AFV Club's boxed Churchill goodness...

[Jeeves]

OK-- so I'll admit, I am a flyboy who is growing addicted to building some heavy metal. I usually try to keep everything at 1:48...but my most favorite tank- the Churchill- is not readily available in the scale-- so I went with a suh-weet AFV Club kit... after applying some PE and then primer-- here is my result:

Still much much much work to do on this one-- but I figured I ought to do something other than post up past builds :pinch:

So I have the Miniart Commonwealth AFV Crew set and am looking to brush off my fine painting skills... NOT! Hopefully I can do them justice!

 

[jknaus]

Looks good. I had a love hate affair with the running gear, but it is a beaut model. Well done.
James

 

[Jeeves]

Thanks James-- to be a bit different I am planning on a Canadian scheme. The running gear issue was a bit of a trick-- but my hate thing goes to the too-short rubber band tracks...

 

[jknaus]

There are decals out for the Dieppe tanks but you would need fording gear. There was a Canadian company who made decals for the different units but they closed up. I thnk you might have to batch a set from other sheets. Wish I could be more helpful.
James

 

[Jeeves]

There are decals in the box for a Canadian tank in Britain that I was shooting for... is that scheme inaccurate??

 

[Kreighshoer]

have you ever dealt with single link tracks that have to be cut away from the sprue? if not then you wouldn't care about too short vinyl tracks that can be covered ... hehehehehe ...

now seriously - did you take into consideration to use friul or modelkasten tracks? the difference is tremendous and worth the work!

you did a marvellous job on the churchill, you can be proud!

 

[jknaus]

Jeeves wrote:

There are decals in the box for a Canadian tank in Britain that I was shooting for... is that scheme inaccurate??

Forgot about that. Nope, it should be good.
James

 

[Jeeves]

Many thanks Laura-- I have tried indy links in other kits so I do know how that can go. I have yet to try the Fruils or Modelkasten in any builds-- mostly because of the cost for me. Someday I might give them a try... I know AFV Club also have their own tracks for this kit as well...but like you said-- luckily on the Churchill, the short tracks are easily hidden :laugh:

James-- that is good news then

 

[Chris ITA]

Nice looking Churchill Jeeves

Is the turret all glued together, something doesn't quite look right with the front armour on it?

As far as I know the Calgary Tanks decals in the box are fine so long as you are going for the period of the UK exercise they are based on

I'm surprised you found the tracks too short? I have build 5 of these now, and two with the kit supplied rubber bands and they were fine for me

unfortunately though, the kit supplied track is the later track type and is incorrect for the canadian churchills. They should have the heavy plate track.

 

[Jenny Croft]

Looks nice Jeeves , Well Chris is the expert on Churchills , matter of fact I think we should call him Winston :laugh: :laugh: . I have no idea about Canadian markings . My friend Arthur has a company called Ancona WEBSITE which has Canadian decals and if you email him (get it off the website and tell him I sent you ) he will be able to help you I am sure .

Oh if you want to do another Churchill check out Chris's super interior set , specially if you want to do a vehicle with the hatches open . AFV have a Dieppe Churchill with the snorkel included to be released real soon . They also have their own indi link tracks for it too .

Jenny :kiss:

 

[Chris ITA]

jenny croft wrote:

Well Chris is the expert on Churchills ,

I wouldn't go as far as that Lets say I'm an enthusiast

Its a shame that AFV Club chose the options they did for marking. As far as I have been unable to unearth onlt two of the four options they give you for finishing can be built either entirely as instructed or from the box, or with a minimum of modification

BTW the canadian option COUGAR of the Calgary Tanks also did not have a turret stowage bin

In addition to the track on the canadian churchill there are a few other things, but this is supposed to be a hobby so I don't want to be a pedant about it as 99% of viewers would not notice the other things

Feel free to ignore all this and have fun finishing your kit. A couple of inaccuracies in no way diminish a fine model, this is a hobby after all

If you are interested in a list of tweaks let me know. Alternatively, if there is general interest I could produce a couple of articles on tweaking for either a calgary tank or a kingforce tank

Jeeves, If you want it to be more accurate, using a set of decals from the box, but don't want to modify your kit (seeing as you've already built it!) I would suggest finishing your build as the russian option

 

[Jeeves]

Thanks for the advice Chris and Jenny!

Hmm... I had no idea about the Canadian tracks being so different. Looks like I'll be going to a British scheme instead-- I have British tankers from Miniart that I want to use, so doing a Soviet tank isn't something I want to adopt. Can you tell me if the schemes listed in the kit are accurate for British schemes-- or should I just throw caution to the wind? I live in an area where there really are no IPMS chapters unless I head to the capital...so I don't really go to shows (there really aren't any close to here anyways)-- so this would just be for my own entertainment

 

[Chris ITA]

Hi Jeeves,

Its probably close enough (except a few small things most wouldn't notice) for the North Irish Horse scheme in the kit

Whether you can use the crew though will depend on which crew you have, as one of them is only suitable for the European theater later in the war

Which miniart set is it and where are you by the way? I may be able to help......

 

[Jeeves]

Hi Chris--

I am using this one--

If this isn't something I can use I may have to hide them inside because I don't usually build 1/35 :huh: I am in the US in Saratoga, NY...a little bit over the pond from you

 

[Chris ITA]

Hi Jeeves,

These are the European theater crew. Their tank suits were the denims used from late 1943 to early 1944 up to around November December 1944 when crews received their winter 'pixie suits'

Actually, as the NIH option was in tunisia, you might just get away with using them, except the guy in the leather jerkin

Reportedly there are one or two issues with the NIH markings. If you're not bothered then use them anyway, but its worth looking up Archers Fine Transfers for the set they do on the NIH churchills


Chris

 

[Jeeves]

That is good news as I was just going to use the two seated figures on this one and keep the other three for the AVRE I have on the stash pile.

I will check into the Archer markings...thanks for the suggestion!

 

[panzerace007]

JEEVES,

If you are Interested I have some Pix of a Churchill that came back from Tunisia & was outfitted with a Pz III cupola. It's not a captured Tank , but was fitted by the British Crew !!! Just a thought in case you wanted to put a Twist on that AVRE you have on your stash ?? :idonno :woohoo:

ERIK

 

[dukwhunter]

Hi Jeeves ,
Great job on the Churchill , got a couple of those in the stash ! Looking forward to AFV Club releasing the Dieppe Version !!!

 

[Jeeves]

Thanks Erik and dukwhunter...

Erik-- thanks for the offer, but the spigot mortar is my favorite part of the whole thing Again-- 1/35 is not my normal scale due to space limitations, but I just had to build a couple of these babies...

 

[iambrb]

that is just a super build!

I too think the Churchill is a very neat tank - I wouldlike to do seomthing similar, but in Hessian tape/British guise.