Courtesy of AFV Club, a FULL pjoto-report on their spectacular and (the long-awaited) welcome release of AF35167 - Churchill Mk. III AVRE. The Photo-Report can be seen:


Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Hi all , tipical I was just about to start researching and scratchbuilding this one , having seen the pre release photos I will now wait for the release , cheers ian

Yep, horribly predictable - keep planning other projects of this type though - maybe you've got some psychic connection!

HI

Outfreakinstanding! Just think of the "funnies" that will be now be easier to build!

YES!

T

Hi Guys,

This is a cracking release, long awaited and coming much sooner that I had hoped. The possibility of a bridging unit to follow even better

This brings this vehicle into the hands of many and not just a few which is first class. What a brillient start to the year, first a Tacsa M4A4, them a DML M4 and now this. The strain on the bank account is going to be severe.

I shall look forward to the coming months with interest.

Al

its great to see three british afv's and were still in the fisrt month of this year

alan that would be great wouldnt it i want the chruchil that they used at sword beach to get over the obsticles the one with the ramps on top of it

the bank is obviously gona suffer but its gona be worth it ay!!!

Let's hope AFV Club do the same thing to their Centurion releases too!

This really is a great year for Allied/Commonwealth subjects, too long we've been bombarded with multipul versions of Nazi vehicles while the War Winners were second class citizens
Great Stuff AFV Club (and, tasca and Dragon for the Shermans) Keep it up there are still plenty of Allied subjects that need modern plastic kits made.

Hi James,

It won't be out for a while I would thnk, so time to save a bit of money.

Al

yeh indeed i really hope some more british stuff is realeased !

keep everything crossed then

Great new's on AFV club's Churchill AVRE,no more scratch building
just one comment ,(tell AFV club the three inspection plates on the side air intakes where a post war fittment ,the one's already in kit AF35153 are the correct one's)

AYE! WE DEMAND AN AVRE CENTURION!

I agree, however the Allied builders are NOW getting the vehicles they've wanted for years. Just think for a second, 30 years between Churchill kits? Also, it doesn't stop here - from early indicators, 2009 will be EVEN better...

Watch this space!

THANK THE MAKER!! I have been waiting all of my adult life for a Churchill series.

Not the Mk III version of the turret, but must be time for a picture



Al

I want AFV club to make a Canadian Ram/Ram2 or something Canadian! Canadians did alot in the war.
M4A2Sherman

Thank God for AFV. I groan every time some new German armour is released. Don't we have enough now? Some companies are issuing models of prototypes and stuff that never went into production, really scraping the barrel! We all know that German armour was superior to allied armour and thats probably the attraction but there are so many allied subjects not yet covered that would be welcomed by us all. AFV have made a good move with the Churchill because of all the interesting variants they can release ( and make money on!). it was a beast, out gunned and out of date but the funnies were a great success. Well done AFV!

Here Here, someone out there is obsessed by nazi stuff

My knowledge of the Churchill couldn't power the proverbial piss-ant's motorcycle half way around a BB. Could someone explain just what this thing was used for please??

Cheers,
Mike

Hi Mike,

After the disaster of the Dieppe landings the British realised that in order to have any chance of breaking through beach defences they would need specialised equipment to deal with the Pill Boxes and obstructions.

A range of vehicles were developed based on the Churchill Mk III and Mk IV to meet this need and colllectively were known as the 'Funnies'.

Major General Hobart was an out spoken Offcier who in 1934 as Inspector of the R.T.C agigated for modernisation of the obsolete armoured divisions. He got retired.

However, he joined the Local Defence Force at the outbreak of war as a Lcpl but soon became Deputy Area Organiser of the re-named Home Guard.

Churchill was keen on his ideas for armoured warefare and he got re-instated and was initially given command of training the newly formed 11 Armd Division. When 11th Armd became operational he was given command of 79th Armoured Division which had been formed in 1942.

79th being the youngest Division got the task of this proposed assault role and the development of specialiased armour to meet this need.

The AVRE was one of many Funnies designed and trialed for the D Day Assault. This particular tank was fitted with the Spigot Mortar which fired an explosive charge the grand distance of 80 yds. The charge known as a dustbin was designed to blow holes in the sea wall defences, demolish bunkers and pill boxes. In effect it provided armoured engineers to deal with the fortifications which the Allies new they would face. The crew were engineers and could operate outside the tank as normal engineers if necessary.

It was the use of these Funnies that helped keep the British and Canadian losses down during the initial landings and allowed them to breech the sea walls, anti-tank ditches and deal with fortifications that otherwise would have casued havoc to the landing troops and tanks.

Like the Mulberrys and the pipelne across the channel these vehicles went a long way to breaking the Atlantic Wall and continued in their Assault role until wars end. 79th Armoured Division was effectively an Assault Armoured Engineer Division.

The Americans only adopted two of the Funnies the Flail Tank and the DD SHerman. Had they had armoured engineer support on their landing beaches well who knows......

Hope that potted history helps a bit.

Al

Thanks for that Al. I had heard about "Hobarts Funnies," but I didn't realize this beast was one of them. Now I know .

Cheers,
Mike