Churchill Mk.III AVRE COMPLETED 3/6/11

Looking good.

Any chance you'll be heading to McMinnville this weekend?

Rick

Rick,

Sadly, no.  .  I'll be at a seminar this weekend in Washington.  I had double booked myself with this weekend several months ago and realized it too late.  

Cheers

Dave

It's been a while for an update.  Crazy busy. To top it all off has been a rather virulent bug making the rounds in our house.  Tis the season to cover your coughs and sneezes kids.  Wash your hands too.  I know... nag, nag, nag.

I did get a wee bit done the other day before just being at the bench tapped me out.  The turret took shape finally.  The gun for the "Flying Dustbin" is a beast.  Not to assemble but, to see that coming down the road for you must have been quite unnerving.

The business end of things......

The links all have small sink holes.  At first I tried to scrape them down but, they were too deep for that.  So, I dabbed small drops of Mr Putty an all the marks.  A few required two drops.  After drying for a day, a swipe or two from an extra fine sanding stick followed be a finishing stick did the trick. This will be required on all 152 links.

Cheers

Dave

This one is looking very good. Love how the suspension came out.

Nate

You have really leaped ahead with this build Dave. To bad there wasn't more wheels to slow you down.

Lookin real good dude

Tony Lee

Nice to see this moving forward Dave! Looks like a good solution on the tracks, 2 per means a lot of attention and you kept your sanity throughout so it's all good.

I can't recall off the top of my head, how big or what calibre was the dustbin demolition charge this thing was capable of tossing?

Nate,

Thank you for the compliment and following along with with build.  I can't wait to place this beast on a base with an uneven terrain.  There are a few D-Day pics I've seen of AVRE's rolling through Normandy that have given me some inspiration.

Tony,

Once you get past the sponson subassemblies it does go pretty quickly.  More road wheels?!?! What did I ever do to you?  Just pullin' your leg buddy.  Actually I've got a Tamiya Char hiding in the stash.  It has 16 sets of road wheels per side to the Churchill's 11.  Thank you for following along on this one and the compliment.

Bill,

It is nice to be making progress on this again.  Cleaning the tracks on this was a lot easier than cleaning up the tracks on the Panther build. The track run is acutally going rather quickly. Now those were some nasty EP marks. .  I'm not sure of the caliber of the "Dustbin" but, I'm pretty sure that the charge was 25Kg.  Even if that doesn't bust the bunker, I'm sure just having your door knocked on with that'll ring ones bell.  OUCH!.  Thank you for following along with this build.

Cheers

Dave

Dave,

the machine is looking better and better. Good luck on the tracks, it's a tedious job!

I checked out the demolition gun, it's 290 mm (11,4 in) firing a 18,14 kg (40lb) charge at the range up to 73 meters (80 yards). Mean!

Good luck with your project, have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel,

Thank you for the compliment and keeping me honest on the projectile specifications.  I agree most whole heartedly..... Mean!  The tracks  really are not that bad.  The clean up is fairly easy. After building some MK tracks for a Sherman a couple of years ago, everything else seems easy.  The MK tracks had nine parts per link.  Eighty eight links per track run.  They turned out beautifully but at the loss of some sanity.  Thank you for the well wishes for the project and my day.  May you have the same.

Cheers

Dave

Nice work looking good mate, AVRE's are a much underrated piece of kit.  They went on to later serve in Korea where the 'dustbin' was replaced by a 6.5in demolition gun, and later replaced by the Centurion AVRE with their 165mm demo' guns (come on AFV club get your fingers out!!).......which saw service in the 1st Gulf War. 

Bear in mind the destructive capability of a 165mm HESH round on a building, takes around 4 120mm rounds to accomplish, shame they weren't available for Iraq or A'stan now....

Eoin6661,

Thank you for the kind words.  I agree about the AVRE's.  I had no idea about the Centurion AVRE prior to your mentioning of it so, I looked it up along with the HESH round.  That's a lot of hurt in one package.    Makes me want to be well outside its combat radius and then some.  

I'll get some more updates posted later.  I got some PE work done last night.  The plastic version was pretty darn good but, this was one of those occasions where PE trumped plastic.  

Cheers

Dave

The PE lid for the storage box looks much better than the styrene version.  Not to mention the latch.

Here's a mock up with the track run.  I did a dry fit to see if the length was correct.  It'll be a bit snug but, it'll look pretty slick when it's done.

A detail shot or the left rear quarter.  You can see the spare link holder on the side directly below the spare road wheel.  I realized that I could not put the spare link on without using some brass wire for a link pin.

The spare link without and with the brass pin.

Cheers

Dave

Moving right along Dave, always neat to see the little details like the track pin get added to up the accuracy.

Bill,

Thank you for dropping by and having a gander. I like adding those details even if I'm the only one who know they are there.  

I added a couple more little details today.  The screens over the intakes are not what I'm referring to since they jump right out at you.  Though, I did get them on today.

I added some Grandt Line bolts to "secure" the spare road wheel assembly.  

The spare on the left rear fender will be absent so, I added some .025" styrene rod for the bolts.  I just need to remember to discolor that area and weather around it to show a void of what was there. The three styrene plugs you see to the left of the four "bolts" are to fill the holes for tool brackets.  The brackets will be replaced by PE versions.

Cheers

Dave

It's feast or famine at the bench of late.  Quite a bit has been done in wee fiddley parts.  PE parts that is.  I got the flimsy cans on the rear fenders. These went together rather easily with the exception of the rods for the wing nuts.  I opted to leave a can off for a bit more "character".

I decided to use the Eduard PE set for the tool brackets.  I had to scratch the rear most bracket for the sledge hammer since the bracket got used to hold the pry bar on the right rear fender.  Do not use three brackets as the instructions call out for, just use two.  This way if you use this set then you will not have to scratch a bracket. The wing nuts are from Bronco.

The fire extinguisher on the left side.  

The molding on this piece is quite delicate.  The PE brackets are just that much better than the molded on portion. IMHO.  

We are still a ways out from getting color on this beast.  I am chomping at the bit to get some color on it.

Cheers

Dave

Your Pe work is amazing, the whole build looks amazing.  All of that small detail really brings it to life.  Like how you left the one can off, makes a contrast and really shows off that retaining rod and wingnut.  Cant wait to see the paint.

Rob

Rob,

Thank you very much for the compliment sir.  The small detail keeps me off the street and my wife knows where to find me.  The can off was a creation by mistake.  It wouldn't fit past the bolt for the towing clevis.  So, I left it out and voila! Creation by mistake.  Woo hoo.  Stay tuned.....

Well, I think I've got all the parts stuff done.  Now all that remains is to shoot some paint on the beast.  I'll look at it with fresh eyes tomorrow to make sure all the assemblies are done.

I needed to scratch the mount for the commanders sight, as while I was mounting the kit part, it went PIIIIINNNNNGGGG to regions where I will never see it again.  It was maybe 0.5mm in diameter.  Thank heavens for the styrene stock on hand!

Perhaps I will be able to get a base coat on tomorrow.  The Styrene Gods willing that is.  

Cheers

Dave

I guess you know these turtle tops are not really my cup of tea but I gotta say i'm impressed Dave.

I have to save some stars for after it's painted.

Tony Lee

Thank you for the compliment!  They used to not do it for me but, lately I've been getting more into British/Commonwealth armor.  Dang! Three stars for a beast without color yet.  Thank you indeed.  I always agonize over the base color.  Too light? Too dark??  

Cheers

Dave

Can't wait to see this one with paint on Dave, looking good!

Bill,

Thank you for stopping by and the compliment.  The dishwasher crapped out today. Spent the afternoon fixing it.  Something quite putrescent was clogging up the works.  Alas, no color on this beastie until later this week.  I've got a lot on the docket until then.  

Cheers

Dave

hughes2682

Bill,

 Something quite putrescent was clogging up the works.

Quiet possibly an eaten tank part from ancient history.........

Coming along very nicely too!

DM,

LMAO!  Thank you for the compliment.  I will be getting some color laid down on this beastie today.  I received some wonderful shades of Life Color OD yesterday that I am anxious to use.

Cheers

Dave

Holy tea break, Dave--it's been a long time since I saw anyone put this much detail into a Tommy Tank! ALl that PE and whatnot--wow; there's some god work being done here!

It's looking pretty spectacular!

Karl,

Thank you for the compliment and checking in on this build.  I'm working on getting some color on it now.  Taking a break at the moment as there are A LOT of angles to get painted on this beastie.  I ended up running my paint cup dry.  I am using Life color UA219 Olive Drab.  The kit calls out for Tamiya XF-62.  I've used that on Tasca Sherman V and it turned out much too dark.  I am going with my gut feeling on this color..... I figured by the time I get all the washes, filters and whatnot it'll be right where I want it.  I am also trying to figure how to make an Ultracast British T/C work with the turret hatch.  IMHO, armor just doesn't look as good without a figure in, on, or around the vehicle.  

Cheers

Dave

Well the beastie is finally coated in color.  I gotta say that I love the way Life Color goes on.  I did not prime the vehicle, instead I just shot it with the color.  It probably took a few more layers but It covered nicely. 

I just love the look of this gun.

The track got covered with MM Exhaust Metalizer. It will get a wash with some thinned Vallejo. After that I will give my usual graphite treatment for the high wear areas.

As it turned out, the fantastic Ultracast figure I ordered will not fit in the hatch properly. At least not without MAJOR surgery.  So I rummaged through the parts/accessories bin and found a Firestorm figure.  It was a package of three and, was the left over from a build of a Tasca Sherman V.  It's only a three quarter figure but, it'll fill the bill nicely.  I have a Tasca Sherman Firefly Vc that the Ultracast figure is slotted for.

Cheers

Dave

Making good progress with this one Dave, looks good with the base coat on and the figs are starting to come to life as well.

Bill,

Thank you for checking in on this build and, not to mention the compliment.  The figures are getting easier and, coming along much quicker.  I'm off to the bench to try out a couple of new things on the beastie.  I'll get a few pics up later.

Cheers

Dave

I shot the highlighted areas with Life Color Olive Drab faded Type 2.  The darkened areas were shot with Vallejo German Green.  The overall effect is better live.  I could not capture it well with the camera. The area that it does show up well is the spot where the spare road wheel/bogie was "removed" .  

Cheers

Dave

Wow, she is really looking good. I can see the highlighting in some of the pics, like it!!