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Churchill Mk.III - AFV Club - 1/35


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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.

 

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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.

 

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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

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48 minutes ago, Bertie Psmith said:

That is lovely. Well built, painted, modified and weathered. And a fascinating story too. Good all the way, my friend. Thank you.

Cant agree more! I would also say very simple but realistic presentation, also completed with very well done photos!

Cheers

LM

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Very nice Nenad!

I'm glad to see you did your research into the subject, I've seen a few of these built as King Force Churchills where they have missed out on the subtle little detail changes. I like the way you did the dust shield on yours, I chickened out on my Tunisian Churchill and depicted it stowed.( mostly because I didn't spot that they had one until I had finished the build).

I like the fact that you added some history to the subject, it's a poignant reminder of what the crews of these vehicles that we depict went through. 

 

Wayne

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On 1/14/2022 at 6:48 PM, Bertie Psmith said:

That is lovely. Well built, painted, modified and weathered. And a fascinating story too. Good all the way, my friend. Thank you.

 

Thank you Bertie.

 

23 hours ago, Lazy Modeller said:

Cant agree more! I would also say very simple but realistic presentation, also completed with very well done photos!

Cheers

LM

 

Thank you.

 

23 hours ago, APA said:

Absolute beauty 😍 great build Nenad. Sexyist Churchills there was.

Done justice to a great tank. 👍

 

Andrew 

 

Thank you Andrew.

 

22 hours ago, Watto64 said:

Lovey finish and weathering.  And very good photos too.

 

Thank you.

 

22 hours ago, MRMRL said:

I agreee with all the above, this is a really nice build of a very interesting tank, quite distinct in the WW2 crowd.

 

Thank you.

 

22 hours ago, Tom W. said:

Dusting is absolutely fantastic! Great skill

 

Thank you Tom.

 

10 hours ago, diablo rsv said:

Very nice Nenad!

I'm glad to see you did your research into the subject, I've seen a few of these built as King Force Churchills where they have missed out on the subtle little detail changes. I like the way you did the dust shield on yours, I chickened out on my Tunisian Churchill and depicted it stowed.( mostly because I didn't spot that they had one until I had finished the build).

I like the fact that you added some history to the subject, it's a poignant reminder of what the crews of these vehicles that we depict went through. 

 

Wayne

 

Thank you Wayne. I like your Tunisian version very much. I was thinking a lot should I go with Tunision version, or Kingforce one. I like that the tracks are exposed on Tunisian version. Your tracks turned out brilliant!

 

9 hours ago, Stef N. said:

Brilliant workmanship Nenad. So much thought and effort went into this and it really paid off. Bravo.👏👏👏

 

Thank you Stef.

 

9 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

That's another beautiful model from you Nenad. You've done a superb job on it and made it all the more interesting with the story behind this unit. Nice work.

 

John.

 

Thank you John.

 

8 hours ago, StuartH said:

Outstanding model. The paintwork and dust effects are superb 👏

 

Thank you Stuart.

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You've done a brilliant job again Nenad and the background story really adds to the post. I have to agree with the others about the excellent dusting, of course the model itself is well made and the photography is top notch as well.

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Hi Nenad. Wow! That really is very impressive!! Your modelling, painting and weathering skills are all absolutely first rate!! Very well done. :worthy:

Kind regards,

Stix

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On 1/15/2022 at 10:45 PM, vytautas said:

Another fantastically well-made tank of yours!

How long can this go on! Nenad, finally concentrate, do something nasty so that our eyes can rest from beauty, which you so insistently produce! :rofl:

 

Vytautas

 

Thank you Vytautas for your kind words! I am sorry I so insistently fail. I will have to put more effort into this 🤣

Or I can just add some photos of my pre-Britmodeller models :)

 

On 1/15/2022 at 10:59 PM, edjbartos said:

Nenad, that is gorgeous, what a real beauty, I like the painting, but I really like the weathering, it's nice and subtle and blends everything together well. Very nice , really well done...

 

Ed

 

Thank you Ed.

 

On 1/15/2022 at 11:00 PM, kiwitrogg said:

Great build and presentation. Love it.

Cheers

Gaz

 

 

Thank you Gaz.

 

On 1/16/2022 at 12:01 PM, FrancisGL said:

Hi Nenad,

Great subject, very well "dusted", I love the details in some points, like the rear shovels.
Cheers and TC
Francis.👍

 

Thank you Francis.

 

17 hours ago, Autle said:

You've done a brilliant job again Nenad and the background story really adds to the post. I have to agree with the others about the excellent dusting, of course the model itself is well made and the photography is top notch as well.

 

Thank you Autle.

 

28 minutes ago, PlaStix said:

Hi Nenad. Wow! That really is very impressive!! Your modelling, painting and weathering skills are all absolutely first rate!! Very well done. :worthy:

Kind regards,

Stix

 

Thank you Stix.

 

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On 1/17/2022 at 10:17 PM, Big_Bad_Bill said:

Good work. You've inspired me to get one for my Korean War collection.

 

Thank you.

 

On 1/19/2022 at 1:48 PM, WYATT said:

Just awesome!

 

What more can be said

 

Thank you.

 

10 hours ago, IanC said:

A fabulous build Nenad. The painting and weathering is first rate, as usual. 👍

 

Thank you Ian.

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