Britmodeller
D-Day 70th Anniversary Group Build
6th June - 5th October 2014

The venerable enigma that was the Churchill Tank was thought by the Germans, during the Assault at Dieppe in 1942, to have been a throw-back to the First World War.

But, the Churchill would later come back and bite them - When it proved to be a solid gun platform and the basis for a string of 'specialist' vehicles used to very great effect.

The Churchill served the British Army right through WWII and on into the Korean War

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So, what have we go in the box?

There's an awful lot of parts but, unlike most of Dragon's kits, almost all of these parts will be for this actual model. There are 22 metal springs, 1 turned metal 6pdr gun barrel, a small sheet of PE, 1 clear and 8 green plastic sprues and some banded track (which I will replace with Individual Links)

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The workbench actually, my dining table - duly protected - and work commences at 14:00 on Saturday 23rd August 2014.

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The mud guards and scarpers come first for me, section 3 & 4 on the instructions. These are fitted with Tamiya Extra Thin Cement as it is fast acting.

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The sponson assembly, section 1 & 2 of the instructions needed some small amount of fettling to ensure a snug fit.

However, fitting the scraper assemble to the sponson proved 'interesting' as the tension from the springs caused a few 'issues'.

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You can see here that some temporary pivot pins have been used to hold the assemblies together.

I did sacrifice a strip of plastic rod cutting 22 x 10mm lengths for both sponson sets. This has proven very effective and these pins will be used on future Churchill builds (I'll need them too - I have quite a few!)

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End of Day 1 of the build. Both sponsons are complete and de-gassing. I shall continue with this build tomorrow........

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Day 2 commences with fitting the rear and lower hull parts followed by the front glacis area. This was all very straight forward with little complication. I did however dry fit the parts to ensure a perfect fit.

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The installation of the PE parts helps with that 'getting finished' feeling often lacking during a build with lots of small parts.

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Here you can see the forward sprocket area which is really old-school tank design. Lots of nobbly bits to wet the appetite for future weathering - getting some good ideas already!

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The front hull area showing all the various parts involved. I have left off the headlight detail until later - this is a really squared up model and it sits very well.

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Info Titbit!
FYI Armour Plate
DOES NOT RUST!

There are plenty of PE parts at the rear with the spatter guards, smoke boxes and tow-hook, plenty of bending for my Fold-It tool.

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Day 3, and the model is really taking shape. The upper deck plate is in place - but not yet glued - and this just 'dropped right in', a testament to the good engineered build of this model.

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Track day, and using AF35183 Heavy Cast Steel Box Section Spudded Tracks/B.T.S 3 Heavy Built-Up Tracks I was able to enrich the model with Individual Link Track - Now, don't freak out, it's actually really easy once you get the hang of it. A couple of hours, (OK, so it was two and a half!), saw both sides finished .

The original Churchill had 72 links with a 7.96inch pitch per side (HMSO Pub. ISBN 0-11-290404-1 Churchill Tank, Vehicle History and Specification), whilst the kit requires 73 links per side to achieve the same effect.

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The track covers all fit nicely (separately) but will need a little tweaking so they can all fit together - they are not fixed to the model.

Whilst the track was fully drying out I started on the turret which is a very easy build. In order to properly fit the metal 6pdr gun (you don't get a plastic option) I had to sand down part of the attachment lug by approx 1mm for a snug fit.

There is, up to now, only 1 error in the instructions - In section 25, the gunners periscope indicated as part P13, it should read E34.

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Summary so far:

• Indy Track - Completed
• Armour panels and track guards (as sub-assemblies)- Almost Completed
• Exhaust arrays (as sub-assemblies) - Next Time
• Air Intakes and associated bits- Completed
• I may even tackle the Turret- Completed
  

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Build the BESA MG's and PE to fit kit (as sub-assemblies until painted) as well as the P.O.W Flimsies restraining brackets seen here.

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Tools, Fuel Flimsies and Tow-Ropes - prep for painting prior to installation

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Here you can see the whole vehicle with all the main elements applied and secured to ensure a correct fit.

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This is a full plan view of the, now completed, Churchill Mk IV. Well, it's not fully completed, I have noticed that the commanders vein sight, searchlight and main headlights are still missing.

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Here you can see the whole vehicle (except the turret - I forgot to put it in this picture) ready for painting. The undercoat has now been applied and the model is drying off nicely.

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In applying Vallejo Model Air Matt Black I was able to unify all the different shades of plastic, metal parts and elements of filler applied - this was left to dry overnight.

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Day 6: This morning, I partially re-assembled the hull with the track guards and applied a coat of medium grey heavily 'misted' onto the top surfaces and the side areas - this is to give a different 'effect' to the finished model.

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This afternoon came the top coat of SCC15 mixed from Vallejo Model Colour 70.888 & 70.924 - comprised equal parts of each with a small amount of Vallejo Airbrush Thinner.

The model will now be left overnight to have the paint harden properly. The decals come next followed by Varnish!

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Well, an awful lot has happened to the Churchill and the model is almost completed. I have applied the decals and a coat of varnish to seal them in. You can also see that the tracks have been painted - a mix of Matt Black/Gun Metal/Silver, all Vallejo Model Air for ease of spraying.

There have been several 'versions' of the turret track armour as this has had to both 'protect' the turret whilst allowing for adequate clearance during a turret traverse.

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The final track armour arrangement is now on the turret and weathering has begun. This is using a mixture of MiG Pigments.

• P028 Europe Dust - 30%
  
• P029 Brick Dust - 10%
• P030 Beach Sand - Enhancer
• P232 Dry Mud - 30%
• P415 Light European Earth 30%

How you will make up your mix is entirely up to you but this one worked for me. I mixed the powders as above and applied them liberally as seen in pictures of the time and on similarly tracked vehicles. I then applied the Pigment Fixer and allowed to dry. Repeat as required.

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Additional weathering was needed at the back of the vehicle especially as the left rear mudguard will now be left off - well, they did get damaged you know!

The exhaust - came out well I think? - was painted in Vallejo Panzer Aces Track Primer and allowed to dry then:

• P023 Black Smoke - Exhaust outlets
  
• P024 Light Rust - part 3
• P230 Old Rust - part 1
• P238 Rail Rust - part 2

The powders were applied dry as follows:

• Part 1 cover all the exhaust and pipes
• Part 2 apply randomly across 70% of the area
• Part 3 apply randomly across 10-20% of the area

Pigment Fixer was then applied by dabbing the brush and using capillary action so as not to unduly disturb the pigment, and allow to dry.

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