeri boxing are eligible for this build: "Kingforce" at El Alemain, two Tunisian subjects (one with field-applied sand camoufllage), and one operating near the Gothic line in northern Italy: British AFV colours from WW II are a veritable minefield, which is the only thing likely to trouble this build.
  6. Started this AFV Churchill after reading a very good book "D-Day to Victory' the Diaries of a British Tank Commander by SGT Trevor Greenwood This is the first 1:35 scale tank I have ever built and it has been fun to build. Brought aftermarket stuff like 75mm Gun Barrel, tank fenders, upgrade sets, Churchill engine from Resicast, set of AFV workable trucks and a set of Friulmodel tracks Did not take any pictures at the start so here it is with the two different tracks to see which ones I liked all the wheels had been made and bottom of hull glued With the upgrade set there were nice grills to be made so I made a jig so that I could solder them Then soldered up the smoke grenade holder Add the guards on the side a used small bolts to hold in place Until next time Regards Richard
  7. Airfix Churchill, figure scratch made with a Dan Taylor head, a few extras added including the turret flared bottom edges. IMG_20180716_124908 IMG_20180716_124935 IMG_20180716_124958
  8. Dear fellow Britmodellers, this is Dragon's 1/72 Churchill Mk.III AVRE of 82nd Assault Squadron, 79th Armored Division, operating in North West Europe in 1944. I painted with Gunze acrylics and weathered with artist's oils and pastel chalks. The figure is from CMK. Photographs by Wolfgang Rabel. Thanks for your interest! Best greetings from Vienna.
  9. Afternoon folk's,finished Tamiya's Churchill as Ben Nevis 3rd Tank battalion Scots Guards,they landed in Normandy July 44 and ended up on the Baltic coast at the war's end after many month's of hard fighting.I figured being a Guards unit they would have kept their tank's in good order till the conditions took over so I kept the weathering to a minimum to show the tank not long off the beach,sprayed with Mr Colour paints which have a satin sheen which I only dulled with one light coat of matt,many thank's for looking in.
  10. In contrast to the plethora of German and Soviet WW2 AFVs the British tanks are not so well represented among the 1/72 kits. Trying to build a Valentine Mk VI (small turret) there's only ancient ESCI (recently labelled as Italeri) Mk II or a "wargame" extremely simple Armourfast kit of the same variant. Which one do you consider worth bothering with? Another important British infantry tank is a Churchill. And here again we have to choose (leaving 1/76 Airfix aside) between the 40-years old Hasegawa one, the ESCI/Italeri kit of similar vintage and the expensive new tool from Dragon. Is the last mentioned worth its price? Which one is the best basis to build a Mk IV (squarish-type cast turret with 75mm gun) model? Some years ago I have seen also the Churchill under the Humbrol and Heller labels? Were they just rebadged Airfix kits or something other? After some 40 years break in AFV modelling I'd like to build some dozen of the most prominent WW2 tanks. What I need is accurate dimensions and sharp surface detail - interior doesn't count as all hatches will be closed. Could you help me with building such a stash?
  11. Hello and welcome to my very first post There are the first 1/35 scale Tamiya models I have built and was hoping some of you would be able to suggest improvements. I believe I am fairly good at making models but I need to venture into the more advanced weathering techniques to make them look like they have been used in a war, and not like they have just come out of the factory (which can still be a cool look). So I will explain my thoughts and opinions of each of these 4 models below and show you plenty of pictures of each: Tiger I: - I am quite proud of this model as it is the very first model tank I tried to make in 1/35 scale. I was very proud of the base as it really does look like the tank is digging into the ground as it drives over the grass. One thing I think needs improving on is making the tank look more muddy (since its driving through a field), but I'm worried of spoiling it. Also I think I should add some weathering like scratches or some weathering washes, suggestions? Panzer IV - One of my favourite tanks. Again quite proud of the base which is meant to look like a narrow, dusty gravel road elevated above a grassy field. Like with the Tiger 1 I would like to add some weathering to this, I would to give it a gravel-dust effect but I'm not really sure what to use. I am aware that one of the decals has come off, no idea where it went. And also ignore the unpainted panel on the inside of the turret-surround (hard to see on the pictures anyway), I made a mistake while making it and had no more paint to finish them haha. Churchill VII - I decided to base this one from the real life tank on which this model is based (as in the real tank with the same serial numbers etc). So I did lots of research on the real one and found out some very interesting things (pm me if you're interested). So this was made to be in the Hill 112 battle in Normandy which some of you may have heard of. With this model I decided to try to add some scratches as though it had been peppered with machine gun fire or just from general wear and tear. I did this by dry brushing some metallic paint onto the model, which I don't like the look of. Again fairly proud of this tank (bar the rubbish attempt to model scratches) but the base has much to be desired, but isn't quite finished. PAK-40 - I bought this model to have a go at the Vallejo Chipping Medium technique and I am very pleased with how well it worked. It's quite a faff but it paid off. I am yet to do the soldiers and the shells. I am quite pleased with how the mud mound turned out (I wish I had continued it round to the back side), the camera doesn't show it too well but I tried to create a crater in the mound as though a shell had hit it. Still need to paint the side of the base black. (Sorry for how large the pictures turned out) So there you go. I would greatly appreciate any feedback you have to offer One question, what paint would you use for bare steel? Thanks for looking Shaun
  12. This is a Tamiya 1/35 Churchill Mk VII backdated to an early WW2 era tank. The changes were removing the high bustle (post war) commanders hatch, and scratchbuilding a low bustle hatch. Removing the armour plate on the intake covers and adding the lifting lugs, removing the front and center section fenders, replacing all handles and tiedown loops with brass wire and strip, making periscope covers from brass strip, tow cable from fine solder and paint with Tamiya acrylics and wethering with oils and pastels. Hope you like, Colin
  13. Another build finished recently, i've been working on a few and this is the most recent, a tamiya churchill VII. Front fenders were left off as per the box art and i tried doing some tie downs on the kit on the turret but they didn't work! I've done more scraping and chipping including on the decals to make it look worn and used. Paints used were Tamiya.
  14. The Flying Dustbin Some of you may recall my starting this during the Achtung Panzer group build back last year. Like so many of my projects, it stalled for reasons I can’t now remember. So I thought I might resurrect it here. First, a recap: The PSC Churchill AVRE PSC Churchill AVRE by jongwinnett, on Flickr PSC Churchill AVRE by jongwinnett, on Flickr The boxing enables a variety of versions to be built (with more or less accuracy) PSC Churchill AVRE by jongwinnett, on Flickr Less than fifteen minutes was all it took to get to this point. If you are a war gamer, I imagine these easy build kits are a godsend PSC Churchill AVRE by jongwinnett, on Flickr PSC Churchill AVRE by jongwinnett, on Flickr At this stage everything was only dry fitted, since I wanted to lift this from its slightly toy like origins. Changes I considered were: - replace co driver hatch with sliding mortar loading hatch - drill out mortar barrel and add lugs, or replace with tube - add avre fittings to side skirts If you have any other recommendations then let’s hear them! The tracks are poor, and I contemplated getting a Dragon boxing to use for detail spares, rather like the IBG carrier supplied detail parts for my PSC Universal Carriers. Since a full run of track is not needed, it might be possible to replace the more visible sections with Dragon track. However, in the end I decided to live with the kit parts. Mud and dirt can cover a multitude of sins! PS I know I fitted the commander's hatch the wrong way round! I believe they call this next bit “modelling”, but I prefer bodging! Churchill AVRE by jongwinnett, on Flickr Churchill AVRE by jongwinnett, on Flickr Churchill AVRE by jongwinnett, on Flickr Cameras are cruel, the added armour plate on the side hatch looked square in real life. Ended up cutting another. Basic plate work complete, the next task was to fabricate the brackets. Plates by jongwinnett, on Flickr Brackets by jongwinnett, on Flickr Brackets and sliding hatch finished Untitled by jongwinnett, on Flickr They look a bit messy, but a coat of paint will hide many sins... Untitled by jongwinnett, on Flickr The barrel of the mortar was opened up as much as I dared, the plastic is soft and will break apart if I go much further. A metal tube would be a good bet, but I think this looks acceptable (just). Dry run by jongwinnett, on Flickr This was where it stalled. It was fun, although the black brackets took several attempts! It’s pretty much finished in terms of additions. At the time I wrote that I want to open up the second hatch space in the turret, look again at the inside returns at the front of the track runs, and add some hatch handles and some stuff around the rear plate, and a few other wee bits like that. Let’s see if I can finish it this time!
  15. Hello, here's my Dragon's Churchill Mk.IV...built from the box. It didn't go together as well as other kits from this manufacturer; there's some tension along the fenders that causes them to slightly bend inwards. I did not use Dragon's decal option (only one included) as a quick online search revealed that "Castlerobin IV" had actually a different type of gun. So out came the spares box, and a turret number from another Churchill (Matchbox' AVRE if I remeber correctly). Only the "4" (identifying North Irish Horse Regiment) from Dragon's decal sheet was used. Photographs by Wolfgang Rabel of IGM Cars & Bikes, Vienna. The model was painted with Gunze/Mr.Hobby acrylics, according to Dragon's instructions. Weathering with Artists Olis and Pastels. Hollowed out the exhaust stacks: Thanks for looking! Cheers from Vienna.
  16. Hi guys. I've now commenced making the diorama for the Tamiya 1/35th Churchill MkVII featured in my 'Saving a Churchill MkVII from the bin' WIP post. In that WIP, I originally intended to 'hide' most of the tank by submerging it in a ditch full of deep water, as I thought it would disguise the fact that I had messed up the paint job, but I did, in the end, 'save it'. I liked the idea of a ditch, or stream though. I have never tried to depict water in a diorama, and as this is my 2nd diorama since returning to modelling after a 35year absence, I thought it would be a suitable challenge. After all, why build a model and diorama, if you aren't going to push yourself and try new things? I had considered driving the tank across a ford, but the crew supplied with the kit are clearly chatting to someone beside the tank. I doubt they'd be doing that if the tank was actually moving. So the tank has stopped momentarily. Besides, the tank is dry and dusty, and I didn't want to have to do more work on it trying to make it look wet (not after all the problems I had trying to get rid of the original 'satin/gloss finish it had! - all that repainting, only to end up giving it a satin/gloss finish again!) I had a play around with the additional figures, the farmer, the motorcycle dispatch rider and the infantrymen, trying to fit them all in the space I had... and decided to leave out the farmer (this may change) The kit suggests that the crew are chatting to him, and that he is passing up a bottle of wine in gratitude to their liberating his farm/country/wife. I thought that the tank riders and the following infantry might have had something to say about the present. (Like 'Where's ours?') So, I'm going for the crew stopping the tank to chat to a dispatch rider, asking for directions as they are in 'bocage' terrain and a bit disorientated. Not exactly thrilling, I know... but I might be able to add some humour or intrigue at a future point. So... I started on the diorama yesterday and progress has been relatively swift as I had all the materials to hand already. These include: A chopping board. Polyfilla. 2 carrier bags full of twigs, roots and other assorted (and secret) plant parts. Static grass (though unfortunately, still no applicator) Astroturf. A small bag of cat litter. Bottle of 'realistic water' Pouches of assorted crushed brick/stone. Jars of herbs and spices. Several sheets of white plastic of varying thickness. PVA and CA glues. Acrylic, enamel, and watercolour paints. Galeria acrylic matt and satin varnishes and Galeria matt medium. Other stuff I've forgotten about for now. I took my chopping board and models and played around with the position of the tank and figures until I found one that I was happy with, then I marked out their positions directly onto the board with a marker pen. Then I played around with the positioning of the hedgerow, stream and other features and did the same. BTW I really likes these chopping boards, sourced from The Range and costing £7.99. They aren't too big or too small, and are sturdy and thick and nicely heavy. They are constructed from glued batons of hardwood, are around 18mm thick and will never warp. They will also withstand deep gouging. I say this because rather than build up a surface in which to create a stream/ditch, I have instead, gouged into the board to gain that depth. I then added a skim of polyfilla to the rest of the board, having scoured and gouged the surface to remove the coat of varnish and improve grip. A liberal scattering of cat litter was then applied to the 'road' surface, and ruts created with the tip of a lollipop stick. (I want the ground to be hard and dry, so there are few visible signs of tank-track impressions.) This will take some time to dry fully, so in the meantime I cut up strips of astroturf, clipped away at the 'blades' of grass to get some variation in length and then stuck them to the banks of the stream with CA. I then pushed the still-wet polyfilla up to the astroturf and blended it in with a dinner fork. Much more work will be done to this in the future. A thinnish coat of PVA glue was applied to the bed of the stream, and a thinner coat near the banksides. A sprinkling of cat-litter dust was applied along the edges of the stream while larger pieces of cat litter were placed in the deeper channel. I am still in the process of gouging out the rest of the stream and will add a very small wooden 'footbridge'. Photos to follow shortly.
  17. (Udate jan 13th This tank has officially been saved and is now available to view in the diorama 'Lost in France') Hmmmm. Brimming with confidence after my 1st build and diorama for many years, I immediately set about tackling Tamiya's 1/35th Churchill MkVII tank. All was going well. I had the turret, hull, wheels etc all assembled and then airbrushed base coats, oversprayed with dark green. Then I applied the decals. That's when things started going wrong. I used micro set solution. This left a satin sheen on the otherwise pristine finish. No matter, I thought. This will not show after a coat of matt varnish and all the weathering. Only, the matt varnish dried gloss. Now I know that in reality British AFVs painted dark green have tended to have a satin or even gloss finish (I'm thinking of the Saladin and Saracen in particular) so maybe I am being a bit picky, but I just HATE a gloss finish on models. And no amount of cleaning and soaking would get the blooming varnish off! So it looked as though the model was a 'binner'. Being a binner, and with nothing to lose, I wondered if I could scrape the varnish and paint off. A labourious and fiddly task. I did a test scrape, which worked, but to scrape a whole model? I have to confess something now... I am an old-school modeller, having been a school child when I last made models and as such, I still use enamel paints. Soaking an enamel-painted model in thinners doesn't do the plastic any good! So I decided not to bother. I thought some more, and figured that rather than bin it, I could use the Churchill as a piece of diorama scenery.... blow it up and tip it into a water-filled ditch. I could submerge a whole side of the tank in water, and only have to worry about 'fixing' the exposed surface. I could cover the whole thing in dried mud and hide a lot of it with bankside vegetation. So, today, I set about the task and attacked the model with 'dark earth weathering powder' applied in several washes of varying dilution and also applied 'dry' to wet surfaces. This has covered a lot of the 'glossy' patches, but not all. There are areas such as the side skirting and turret sides which still shine horribly (well, at least to my eye they do) More weathering powder will cover this up, I have no doubt, but I will end up with a tank ENTIRELY covered in mud. Still, it's better than nothing. Anyway, I am now wondering what I can do to 'fix' the 'dried mud'. Weathering powder comes off when handled too much, or rubbed with a brush and I'm not sure I want to risk another coat of the so-called matt varnish! Can anyone suggest the best thing to do now, and also what was my mistake in the first place? Using enamels, I've never bothered varnishing my models before. I just used to wet brush and dry brush them once the enamel was properly dry. Was I actually mistaken to varnish this model at all? Pics to follow shortly. Thanks, in anticipation, Badder.
  18. All In my youth I had the Matchbox version of this with the bridge that went up and down, so when I saw the conversion by S and S Models I had to have one http://sandsmodelsshop.com/product/172-psc-churchill-avre-sbg-conversion-offer/ and yes, I am unashamedly re-living my childhood!! The kit comes in 13 parts: 8 for the bridge (a combination of lead and resin) 1 A frame (lead) 4 for the winch (lead) My one aim above all else was to try and get it so that the PSC base model tank could carry the bridge into battle , drop it and then drive off, in the small scale battles I have with my young son. This meant I had to overcome two issues – reducing the weight of the bridge and weighting the tank enough so it didn’t tip over - and also devising a mechanism by which I could attach and detach the A frame, as the two small moulded lugs on the bottom are far too small and probably too soft for the job – the A frame was the hardest bit. On the whole the conversion was pretty straightforward but I wish I had spent time making sure the bridge parts were exactly the same length and properly square before I glued them together. Below are some photos explaining my journey. Enjoy!! Andrew ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reducing the bridge's weight I did this by drilling and filing out some of the resin in between the struts. Stupidly, I did this after I assembled it, so got the angle wrong a couple of times. I now also wish I had spent more time with the filing out but I didn't want to risk reducing the structural integrity too much and it looks ok from a distance - you live and learn. Weighing the tank. Not having a lump of heavy metal lying around, this ended up becoming a three phase process - please try not too laugh too much but I am a newbie! 1) First I filled the base with some left over 2" pin tacks and glued the hull side on without checking if it was heavy enough - this turned out to be a bad idea! 2) After scratching my head for a while, I then hit upon the idea of filling the hull (through the small turret hole) with some left over brick mortar, as it would filter down in between the gaps between the pin tacks. Fast forward an hour of painfully slow pouring the mortar into the hull, after which I then slowly adding small amounts of water to help it set. I even did the same to the turret for good measure! 3) Step 2 was almost enough. However, the slightest nudge would tip it over, so i ended up gluing some sprue off cuts to the front just in front of the tracks. Whilst you wouldn't do this for a big display model it's unobtrusive enough for war-gaming. (Rusting pins in view) Converting the A frame This was the hardest (and scariest) bit. In the end I chopped the small lead lugs off and very carefully and very slowly drilled up inside the bottom of the lead A frame bases I then got some thick wire, bent it half and glued it up inside the hole, so that it's possible to put it through the holes on the ends of the bridge and then split the ends to hold the bridge in place. I also added a sort length of plastic tubing as a cushion on the bottom of the A frame. Again this is slightly obvious if you look closely! The finished article I've used black thread for the cables as a temporary measure for test purposes and the 'block and tackle' is a small swivel joint left over from my fishing days. I might also drill the barrel out if I'm feeling brave.
  19. Good evening all Have seen some of the amazing things people can do on this site, it's with some trepidation that I post the pictures below....but you’ve got to start somewhere.... I made a few models (badly) in my youth when war-gaming and then nothing for a long time but got back into it last year after 20+ years, when my young son decided he wanted a model tank that he could play battles with. Below is a selection of some of the betters ones but I’ve still got a way to go especially when it comes to weathering and stowage. At the moment my aim is to get them looking reasonably like they're supposed to, which I think I've managed. Better historical accuracy will hopefully come with time. Thanks for your time and please be gentle..... Andrew PS you'll also probably notice I'm not a great photographer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Armourfast Cromwells with some very basic stowage Plastic Soldier Company Churchills One has some extra stowage from S and S Models http://www.sandsmodels.com/ Armourfast Achilles x4 Again these have some additional stowage from S and S models. At some point I'll look at putting a couple of crew in. Also I know the weight should be 29 tons but I don't have any 29 ton signs. I also know the camo is not right but there are reasons (to do with my son) as to why I went with it. The bottom two are the first two models I finished after coming back to the hobby. I overdid the matt varnish on one of the but managed to rescue it (just). Plastic Soldier Company M5A1 Half track I have a total of three of these, of which this is probably the best. One thing that does annoy me slightly with PSC is some of the odd and inconsistent scaling. The 0.50 calibre MG on this model is WAY oversize but the ones on their Shermans are pretty close. Plastic Soldier Company M4A4 A couple of these have stowage/tarpaulin made of sprue off cuts covered in tissue paper, which is covered in PVA glue. I got the idea from someone on the Armourfast forum before it went offline (Dave if you ever see this - thanks for the idea). I also has to replace the .30 caliber bow MGs as they were as wide as the main gun!! I used short section of the same plastic I use for the aerials.
  20. Kicking off with my first AFV Club Churchill Mk IV with Mk5, L/50 6pdr Gun for this build Unit information TBC
  21. Now I'm cmopleting the buid of the two kits I bought to make my tribute to the brave North Irish Horsemen. I've used the data picked up during my research in another topic "The North Irish Horse ride from Argenta Gap to the Po river" The kits are these ones: Chrchill Mk IV NA 75 and the Chrchill Mk IV The first of the many questions, I suppose, to come is the simpler one. The colour. Th instruction sheet refers to a Gunze H73 defined Dark Green. I usually do not use the Gunze colours preferring Tamiya mixed tO achieve the proper colour or the Life Colours or Xtracrylics. Anyway considering the war period I suppose it' quite similar to a olive drab than to the early war bronze green. It's correct? Thank you in advance Ezio
  22. During my research about the Commonwealth troops that freed Ferrara after the Argenta Gap battle I found the North Irish Horse equipped with several versions of Churchill tanks. For this Regiment there are two precious sites the North Irish Horse Stead and Steel and the THe North irish Horse. They were part of the 25th Tank Brigade and supported the 8th Indian Infantry Division in the advance towards Ferrara and the Po river. The city was cleared on the 23rd April, the St. George's Day that is the patron saint of Ferrara and of course of England. On 24th they finally arrived at the Po banks. Now, while I'm trying to summon the courage to face a Vulcan Vickers Mk. VI in 1/35, I make a little diversion with a NIH Churchill at Ferrara on Spring 1945. The kit I've ordered and I'm waiting is the Dragon Mk IV so now I have to identify one tank that reasonably could have been there. The A, B, C squadrons fought the Germans in the ouskirts and in the industrial area so the first difficult task is to identify a possible MK IV that seems not too much used on 1945 ..... maybe I chose the wrong kit!!!! Here are two useful links for the insignia and for the different versions and names. The best thing could be finding a picture but date I found nothing. Searching the huge IWM site I found the Churchill in Italy photos nos. all part of the NA series: 24306 19757 14981 24288 23276 24460 23920 23788 24738 23277 18151 17144 14974 24305-36 23556 23274 22499 23041 22739 Someone has something? All the best Ezio
  23. Hi all, This is my first shot at a genre I have gazed open mouthed at over the years . Here is my Airfix Churchill Crocodile built from the box Pictures with follow J
  24. Hi All. This is my Churchill Mk1 Infantry Tank that I built about 7 years ago. This is the Cromwell Models resin kit that was mostly OOB but the filters were replaced with the later type that I also got from Cromwell Models, and the resin tracks were replaced with Friulmodel metal ones. Painted with Humbrol bronze green and weathered using acrylic pastels but kept to a minimum. This tank represents one vehicle from the North Irish Horse, Tunisia, 1942. Thanks for viewing. C&Cs welcome.
  25. Hi all I'm planning a Churchill mkIV avre using the Tamiya mkVII and the Legend conversion kit. Now I also have a resin fascine carrier and deep wading kit, my question is, would and Avre have gone ashore with both fascine carrier and wading kit fitted? or should I save one for another build? TIA Pete
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