Someone else’s Tamiya 1/48 Churchill Mk.VII ***FINISHED***

[Asmodai]

I will join the likely crowd in building the 1/48 Tamiya Churchill. I’m opting for the standard gun tank, though, no Crocodile 🐊. Maybe that will set my build apart a bit; no extra add ons planned. Not much to say about the kit; it’s been pretty well covered already. Just it’s a shame about the partial track runs provided, when the Churchill was often seen without many of its fender sections. Also, lazy of Tamiya to just copy the markings of the 1/35 kit. Why not offer something different? 

Edited September 22 by Asmodai
Completion

[bigfoot]

Welcome to the GB, nice kit choice. Are you going to be using the kit decals or are you going to source some AM ones?

[Asmodai]

9 hours ago, bigfoot said:

Welcome to the GB, nice kit choice. Are you going to be using the kit decals or are you going to source some AM ones?

There’s some time still, but there’s not a lot out there 1/48. GasoLine had some, but haven’t seen any in a while. Might have to stick with what the kit gives, even though it seems incomplete and there are was it white, or yellow? controversies on some of the markings. 

[Asmodai]

Something else I did pick up Saturday is below. As you may guess from the avatar and username, I come from a tabletop gaming background, besides plastic models. Army Painter is one of the paint brands that had catered largely to fantasy or sci-fi miniatures gaming. I have a pretty good collection of their paints. Besides refreshing their main paint range last year, they recently introduced historical colors to the range. There is an American, German, and this British WW2 set available now. 
 

The 20 colors in the box include 10 new unique colors for British WW2 uniforms, along with ten colors repurposed from the main range. Though this set was largely aimed at Bolt Action or Flames of War gamers, it certainly works for non gaming minis as well. I’ll paint the one crew included in the Churchill kit, and let you know how it goes. 

 

 

[Asmodai]

I did some more ‘work’ prior to the official start of the GB by mixing up this brew. One of the Mike Starmer SCC15 formulas calls for 5 parts XF81, 1 part XF58, and 1 part XF71. I did not use especially scientific measuring! Close should be fine. We’ll see how the resulting paint looks when it dries after spraying. There’s still enough left for a second batch, if there’s trouble. 

[StuartH]

2 hours ago, Asmodai said:

I did some more ‘work’ prior to the official start of the GB by mixing up this brew. One of the Mike Starmer SCC15 formulas calls for 5 parts XF81, 1 part XF58, and 1 part XF71. I did not use especially scientific measuring! Close should be fine. We’ll see how the resulting paint looks when it dries after spraying. There’s still enough left for a second batch, if there’s trouble. 

 

I will be very interested to see how that colour recipe turns out. Many thanks for sharing 👍

Hopefully SCC15 is a bit less of a can of worms than Olive Drab 😁

[Asmodai]

1 hour ago, StuartH said:

 

I will be very interested to see how that colour recipe turns out. Many thanks for sharing 👍

Hopefully SCC15 is a bit less of a can of worms than Olive Drab 😁

I’ve read up on it a bit, and it seemed like the out of bottle SCC15s available out there were almost without exception, terrible, so I figured I’d give this a shot. Tamiya and Vallejo is all there is to me locally, and I had to order these anyway 😠

[Asmodai]

We’re underway, but a lazy first day to be sure. Started work on the lower hull of the 1/48 Churchill. All the precision you’d expect from Tamiya. And yes, I did use the weights; I like them. I don’t miss the all metal lower hulls the early Tamiya 1/48 armor kits had, though. Made super glue necessary to build them. The white stuff is just PVA so the weights don’t rattle around in their holders. On to day 2…

[Stef N.]

On 21/07/2025 at 20:58, Asmodai said:

I did some more ‘work’ prior to the official start of the GB by mixing up this brew. One of the Mike Starmer SCC15 formulas calls for 5 parts XF81, 1 part XF58, and 1 part XF71. I did not use especially scientific measuring! Close should be fine. We’ll see how the resulting paint looks when it dries after spraying. There’s still enough left for a second batch, if there’s trouble. 

I used this mix on a Firefly and it came out really well. 👍

[Asmodai]

Completed a few more steps today. Got the bow and stern plates on, and some of the running gear. Starting to look more like a Churchill. Not sure when the next day to work on it will be. Back to work on Monday, and I have some personal medical drama coming up this week. Hope everyone’s builds are coming along smoothly! 

[bigfoot]

That’s coming along swiftly. Hope the medical dramas are nothing major.

[Asmodai]

5 hours ago, bigfoot said:

That’s coming along swiftly. Hope the medical dramas are nothing major.

Been plagued by some chronic conditions for a while now. Just routine, so far. But annoying. Thanks. 

[Asmodai]

Progress? Not much time the last few days. I did grab the running gear and track sprues tonight, and give the tracks a quick coat of Army Painter Gun Metal by brush. It only took a few minutes with the mega brush, and I hate cleaning one of my airbrushes to do this little, anyway. Color is kind of light, but once they’ve been washed and weathered, that won’t matter. 
 

With the Tamiya 1/48 kit, you can’t really add the hull top before adding the running gear and tracks. The top one giant piece with almost all the fenders as well. While the track runs aren’t full on this kit, you still need to get them to curl around the idler and sprocket. That would be tough with the fenders in the way. I’ll have to paint the lower hull and running gear next, and add the tracks before any more major assembly. 
 

There’s a preview of the Starmer mix here, too,  as I gave the idlers and sprockets a hit of the SCC15 so they can be ready to go on once the lower hull is painted. I just wanted to try it out. Okay, so far. This is about as big a piece I’d brush with Tamiya paint, as brush painting is something it is notoriously awful at, while airbrushing great. 
 

Last note of the day - while I’m in the US, if any other 1/48 Tamiya Churchill builders make a hash of or lose a trailer part, I have all of them leftover as I am going straight gun tank with mine. 

[StuartH]

Looking good 👍 I've been in a bit of a pickle regarding how to approach the 1/48 tracks.

I'd like to paint them up and fix at the end though as you say the fenders make that really difficult🙄

 

 

[Asmodai]

6 hours ago, StuartH said:

Looking good 👍 I've been in a bit of a pickle regarding how to approach the 1/48 tracks.

I'd like to paint them up and fix at the end though as you say the fenders make that really difficult🙄

 

 

Definitely looks to be rough where you have to curl them around the idler and drive sprocket. Looking over the instructions and kit parts made me decide it wasn’t going to be possible. I like to assemble as much of the kit as I can before any painting, but the way this one is set up, it seems like paint early you must, before you can fully assemble it. 

[Asmodai]

I’ve been out to lunch for several days, but finally did a bit more work today. Got around to spraying the lower hull parts with the SCC15 mix, so I can go ahead with assembling the tracks and the rest of the hull sides. Annoyingly, while it shows up well in person, in the pic below, the difference between the SCC15 hull bottom and the bare Tamiya plastic on the upper hull and turret parts sprue isn’t as apparent. I guess my lighting and or camera just sucks. Had a few airbrush droplets 💧 spit out on the lower hull 🤬, but it doesn’t really matter there, in the end. Hope to have the tracks on soon. 

[Asmodai]

I’ve started the running gear and tracks, before running out of steam tonight. One good thing about the Tamiya link and length sections on this kit - you can’t put them on backwards, if you follow the directions. The first section lies across the front on a little shelf that has two pins to go into holes on that section, so it fixes the orientation. Otherwise, standard sectional track rules apply - use a slow setting cement to give it some time to play with. Requires some care still, as you have to ‘worm’ a link under the previous one to make the curl around the wheel. Kind of nerve wracking. 

[Asmodai]

Tracks on, and hull top and sides installed. Still lots to go, but it looks much more like a Churchill now. 

 

[Asmodai]

Finished basic assembly. Now can clean it up for painting. I’ll install the tools, spare tracks, tow cables, exhaust, and commander later. 

[Asmodai]

Well, it’s all coated with green now. Can move ahead with some detail painting, decals, weathering, etc. The finish wasn’t perfect, but it should be okay. What do you think of the results of the Tamiya SCC15 mix? I’m no expert. 

 

[Stef N.]

It looks good to me. A good base to start with the next stage. 👍👍

[StuartH]

Colour looks great 👏

[Asmodai]

Now if only I wasn’t so lazy and would do some detail painting and put the last parts on, I could seal this in, and start weathering. 

[Asmodai]

All parts but the commander are on. He’ll be the very last thing. Needs a clear coat to even things out before washing and weathering. That might be later Saturday. A middling effort so far at best, but it’s a shame I didn’t take any pics of the exhaust before installing the cover - I think it has nice texture and color. 

[Stef N.]

It's looking very good @Asmodai A good clean build and yes, the exhaust has a great textured rusty appearance from what I can see.