Gents...
It's time to build the Churchills Mk. III - (gun tank) of early and reworked version of the noble Churchill lineage. While Ms. AFV does not offer these early beauties, the only way is retrofit the ladies with resin, metal and scratch... The early Mk.III was characterized by oblong air intakes in the hull's side, such as the Mk I and Mk II.
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| Churchill Mk III - early - Notice the air intakes |
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| Churchill Mk III - early - Notice the air intakes and welded turret (Mk III caract.) |
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| Churchill Mk II early |
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| Artistic profile of the Mk III above |
And the Mk III reworked, with squared air intakes in the hull...
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| Churchill Mk III - KingForce - El Alamein |
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| Artistic profile of the Mk III above |
My mind is on the Churchills right now!!!
History:
The Tank, Infantry, Mk IV (A22) was a heavy
British infantry tank used in the Second World War, best known for its heavy armour, large longitudinal chassis with all-around tracks with multiple bogies, and its use as the basis of many specialist vehicles. It was one of the heaviest Allied tanks of the war. The origins of the design lay in the expectation that war in Europe might be fought under similar conditions to that of the First World War and emphasised ability to cross difficult ground. The Churchill was rushed into production in order to build up British defences against an possible German invasion and the first vehicles built had flaws that had to be overcome before the Churchill was accepted for wide use. After several Marks had been built a better armoured version - the Mark VII - entered service. The Churchill was used by British and Commonwealth in North Africa, Italy and North-West Europe. In addition many were supplied to the USSR and used on the Eastern Front.
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| Churchills Mk III tanks in Tunisia - 20 May,1943. |
Specs:
Churchill Infantry Tank - (A22)
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- United Kingdom, Soviet Union Canada, Ireland, Poland
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- 38.5 long tons (Mark I)
- 40.1 long tons (Mark VII)
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5 or 6 (commander, gunner, loader/radio operator, driver, co-driver/hull gunner + AVRE engineer)
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- For Churchill I-VI: 102 mm hull front, 89 mm hull side, 51 mm hull rear, 89 mm turret front, 76 mm turret side and rear
- Mark VII-VIII - 152 mm hull and turret front, 95 mm hull sides and turret sides and rear, 51 mm hull rear
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Bedford 12-cylinder, 4 stroke, water-cooled, horizontally opposed, L-head petrol engine
350 hp (261 kW) at 2,200 rpm
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Triple differential steering in gearbox
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Kits:
For this project, I'll use two AFV Churchill Mk III kits. For the "retrofited" early, once again I will use the resin air intakes of the IMA.
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| The players... |
For the KingForce Churchill Mk. III (reworked), I'll also use a conversion kit from Hobby Fan.
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| Afv injected kit plus Hobby Fan conversion resin kit. |
I'm getting sick of seeing so much springs in my front... I miss the old and simple suspension of the Tamiya's Churchills!!
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| Double building, to save time and mental sanity... |
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| parts...parts...parts |
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| Suspensions almost ready... |
To make the track guides in the early version, I cut the continuos guides from Mk. III kit. I tested this new approach to the solve the "retrofit" problem with this detail...
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| Minus work to solve the problem... |
and the late (reworked) version; Out of the box...
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| The long guides in the reworked (late) version |
For the KingForce version, I'll use the standard vinyl tracks of the AFV kit (very good). They are "closed" in the fenders...
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| tracks in position... |
Building the "dust deflector" on the Churchilll´s nose. I used dental acrylic to bond the polyurethane to styrene. The best technique is called " the wet brush":
1- You put a small portion of acrylic powder in an container and acrylic liquid in another container.
2- Take an old brush. Moisten the brush with the liquid and collect a small amount of powder with a brush moistened.
3- Then, you apply the mixture in the union joint . You'll molding and conform the acrylic in the joint. It´s dries in seconds...
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| Hobby Fan dust deflector in place. the gaps was filled by technique described above... |
Try it....
Using aluminium foil of beer cans to make these protectors:
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| Details added with metal.... |
The turret´s rear rack of AFV´s Mk. III models are wrong shape for this version... I redid the shape of the base with thin plasticard:
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| scratch with plastic... |
Test-drive: Notice the extra fuel tank in the rear...
Late version is almost ready...More "beer-etched" details....
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| Notice the details in metal and the dust deflector |
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| left view |
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| right view |
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| Reworking the exhaust...Typical from KingForce... |
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| Notice the exhausts.... |
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| Almost ready... |
Time to pay attention to early version. Building the "old style" air intakes in the hull...
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| Churchill Mk III early version... |
I added two plates in the inner portion of the "forks" of the front wheels ... It was an attempt to lower the "intake" of dust from the bow of the Churchill, a curse that followed the design of this tank. Repair his "eyebrows":
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| Notice the exhaust pipes facing upward.... |
The two girls Mk III togheter....
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| Ready for paint... |
And now, the supreme agony: I hate LBL tracks, but it's a necessary evil in this early version...The AFV´s tracks LBL are wonderful, but I hate the waist of time
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| I hate, hate LBL.... |
The results are great...but, life is too short !!!!
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| Left track ready... |
Last advances: Early model with tracks completed...
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| Churchills Mk III |
With primer:
And lets to the paint job: The Kingforce reworked wearing the british desert-yellow with dark, very dark green in stripes, to complete the cammo. The dust deflector is in khaky...
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| Churchill Mk III reworked - Kingforce |
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| Churchill Mk III reworked - Kingforce - basic cammo |
The early girl wearing an green blouse:
The two girls, after the Future layer, to prevent silvering...
...and as I using red-oxid to paint the exhausts, I use the same color for the early´s tracks...
Here are the final steps: In the early Mk III, using Decalcomaniacs set of decals: A hypothetical Churchill Mk III named in honor of Captain Cook, with the colors of the 21st Brigade:
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| Churchill Mk III - early version |
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| I made this profile with colors of my early Mk III girl. |
And a real Churchill Mk III from Kingforce, representing a late (reworked) version:
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| The two Churchills ready for weathering.... |
And the beasts is done...First, the early one:
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