Hi folks,

This is the Resicast conversion of the Churchill AVRE which I'm working on at the moment. Still awaiting some parts, replacement exhausts, radios and decals.

It will be towing a Porpoise Sledge.





















Comments welcome.

Al

Looks good Alan. What's the time frame for this? Normandy?

Hi Pat,

Yip it, will be a D Day one, of the 5th Assault Regt, 1st Assault Bde, 79th Armd Div. All the AVREs that landed on D Day had the rear boggies but these were removed very soon after landing.

Cheers

AL

I take it no one likes AVREs then???

Al

nice model, although i don't know much about british armor.

So what were the rear bogies for? Did they support the sledge above the turret?

Max

Alan,

That’s a great looking model. One quick question as I know basically nothing about WWII Armor – has the tanks main gun been replaced? If so what is it?

Thanks,
Noah

Hi Guys,

Thanks for looking and the feedback.

Max, the rear boggies were just spares that were carried on the rear. This practice was done away with shortly after landing.

Noah, On the AVRE, the main gun was replaced by the Spigot Mtr. This fired a charge call the 'flying dustbin' that was designed to destroy pill boxes and blow holes in the sea wall defences . It had very limited range about 80 yds but was very effective in destroying the German defences. These vehices were manned by the RE and carried a variety of demolition charges and the like to deal with obstacles and obstructions.

Cheers

Al

Hi Noah,

Here's a pic of the Spigot Mtr and the charge it fired, The Flying Bustbin.





The co drivers hatch was re-worked and a sliding affair was installed and the Mtr opened up a bit like a shotgun, but muzzel up, the co driver loaded the mtr from underneath lol, lol

Al

Excellent model and interesting pictures... thanks of sharing both.

Hi Jeff,

Many thanks for the feedback. Got to add the rear wading trunk but just waiting for the extended exhaust system they had on landing.

Cheers

Al

Alan,

Thanks for the explanation and pictures.

Once again, great model of a very interesting and unusual subject

Take care,
Noah

Alan, I don't like AVREs! I Love them!! I wish I had the room to model all the "Funnies" with the bridges..

Hi Jim,

I've wanted to build one of these since I don't know when lol, lol. If this one works out OK then it may be the first of several

I recently got Mr Churchills Tanks, focused only on the gun tanks it's an interesting read. I wonder if he will follow it up with one about the 'Funnies'

Cheers

Al

From your description on how it was loaded and fired, the driver must've had a lot of courage, especially when doing that during a contested landing. Definitely not a subject done often, looks like a neat project Alan.

Great looking model Alan. Nerver seen or heard of this particular Churchill. Very interesting subject and so far very well executed. Lots of great details. The wonderful cast look of the turret, is that your doing or?

Hi Bill,

The mrt has all the hallmarks of a typically British Weapon lol, lol. They were brave men, it doesn't look like an easy task to load the thing especialy when underfire.

The very limited range of the Mtr made the tanks vunerable to AT fire at close range but it never stopped these guys doing their job.

Hi Jasper,

The conversion sets are from Resicast. I believe they were made for the earlier Churchill as there were a few small fit issues and the exhaust system that comes with the deep wading set it I believe was used at Dieppe and not on Normandy.

The turret and hull set had a few issues too but the casting of the texture is great although a fair bit of work was needed to mate the two parts.

I owe a great big thank you to Ian at Friendship Models who provided advice, a set of rear boggies and some great references and Gordom at Cromwell Models who offered boggies and to replace the exhaust system which I'm waiting on.

Also to Rick, Steve and Glyn over on SMW who have encouraged and helped along the way.

This was a lot of fun and I hope to do another version in the not too distant future.

A short bit of history. 79th Armoured DIv were equipted with a whole range of specialised vehicles and operated in support of the other divisions both British and Canadian. All those odd vehicles, DD Tanks, Carpet Layers, Facines, Bridge Layers adn Dozers etc came under their command and were allocated as necessary. LVTs, Terripins etc again were under their charge.

The basic AVRE was based on the Mk III and Mk IV Churchill. (I hope I've typed that correctly lol, lol)

Thanks for the feedback guys, much appreciated.

Al

Alan,

Short of buying one of the Mark III/IV kits what needs to be done to convert the Tamiya Churchill to one? Is the Legends conversion kit good? Which AVRE turret is the best, Legend or Resicast? Any suggestions for tracks, or is it just builder's preference for resin or metal?

Hi Jim,

I'll get back to you tonight. At work at the moment and we have one of those websense blockers that keeps interfering with my post.

Catch you later.

Al

Hi Jim,

I'm new to Churchills and like Shermans there were many versions and variations.

Without a doubt the best Churchills on the market are those from Gordon at Cromwell Models. I don't have much experience with resin builds having only done the AA Tilly but I'm working my way up to one of his Bobbins lol, lol.

On the kit side, the Legends conversion kit is being re-worked and currently unavailable at least here in the UK. I believe it only contains the turret parts but the re-worked version may have the necessary body parts too, but I really don't know.

I used two Resicast kits for this one. The AVRE Turret which comes with the necessary parts for the body and the deep wading set. Both I believe were made for a Dieppe Churchill and so the bin is incorrect at the back as it needs the sloping sides, something Gordon pointed out to me and something I've got to change and the exhausts are different on the D Day tanks. Also for a Churchill deep wader on D Day they carried the extra boggies on the rear. These are not available and were a kind donation from Ian at Friendship Models.

My advice would be to decide what sort of AVRE you want to build and then take it from there. Both the basic AVRE as I have and the Facine are do-able from the Tamiya Mk VII. The Resicast kit comes with a complete new front section so some major surgery is required as is a little on the sides but if I can do it most anyone can. If you want to do a Dieppe version then the Resicast kit is fine.

Problems only arise if you want a D Day vehicle with wading gear as they were the vehicles that had the boggies on the back and the different extended exhaust, and they aren't available as a AM product that I know off, which is why I own Gordon and Ian a big thank you.

That said if you want to do one shortly after landing then neither of these two things become an issue as the boggies were removed very soon after landing for whatever reason, perhaps they simply got in the way.

Have a lookat IMA stuff on Ian's site at Friendship Models. They have the bridge layer as a full or two part conversion, something I might try and do later in the year.

A Facine should be do-able on the kits I've used as you would only have to build the wooden support at the front and make the sticks from a brush or something similar. A lot of bundles to tie thought lol, lol.

Re the tracks I used the Tamiya ones as thsese would seem to be right for the kit I'm building. There are resin sets available if you need the earlier ones.

I'm not quite ready for a full resin tank yet but but by the time I do the AA Mobile canteen and another one of these I hope to be.

As I'm reading Mr Churchills Tanks at the moment the earlier gun tanks are looking very interesting and if I go down that road then Cromwell Models is the way to go.

if you have the cash and experience/confidence with resin then get one of Gordons excellent Churchills form Cromwells Models. They may well work out cheaper than getting all the parts you need and going through all the pain lol, lol.

Hope this helps a bit, I'm sure there are other more qualified than I to say.

Cheers

Al

Hi Alan
nice model of mk 4 AVRE but if you are going to build anymore mk 3/4,s may i point out some mistakes on your model (1) conical bolt patten on right side is wrong the single bolt should be at the bottom not top ( left side patten correct ) check drawing,s on page 124 MR Churchhill tank (2)the side air intake,s did not have the three oblong panels on, they where just plain (3) the front slope on side panel is not angled back enough (see picture on page 123 mr c,s tank (4) bolt patten on rear plate was used on mk7,s not earlier mk,s ,this was the connection for flame thrower trailer .As i am a fan of the 79th armoured div (first up the beach) and the churchill tank i have done most of the AVRE,s converted from Tamiya kits , current ones on workbench SBG sissor bridge ,mk 3 Dieppe ,sorry to point out these mistakes on a fine model

Barry

Hi Barry,

I'm not a rivet counter, just build for pleasure.

re points

1 - can't see what you're talking about, unless you mean that the additional rivets that were added to the RHS are not needed?

2. - thanks they can be filled.

3. - not going down that road now lol, lol.

4. - rear bolt pattern easily removed, thanks.

Many thanks. You missed the one glaring error. The armour plate on the spigot mtr is too low, but that's been fixed now.

Many thanks for the feedback, much apprerciated, If those are tthe only errors then I'm well pleased for a first attempt.

Thinking on it Barry you might be able to help. I was wondering about the mtr. Would it have been completely covered but a tarp type thing/canvas cover or would only housing have been treated like that? Same detail on the MG housing and the front drivers hatch I assume would have been sealed also?

Cheers

Al

Nice, I'm living in Caen and there is an AVRE not far from here, exposed on Normandy's beach, it's looking quite similar, great job...

Alan
just looked through some photos in a old tanks illustrated no 25( the churchill tank) and come across several photos of AVRE,s with covers over the complete mtr and turret face ,also one with wading truncking that has a sealing around bottom of turret , haven,t as yet seen any for mg or driver,s visa i would assume that if the turret and gun where sealed these and the side doors would also be sealed .
sorry! didn,t explain conical bolt position properly,i am talking about the three bolts on the centre section bhind door and in front of air intake, photo on page 123 mr,C ,s tank shows the three centre bolts on left side of tank , two are above the tanks number at top of side plate near track , on the right side of the tank the single bolt in front of air intake is below the number at bottom of side plate see photo page 94 you will see what i mean this was,nt rivert counting mate ,the bolt patten appears on all Churchill,s with the conical bolts added to there sides do,nt know why must have somthing to do with internals
as i have said, it is still a fine model well done Alan
.Barry

Hi Barry,

Ah, got ya, this is an error from the Resicast instructions I was using. Like the other two issues that can be moved fairly easily (lol, lol) . Thanks for the feedback much appreciated, fresh eyes are always useful.

Also thanks for the infor on the wate proofing, very useful. I have a reasonable idea of what is needed from my M7 Priest build, will see how it goes once I get the main bits right.

Cheers

Al