Churchill Mk.III AVRE COMPLETED 3/6/11

DM,

Thank you for the compliment and the suggestion. Blue and Pale sand color flecks are on the agenda with some other debris details.  I got the flowers and grass clumps on the knoll today.  I'll get pics up later as I do not have access to the camera right now.

Andy,

You are most welcome.  To do a dio just dive in.  The color I used is similar to what Bill Plunk uses to base coat his armor with only, I used a mixture of Tamiya paints.  It gives a lovely undercoat to give some shading so you are not obliged to paint every single piece of rubble. Thus, not giving the rubble/debris a homogeneous appearance.  There will be an update later today when I get access to the camera.

Cheers

Dave

Dave, this has been a great toot how to make a diomara.  I plan to make one later this year.  At first I wasn't sure why you had to use hull red paint as base coat and now I can see why.  Outstanding!  Looking forward to next update... thanks for doing this.

  Some very excellent work here. 

Maybe a few small dusty specks of BLUE wall rubble scattered randomly to hint at the exterior wall color?

The base colors were all laid down today.  Actually the dirt colored knoll was painted the other day using Apple Barrel Nutmeg Brown.  Everything else was done today.  The road was painted with Vallejo Basalt Grey 869. The outside of the building was done up with Vallejo Azure 902 and, the inside with Pale Sand 837.  The debris was airbrushed with Tamiya Medium Grey XF-20.  

After these thoroughly dry, then I'll start with the washes, highlights and such.

Cheers

Dave

Considering the time period in question, I'd advise populating the other side of the road with some vegetation such as you'd find in a city or village. Would provide a nice contrast to the ruins on the other side in terms of visual interest IMHO. Just a thought...I like the rubble, very nice way to get what you needed!

Nope!  This project ain't dead yet! It's just rather busy around the ranch of late and experimenting with new mediums (at least for me they are).  I've been working with some rubble ground cover, or rather trying to find something that looked right to my eyes for what I wanted to achieve.  I had been mulling various ideas around and, then I remembered a container I had of cultured stone debris from when my lovely wife and I resided the house six years ago.  Scale wise it runs from boulders right on down to powder.  So, I sifted out some of this stuff and was left with some nice sized rubble and was left with a nice sized amount of powder.  To get to adhere to the base I brushed on some Hobby-Tac and, sprinkled away with the rubble. After the ground cover was down, I then sprinkled on the sifted powder and secured it with diluted white glue with a few drops of windex to break the surface tension.  The debris in the middle of the road is the powder secured with the thinned white glue.  It looks quite delicate but, to test how secure it is, I tipped the base upside down and it all stuck.  Wooo Hoooo  .  The side of the base that does not have the rubble is under consideration.  I'm thinking it needs more than just rubble.  Just thinking of how to convincingly fill the space.

The obligatory mock up.

Cheers

Dave

The casting finally finished curing yesterday.  I took a while since I reinforced it with some plaster cloth.  The old roadway was cut out of the base and the new dropped right in right after I cut the ends to fit.  The shoulders of the road will be filled in 

The AVRE is looking right at home.

I mocked up one track just to see how it will lay on the road surface.  It'll do just fine.

Cheers

Dave

Bill,

Thank you for following along on this build and for your compliments.  I agree, it was nice to finally see the AVRE in its "element".  It really spooled up the creative juices. The roadway will be a near perfect drop in fit for the base.

DM,

Thank you for your compliments and support on this build. Albeit very, very, very slow build. Even by my standards.  I realized that I may have a source of cobble stone roads for a long while as the RTV i used is really quite durable.  This casting experience certainly has got me thinking of other projects. Heaven knows I've got the kit stash for it.

Cheers

Dave

        This is getting into the casting as much as the tank in  itself................ but just wonderful nonetheless!

Creation by mistake, I love it! Seeing the AVRE at home on it gives it the perfect setting Dave, looking forward to seeing this one progress.

DM,

LMAO!!!

I finally shot the mold and two castings.  The first was with just hydrocal. The second was tinted with Woodland Scenics Slate Gray.  The gray is drying uneven which is perfect for the stone but, the tinting is showing ALL of the air bubbles.  Even though I need to perfect my casting technique, I am quite proud of how this turned out.  I've been chipping at the air bubbles with a pick to represent damage to the stones by the heavy tracked traffic over them.  Creation by mistake usually works out rather nicely.  

A shot of the mold and the first two castings.

A detail shot with the second casting in the foreground with the first behind.

The AVRE to give some scale to the size of the casting.

A detail shot, again for scale.

Thank you for your patience with this build.  Now with the road section casted, the base can now resume progress.

Cheers

Dave

Good to see how you cobble this thing together........ easy there......

John,

No worries. This build is getting done by fits and starts. There is a company called Kancali Custom Modeling accessories in Puyallup Washington that make ready to use cobblestone roads.  Here is their link if you are interested.  

http://www.kancali.com/militarymodelinghome.html

I am not affiliated with them in any manner other than I live in the Pacific Northwest.  I had considered using their product.  Some other folks I know who have used it spoke very highly of their products.  Me?  I opted to try my hand at scratch building my own road and, then it grew into a molding & casting project.  Which is where things have really slowed down.  Learning curves and getting final touches on the master before I shoot the mold.

Cheers

Dave

Been away for a while.

That looks like an interesting way of making cobble stones. I'll have to keep that in mind

Bill,

Thank you very much indeed.  There are a few spots that need some minor attention but the stones are down.  The stones were placed individually with the exception of a small area in where I tried placing them in bulk to cut down the time.  I didn't like how they went down and, ended up having to manipulate them to get them to set right.  With that lesson learned I opted to place all of the stone individually.  I am now even more glad that I made the master the length I did so I do not have to go back and make a bigger one. I am thinking that a 14"
 road will work just fine for now.... unless I build a base really big.

Cheers

Dave 

Very cool Dave, good luck with the casting, hope it turns out to your liking!

John,

I'll be keeping an eye out for your build and looking forward to it.  Yeah, that one went sideways.  

Well I just finished the master for the roadway. For scale I placed a Matilda that I built about 3 1/2 years ago. Over all it's about 4"x 14".  I am going to let it cure for a few days then I'll clear coat it and get started on the mold. All told it took about 4.5-5 hours to get the rocks down.  There are a few areas that will need cleaning up as you can see where I stopped and picked it up the following day. I'll look at it again tomorrow with fresh eyes to see what else needs to be done before shooting the mold.

Cheers

Dave

Just got the Churchill mk III by AFV that has a Canadian version (no track fenders) I'm going to check out the tanks used in the Dieppe raid (now there was a royal cluster f***) and try and build one of those. I'll take your advice and get the brass rivets.

John,

The front and rear fenders are molded as separate pieces, as are the track covers. The track covers are three pieces per side which, facilitates leaving off which ever one you want or, all of them.  You won't be sorry if you pick up one or several of these kits.  Just be mindful that AFV does mold some pretty small parts so take care when removing them from the sprue.  As for the hull rivets, it would be worth it to pick up AFV's brass rivets.  The detail on these are quite crisp and there is no clean up of attachment points and, no risk of feeding the carpet monster cleaning up the attachment points.  

Cheers

Dave

I notice that some parts of the left tarck covers are missing. I have seen this on a few Churchill models. I assume this is normal wear and tear/battle damage?

I gotta get me one of those things!!!

John,

Thank you very much for checking in on this build and the compliment.  The kit goes together fairly straight forward.  The caveat being, take care on which holes you are drilling for the rivets.  I forgot to drill one and had to take some very careful measurements from another unbuilt kit and, drill out that which I forgot to do.  

I am just getting into British armor so, I couldn't tell you one way or another about British vs Canadian variations. I am sure someone lurking in the forum could enlighten you.

I'll be getting some work done on the base inside today.  If my wife even hears that I was out in the garage today with this chest cold..... lets just say there'll be H-E-double hockey sticks to pay!

Cheers

Dave

WOW!!! That is some kit!!! Can it only be done as a British tank or is there a Canadian option as well?

It looks far better than the Tamyia model and I suppose the price reflects this as well. You have done a great job of it so far Can't wait to see the completed Diorama and model.

Jester,

Thank you for the compliment.  I am hoping to get the master for the roadway done this weekend however, the wicked chest cold I've been trying to shake may squelch my plans.  At least I can pick away at it until my uber supply of casting materials arrives.

Cheers

Dave

Casting looks great!

Biffa,

Thank you for checking in on this build and the compliment.  Never having built the Tamiya version I couldn't say one way or another.  This one goes together quite nicely.  The best part is that AFV has more versions in the pipeline.  The big master is slow in going as I can only work in small patches. The Elmer's Wood Filler gets a skin on it sooner than I had anticipated.  Glad to have you on board. Your Panzer 1A is quite stunning. I like the creation by mistake on the white wash.  I'd leave it as is.

Bill,

Thank you!  It's good to be making progress on it again.  The master is coming along, albeit, slowly.  The nice thing about getting it done in small patches is that the road is not laser level.  There are slight dips and bumps in it, as I have discovered.  Creation by mistake!

Cheers

Dave

Looks like a good solution for the cobble-stone road way Dave, glad to see this one is still making some progress!

Nice job on the churchill i love this tank its everything a tank should look like im throwing the old tamiya one together as a side project for a painting exersize these new AFV kits look like they blow it away, looking forward to more base progress 

I got the first test shot done today using the hydrocal.  There were some air bubbles but, I think I can play these to my advantage by chipping at those areas with a small pick representing chipped stone.  Now to make the master for the roadway.

Cheers

Dave