Churchill Mk.III AVRE COMPLETED 3/6/11

Eric,

Thank you for the compliment.  This one has the most layers to date and it's still got a ways to go.

Today was mostly base work. Just your basic styrofoam, balsa, and a hot glue gun.  

There will be rubble that has strewn into the road and been run over and cleared. Also, there will be the remnants of a building off to the tanks right side.

I reinforced the road section with some strips of balsa just to be sure. 

Cheers

Dave

Nice setup Dave! I like the "downward slope" positioning, not something you see done often and will definitely create some visual interest for the final dio/presentation.

Bill,

Good morning! Thank you for stopping in and complimenting.  I almost went with the "up slope" approach and then thought of "descending into the fight".  That idea stuck with me.  

Well the "cake" is done and now that remains is all the various "toppings". The base work is roughed in with Elmer's Wood Filler.  This stuff is very easy to work with, as it is the consistency somewhere between cake batter and frosting.  Not to mention is is easy to clean up, both tools and mistakes.  All the surfaces will receive a sanding to knock down the high points.  The road will be a crowned cobble stone or brick.  Just trying to decide on which material I wish to use for that.

Cheers

Dave

VERY NICE   I like the down into the fight too.  What were your ingrediants for your cake?  I like the idea of cobble stone. Now I really cant wait to see the finished product!  Keep it comeing.

Rob

Rob,

Thank you very much for the compliments. The ingredients are as follows:

1. Sketch out your idea. What are your main elements? How do they interact with each other?
2. Wood base cut with edges routered to suit. 
3. Seal the base prior to attaching anything to it.
4. Styrofoam for roughing in the terrain. I attach mine using a hot glue gun.
5. Elmer's Wood Filler.  Apply liberally to styrofoam.

That's for the rough version.  For the finishing touches stay tuned.  Whatever you do don't eat this cake. Because if you do, you are going to need an unbelievable amount of fiber to move this one through.

Cheers

Dave

Cripes!  A month since my last posting?  I've been away from the bench far longer than I thought.  A lot has been going on around here of late.  Some of it good. Some of it pretty darn far from good. Really far.

The road way has been giving me fits.  I've fiddled with various techniques and materials.  I was going to make the cobble stone road from fish tank gravel.  Then I bagged that idea.  Then I thought, "Hey I saw where someone used lentils."  At first I was going to just do the roadway with lentil then I thought of a couple of things.

1. I dont't want these things sprouting or attracting pests.
2. I may want to do a master and make copies of it. Hey now! there is an idea.....

I tried making a master, albeit at test piece, from lentils.  The "mortar" was Elmer's Wood Filler.  Everything dried just fine but when I went to make the mold the lentils went to pot.  So I fell back to my original idea of fish tank gravel, while still using the Elmer's product.  It dried overnight just fine. So, today I shot it with some Future to seal it and make it a wee less binding to the RTV that I'll be using.  Which I need to venture back to the LHS and pick up some RTV.  

This will be the master for the roadway.  It is 14" x 4"

This is the test subject

Now I am simply waiting for the sealant to dry for the coming application of the RTV.  Then for some hydrocal test shots.

Cheers

Dave

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

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 

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

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

Casting looks great!

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

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.

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

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,

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

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,

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

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

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 

Been away for a while.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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!