The potentially rather long Churchill Blog

[Chris Smith]

As most are aware I have been known on occasion to build a Churchill or two Just as on MA rather than start single threads for each one I'll just keep them in one blog. The story so far,

The first was a dual blog with Gary, a Churchill Mk IV with Voyager etch, Ultracast tank crew and DML tank riders on a Celtic Works base.





Next came a Churchill Mk III used by Kingforce during the Second Battle of Alamein using the conversion from ITA.



Then another ITA conversion, the 3" Gun Carrier. I was never happy with the paint job of this one especially after I dropped it and all the paint fell off the tracks.



Next came Ballyrashane, an uparmoured MK V of the North Irish Horse



Castlerobin is a North Irish Horse Churchill Mk IV N.A. 75 converted from the AFV Club kit using left overs from a Tasca Sherman



Finally there is a Churchill Mk VI with ITA hessian cam turret and exhaust upgrade.



I have three kits left in the stash, a Mk III AVRE, a Mk IV AVRE and a Mk III*. As I need a kit for model club at the weekend and the Strykers are all too complicated I've moved the Mk III* onto the bench. Plan is to get the panniers and hull together at home as they require quite a bit of drying time and then take the kit with me on Saturday and build up most of the rest.

Chris

[Rob Matthews]

I'm just sensing a theme here Chris. Excellent work. Interested in the paint scheme on the 3" gun carrier - what is it?

Rob

[Chris Smith]

Rob,

it's dark green over khaki green(although in original it was potentially black over green). I've only seen the pattern applied in pictures of gun carriers. The colours I used were too dark and the two blended into each other once I started weathering.

Chris

[Philipp Gross]

Single-topic mass production blogs seem to become this forum's defining feature

Great work on all of these Chris! If the upcoming group build hadn't come in the way I would have most likely started one of mine as well after completing the M50

Philipp

[Frerik Noordhuis]

Seen a few in real life....!!

Awesome.
Keep them coming.

Frerik

[Raoul Kunz]

Nice Chris! Your Churchills are awesome and it's a very rewarding topic I suppose, I still have an AFVClub Mark III here and still haven't build it..yet .


Best regards

Raoul G. Kunz

[Rod Dumouchel]

Glad to see this tread again Chris, something was missing here waiting for more.

Regards,
Rod

[Vlad Seabrook-Smith]

I still have the urge to build the AVRE with bridge as Gary did some time back, seeing your inspirational builds does nothing to stem that

[John Everett]

The Churchill is such an odd looking tank with its zillion wheels and almost completely enclosed tracks. How did it stack up against the early German, French, or even the stone-simple early US vehicles?

My favorite scheme has the turret with all the angles marked on the exterior of the turret. Not only does it help prevent the vehicle from blending into a green background, but It also helps to let the enemy know where the next round will land.

[Rod Dumouchel]

The Churchill is such an odd looking tank with its zillion wheels and almost completely enclosed tracks. How did it stack up against the early German, French, or even the stone-simple early US vehicles?

My favorite scheme has the turret with all the angles marked on the exterior of the turret. Not only does it help prevent the vehicle from blending into a green background, but It also helps to let the enemy know where the next round will land.

Hey John, a really good book on the subject is "Mr. Churchill's Tank" by David Fletcher.

The Tank was rushed into production due shortage of modern designs early in the war, in fact many of the early marks (mk i to mk III) needed to go though a major rebuild program.

Later in the war many crews liked the vehicle because of it's thick frontal armour and good mobility.

The tank was the last of the Infantry tank concept (Tanks designed with thick armour to support infantry advances speed was mot deemed necessary as they only have to keep pace with advancing infantry),

Regards,
Rod