Gentlemen ...

If there a vehicle with so many options as the Sherman, this vehicle
is the Churchill tank ....

I have plans to build all (main...) versions of Churchill...

This is justified because I like the look of British armored vehicles ...

And also as a tribute to the Patron's name ...


The Churchill Mk I was the first of the great line of heavy tanks that
sported the name of the Prime Minister ...


The main feature of this tank is to present a high-speed gun on the turret and
a howitzer in the hull, following the fashion of the time (see Char B-1 and Lees ...)

In the turret, the Churchill Mk I wore the old, reliable but weak 2 pdr. gun, common to Matilda, Cruisers and Valentines ...

And in the front hull, a 76mm low-velocity howitzer:


This layout of weapons was common only in the Mk I version.


For my projects, I´ll use the Mk IV AFV´s Churchill, as host:


... And the excellent IMA´s conversion kit of the desired version:




..and the resin parts:


The instructions are spartan:


And for the cake is complete, I will replace the original tracks
by the AFV´s Early model :
[

So...

Go ahead, by St. George !!!!!

Hi MArcis,

pics didn't link?

Al

Ops...fixed !!!

I began to study more deeply the Churchill Mk I and I discovered interesting things about it ...

First, as already said, the Churchills have many variations as the Shermans ...

Second, all the versions are quite different, ie, worthy of reproduction ...

In this project, I make two versions of the Churchill Mk I

The Early Version:


And the Mk I Late (rebuilt), with rectangular filters in the sides and the fenders above the tracks




These reconstructions are typical of the Reconstruction Program that affected models Mk I, II and III.

As you can imagine already, only of these three initial models, come out 06 different versions, not counting the oddbalss versions of the Mk I, with reversed guns and one version with two 76mm howitzers ...

ehehehhehehehee

Eight different Churchills kits are already in the queue ...

Notice that I'm building a second set of suspensions for the model "Rebuilt"..





Differentiation between Mk I Early and Late models: the early has not used the rails-piece guides for the tracks, like the late models ...
They used only 05 segmented guides, what I´ll made ​​with plasticard ...


Surgery time


Some up-grades to these British girls:


Early model:




And the Early and Late Mk I girls:

Hi Marcus,

Off to a good start. There were a coulpe of really excellent early builds on site.

Carmen Manning has done several cracking builds and Chris Meddings has one on the go, but I've lost sight of it.

This is Carmen's build

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/147113

This is Chris's build

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/167673&page=1

Lots of useful info in both.

Loook forward to developments.

Al

great project Marcos, as usual!

Alan, thanks...
the Carmen´s Churchill I already knew, but not the Chris construction.

Really, ´ll be very helpful to me ....

Thanks for the links and courtesy ...


Roman, thanks, ...

I'll be watching this one too Marcos. It'll be interesting to see what you make of these beauties.

Hi Marcos

The post rework churchill is more or less OK, but the pre rework churchill has a number of features not covered in the IMA kit. If you like I can detail them with pictures, but it will take me a day or so to put together

Let me know if you would like me to post a list of corrections

Chris

Ken , Thanks...stay tunning...

regards...

Chris, hi !!!

The answer is YES !!!

Please, send to me or post here the list of corrections...

I´m not a rivet counter, but accuracy always are wellcome...

Thanks in advance and all the best with your Company...

Your 3`gun carrier is amazing !!!

But while the Chris´s list of corrections is not here, we will continue the study of the Mk I...

One thing that was bothering me was the spoked road wheels, typical of the initial models of the Churchill Mk I and II.





As I said, I'm not a rivet-counter (model kits, for me, it´s a fun, not an obsession...) , but this failure was making me stomach wrapped ...

I thought seriously about making the spoked wheels "on the nail", but laziness spoke louder ...


I'm 52 years and many, many kits in my closet.

And all these kits still waiting to be built and the life is already too short ...

Another option would be to use the old and dirty (literally) trick: " the-mud-masks-and-hides-everything "

As I was debating in these questions, I look more closely at the photos that I could collect about the Mk I and voilááá ...

Not all Mk I Early wore spoked whells, but some used "smooth" wheels...

Look this picture: the rear bogie with smooth wheels (blue arrow)...


I started to cheer me up ...

If a tank uses a set of smooth wheels, why could not use all smooth?

The answer came with more research ...
Early Mk I with smooth wheels...


... and for me, this was the ""pièce de la résistance""!

Watch this Mk I, all cheerful, down from the landing ship, with flat shoes ...



Ufff...



My laziness, now, has a historical justification!!


Hurrah !!!

wow, great seaview!

The life that I asked to the Gods ...

Come on... pictures from Saturday ... The thing won a little more ...

I started putting the set of LBL AFV tracks ( early ) and decided to save with the links ...

I set the amount of links only required for viewing through the fender, since the late version of the Mk I, they harbored this feature.

With this simple action, I save amost an full track ...(with the links in the Mk IV box...)

This is what being economical ....

eheheheheheheheh

After the screams of HERETIC! calm down, here is something like:



...and finally:



If I don´t tell, nobody would ever know ....


But after this exercise of economy and sustainability, let's make the 76mm howitzers: The resin guns are unreliable: has a nasty habit of warping ...

Plastruct Time:


Comparing and preparing the metal reinforcement:


Strengthening glued in the rear Plastruct´s gun:


Insertion place:


And the girls with guns and dangerous:





Thanks for looking and stay tunned !!!!

Looking very good Marcos.

It looks like you have a lot of the details covered, so I won't bother with a list of tweaks.

One thing you can do if you like is to mount the jack blocks behind the idlers on the slope for the Early MkI. On the earliest a post was welded there and the block slotted over it, under the track. I guess it was moved because crewman didn't like scraping inches of mud off them when they needed to use them

Chris


PS, I can't see if you've done it, but the retaining spring moulded to the outside of the rear of the pannier needs to be removed on the Early MkI. This was connected to the mudscraper to hold it up when it wasn't required. The mudscraper was not fitted to pre-rework tanks and so neither was the spring and clip

Hi Marcus,

Heritic, Heritic . A good economy move on the tracks, it would probably drive me bonkers as I like to know thing are there but it's a sensible move.

Looking good Sir, and I like the hannock and laid back approach

Keep up the good work.

Al

Thanks, Alan !!!
Stay tunning and all the best !!


Chris:




I hear and obey, Tuan !!!



Here is the prove of the crime...Before:


After:


Thanks for the tip, Chris!!!

But the build continues: the guides for the tracks, in the early model:



Some metal work:


Extra-fuel, in the early model:


The reworked girl getting attention in the details...




Side by side:


Uops..

I was forgetting the hull ´s triangular "eyebrows" of the girl-late ...


Cheers !!!

I forgot to say Marcos, but there is a walkaround I did of a MkII (ersatz MkI, they jammed a tube in the hull MG mount) on Toadmanstankpictures.com

The driver and codriver's hatch surrounds had more rounded edges on the MkIs (pre and post rework versions) the Hull Ventilator also had a couple of posts cast onto the rear edge. These were part of the mechanism for holding open the hatches on the MkIs and MkIIs, which was a different latch than the MkIIIs on.

You can see these details clearly in the pictures I sent to Chris and he has posted on his site, plus the post I was talking about for the jack blocks, the correct shape for the track guide 'humps' and more.

Other than the 'gun tube' and ARV cuppola, the tank is more or less a perfect example of an early churchill hull

PS, I have never seen a spring on the lower of the number 19 ariel s. The ariel was secured with a collar, fastened with a wingnut

The ariel on the taller of the two mounts was two feet in length, in 1/35 scale about 17.1mm.

Finally, I have never seen the 'eyebrows' on a late MkI. These were very much an early feaure and comined with the inner guards on the 'horns' were designed to prevent mud and dust from fallinng in the driver and gun sights for the 3in howitzer and potentially clogging/fouling them. The introduction of full mudguards eliminated their usefulness.

Lovely work by the way though, enjoying this blog immensely

Chris, many tanks about aerial details...I´ll fix that !!!

About eyebrowns in the reworked girl, I based my build in this WWII era draw...
The eyebrowns are there:



In this Churchill II reworked, too:


I ask: maintain or remove the eyebrowns???

What do you think???

Regards, thanks (again...) and all the best !!!

Hi Marcos,

I would remove them

The stowage sketches are a good reference, I use them a lot, but the thing that must be remembered is that they were drawn before type or mark entered service, and often by people who did not have 100% accurate information to work from

By this I mean, to the person drawing this diagram, all that mattered was that it was a MkI, MkII and where the stowage went and what the stowage looked like. After all, all they have been asked to illustrate is the stowage.

It may even be that they took the drawings from photographs of an earlier MkI fitted with test mudguards, you just don't know. And to the draughtsperson it really wasn't important

Often, between the stowage diagram being drafted and the vehicle entering service, some changes would be made. If these did not affect how the diagram worked, no-one would bother changing them

If we had a blueprint, that would be a different matter, blueprints show 100% the accurate build features as the blueprints were used to build the vehicles whereas the stowage diagrams just showed where to stow stuff (one of the great frustrations I have is that the stowage drawings never tell you what a lot of stuff is, because its not stowage and wasn't their job!)

Therefore, the diagrams are good, but only in conjunction with photographic reference, as the photo never lies, and the photo is the only real 100% reliable way of knowing what these things looked like

Having said all that, if someone produces a photo that matches those diagrams, I will happily eat my words

To add to my point on this, thye drawings also have some sort of guide rails on the mudguards, I've never seen those fitted to any type of churchill at all

Also, if you look under the front mudguards the outside of the horn is the wrong shape and does not slope upward, also the upper covering on the forward most section of the mudguard is missing, showing the ribs underneath. I have only ever seen this on the 3in Gun Carrier

As I said though, as long as the stowage was right they weren't too bothered

Ok, Chris !!!

Yo´re right !!! No photo, no certitude...

Eyebrowns , bye..bye...

thanks again...and keep´n touch...