Hey Carmen, your Churchills are really moving along! Are you still intending to submit them for the True North Strong and Free Campaign?

zaltar

This one for sure... if I get it done in time. My Dingo and Churchill MK III will most likely not be done, though I'm striving to get them done for our local armour show in September.

Okay, thanks for letting me know! Would you mind posting a link to this topic on the official campaign thread?

zaltar

Hey Hey

Primer is ON!!!

To be honest this hasn't been a very clean build for me, but now that the primer is on I'm super excited to keep going. The only blemishes I found were some air bubbles and mold seams on the resin muffler extensions I did not notice before.... easy fix.

Next I'll be experimenting with different material of the waterproofing. I'm going to try: latex glove (a la Chris Meddings), gift tissue paper, and Parafilm.... I'm going to add these and prime them prior to adding the base coat.

Enjoy the pics!

That is a beauty Carmen

Can't wait to see where you stand on the great colour debate (SCC2 versus Bronze Green)

Chris

Ah.... the debate.... I'd like to hear about where you stand and your rationale behind it. The board is open and I encourage more people to join in.

Personally speaking... Steve Guthrie has written a very comprehensive article for Military Modelling Vol 36 No. 11 2006 which describes the use of colors in the Canadian forces throughout WW2 with references to back his article up. Though there is room for interpretation... I'm on the SCC2 side of things.

Here's my rationale: Canadian units at the time painted their own vehicles, and even though the Calgary Tanks received many of their Churchills from British factories and other British units (very few) prior to the Dieppe invasion, the waterproofing was done within the unit or through the RCOC or RCEME and then repainted... though I have no proof they were actually re-painted days before the landing, if they were they would have been painted using Canadian paint stock which at the time was SCC2.

I by no means have taken a hard stance on this, I do have an open mind and would love to hear other people's input on the subject. The Calgary Tanks received their Churchills in the first few months of 1942 (I'd have to re-read my reference to nail down the actual month) straight from the factory, and yes it is possible they did not re-paint them from what they received.... Were Churchills painted Bronze Green leaving the factories or did British units or engineers paint them prior to issuing them to their own armoured units? But since Canadian units were very much aligned like the British about docturine, orders, etc.... don't you think we would have been just as anal about painting our own vehicles our own colors too....???

Let the debate begin. If anyone is interested in Steve's article send me a PM (I'm expecting Chris to for sure). Cheers!

I tend to err toward Bronze Green. I know SCC2 is more likely at this point in the war, but the door stands open to either unless we can ask a veteran!

My own standpoint depends purely on the fact that it could feasably be either and I think they look too dark to be SCC2, plus the colours of the various markings don't contrast enough against it for it to be the mid tone of SCC2 instead of the dark tone of bronze green

I think no-one would have wasted good training time or paint repainting them when they came from the factory, so ultimately they were more likely to have been in the factory colour plus unit markings (of which there are a lot, don't you think )

Ultimately we'll probably never know Looking forward to seeing it in SCC2

Wow, how did I miss this update.

Always disliked churchills but this is very nice work indeed and changes my opinion of the vehicles.

Those are great points... I'll have to seriously think about this over the next couple of days, perhaps I'll do a test run and see if I like the color or not. Thanks!

I am in total agreement, the door is wide open and we'll never 100% know unless we talk to a veteran who remembers. Cheers!

Carmen

Sorry guys! I need to get my bearings....

What color is this Churchill? Is this SCC2? The color I had of SCC2 was not what I thought... Just need to re-confirm. Thanks in advance!

I'd say that one was definitely bronze green Carmen, although its an earlier MkII

Alright Gents... the day has come.... I've finished the water proofing!!!

I apologize in advance as I've been taking my time with this portion of the build, because through my eyes this is what will make or break this model. I was also away for 2 weeks finishing wedding plans... yikes!!

I used parafilm which is an ultra-low to non-tack wax tape, which can stretch up to 2-3 times it's orignal size and make itself extremely thin. I used water and white glue to help it adhere to the surfaces. I then used Mr Masking Sol around the edges in some spot to give that rubberize glue look... I purposely made that effect subtle, it's evident around the sponson hatches. Please refer to the original photo at the start of this build log for comparison.








Now remember in real life the waterproofing was not eactly as I applied it. I then used Mr Surfacer 1000 to help blend in the edges of the parafilm on the turret.




After priming it and touching up with Mr Surfacer a few times I finally removed the seam. Here's the final primed tank.



I'm planning on base coating it and post shading it later today... with Echelon's Decals to follow shortly behind. I hope you enjoy!

Cheers!
Carmen

Hi Carmen,

This is a great project and you've done some fine work again.

Look forward to the paint going on.

Al

my rubber glove trick looks rubbish now

Just kidding, but your method is really superb Carmen, very very impressive indeed

Thanks guys!!

Unfortunately my goal to get this beast base coated never materialized... but that doesn't mean it wasn't productive...

I spent the afternoon mixing batches to get a good British Khaki Green No.3. I realize before I stated I was an SCC2 (brown) believer, but after further review of my notes I had SCC2 mixed up with British Khaki Green No 3... and Khaki Green No 3 mixed with with Dark Green No 5... whatever, the short of it is I'm squared away now.

I found a Tamiya recipe online for Khaki Green No. 3, but it was way too green, so I experimented....

Tamiya Khaki Drab (XF-51) is pretty close but is just one tone too brown for me... I would recommend this for anyone who doesn't really care too much about being 100% accurate. With all the post shading, washes, and pigments you can't tell. This in my opinion is the closest you'll get with staying with one bottle of paint without mixing.

I mixed up a batch of 1:1 Tamiya Nato Green and Tamiya Red Brown. I found this was really close to the chip sample Khaki Green No 3 in Mike Starmer's books. It had just enough green in it but maintained the overall khaki brown look. Once I have it painted I'll post more pictures. Cheers!!

Very nice work Carmen!

All these churchill builds are quite epic. I can't wait to see your finished product.

WOW!!

Great work Carmen. The parafilm technique you've used to replicate the waterproofing material is really convincing, I think it looks really good! This is going to be a wonderful looking project when it's done....can't wait until the next installment!

Cheers;

Bob

Thanks Sean!

Bob - I need to pick up more paint so I have enough to make up a big enough batch to coat the entire model without having to make up more half way through.... soon my friend.. very soon!

Also, I may have missed it but can you explain the use of parafilm for waterproofing? Do you mean water proofing for the tanks as they came ashore?

Yes Sean you are correct. The crews water proofed their tanks, all the hatches, base of the turret, air intakes and the guns. Supposedly they used a rubberized canvas. You can see it peeling off in the original photos I posted at the start of the build log. The Dieppe Churchills had muffler extensions (as seen on mine) and air intake extensions (which I've left off mine to simulate the photo). The air intake extensions were blown off once ashore.

The parafilm is simply non-tack wax tape used in the medical industry. You can find it at any medical supply shop and if you're lucky at some pharmacies. I thought that would be a great product to try to simulate the water proofing canvas on the actual tanks. I've also seen masking tape, gift wrapping tissue paper and (a la Chris Meddings) latex rubber gloves...

Parafilm is also great for masking as it can stretch and conform to irregular surfaces. But because it's ultra low tack to non-tack it can easily be blown off with your air brush so be careful.

HINT!!! Miloslav uses parafilm to simulate plastic shrink wraped water bottle flats on his LAVs. See link below:

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/154558&page=3

As I mentioned previously I mixed up my own British Khaki Green No. 3 by mixing Tamiya XF-67 Nato Green with XF-64 Red Brown. My picture below of my test swatches againts Mike Starmer's Color swatch doesn't give the real thing much credit, but what you should hopefully be able to see is that Tamiya XF-51 Khaki Drab is pretty close but too much on the brown side.



Here's BOLSTER with his base coat. I was hoping to get it post shaded and do some darker effects around where the water proofing is... ah well something to do the next time. My Echelon Decals have been calling my name for about 2 months now! They'll be on soon! Enjoy!!

Looking good Carmen. Great idea using Parafilm. Base coat on already...hmm, maybe this will be ready in time for the RMMC show?

Jim

Maybe maybe... no promises though... I don't want to rush it and compromise quality. My target has always been September, but that includes the Dingo, vignette base and figures...

Carmen, that is one superb job you are doing on your Churchill! I haven't even opened mine up yet. Been busy with wingy thingys. Good luck with the rest of this project, it's gonna be a stunner! Me a few others will be making the trip next month for the show, so hope to see you there!

Cheers Mate
Brad