Well, after a couple of weeks of basic construction, I'm ready to post up some work-in-progress photos and bits about my latest project.

(I'm sure some thought I was spending all my time bashing various kit manufacturers over their latest releases and announcements, but, no, I've actually been building models at the same time! )

This build is a Churchill Mk.III as employed in Tunisia in the Spring of 1943. My subject tank is one from the 145th RAC, 21st ATB. More on that later, though.

This first post will hopefully get most of the "admin" stuff out of the way, and what follows are my references, print and on-line. The following post will start in with the actual build.

For the basic vehicle (as part of the final planned vignette), I'm using AFV Club's "Churchill Mk. III" kit AF 35153. I'll be doing a lot of extra stuff to the kit as the build progresses as well as adding some other major elements beyond the Churchill, itself.

Basic print references for this project include:

Bannerman, Mark. "Modelling the Churchill Tank." Osprey Modelling 21. Osprey Publishing, New York, 2005. ISBN 1 84176 869 3.

Doyle, David. "The Churchill Tank, Part One: The Gun Tank Mk I-VIII." Ampersand Publishing, Delray Beach, FL, 2010. ISBN 978 0 9773781 9 7.

Fletcher, David. "Mr. Churchill's Tank." Shiffer publishing Ltd, Atglen, PA, 1999. ISBN 0 7643 0679 0.

Montgomery, Nigel. "Churchill Tank 1941-1956 (all models)." Haynes Publishing, Newbury Park, CA, 2013. ISBN 978 085733 232 5.

Perrett, Bryan. "Through Mud and Blood." Robert Hale & Company, London, 1975. ISBN 0 7091 4822 4.

Perrett, Bryan. "Churchill Infantry Tank 1941-51." New Vanguard 4. Osprey Publishing, New York, 1993. ISBN 1 85532 297 8.

(Yes, I actually have all of these in my library...)

The AFV Club Churchill Mk.III kit was released around 2008, and has been the subject of numerous reviews and build articles (on-line and in print).

Some of the basic reviews which I'd refer anyone to are:

AMPS Reviews -

"Cookie" Sewell::Churchill Mk. III British Infantry Tank & Churchill British Infantry Tank Track (Workable)

Glen Martin::Churchill Mk.III AVRE

David Manter::Churchill Mk IV

Perth Military Modeling Site (PMMS) Reviews -

Terry Ashley::AFV Club 1:35 Kit No. AF 35153

Terry Ashley::AFV Club 1:35 Kit No. AF 35154

Terry Ashley::AFV Club 1:35 Kit No. AF 35156

There are many others, but these were the on-line reviews that I've referenced to this point. I've listed them with their URL's since all that I've done so far is basic construction of the suspension, tracks and hull sponsons, and these steps have been amply covered by the reviewers, above. There's little point in my going back over their work.

I'll point out a few deviations that I've made in my next post.

Happy modeling!

Look forward to developments Mike.

Al

BTW,

These might be of interest

http://www.armourinfocus.co.uk/churchill/ctracks.htm

http://churchilltank.com/

Al

So, after selecting my specific subject vehicle, and studying as many photos of Churchill III's from the same general time period (end of 42' to late spring 43'), I was ready to start construction.

The AFV Club kit is very nice, IMO. In particular, the suspension on the kit replicates the rather complicated and "fiddly" nature of the prototype. If carefully constructed, the AFV Club suspension will be articulated.

It appears to be very difficult at a first glance in the instructions. However, once you get over the sheer number of parts involved, construction is a straight forward exercise in basic modeling skills.

There are, depending on how you count, about 260 parts in each sponson and track run as shown in the photos below. About all I can recommend is to be patient and take your time. It's a grind, but it will get done. The results are very satisfactory, though. The suspension really does have the unique "Churchill look" when finished.

Here're the hull sponsons and suspension units from my build:



These were built pretty much out of the box in the sequence shown in the kit instructions. There are seven steps in the instructions to get to this point. In order that I could be sure to get everything in alignment, I generally cleaned up all the parts for at least two steps in advance of the step I was actually working on. That way I could dry fit parts as necessary to see how everything was coming along.

As you can see from the photos, the only filler used was across the seam on the upper front hull. I did spend some extra time reaming the holes in bogies for the road wheel axles so that they would turn freely (to make painting them easier). These were initially a very tight fit, but after reaming the holes slightly, they turn easily with no wobble. Right now, my road wheels are all just press-fit together so that if I want, I can disassemble them for finish and weathering later.

My subject vehicle did not have the "Track Mud Ploughs & Stripper Plates" (Fletcher, p.86) parts D13 and E10 & E27, so the lower mounting pad for E 10 and the external bolt head detail for parts D13 were removed from the rear hull parts C5 & C11. The resulting holes were filled.

Also, the molded on small spring and latch details were removed. (These will be replaced with the Voyager PE parts later.)



I'm using AFC Club's "Workable Churchill Track Links," AF 35156 on this build. These were another exercise in basic construction. Each link has two parts, and after some clean-up, they are simply and carefully glued together.

According to my references, there should be 72 links per side, and the AFV Club vinyl ("rubber band") tracks do, indeed, have 72 links per. However, after assembling the workable tracks in a 72-link run, they were almost a full link shorter than the vinyl tracks. So I added a 73rd link to each track run.

The photo below shows the kit vinyl track above the "workable" track. In this shot, the "workable" track has 73 links and (if you count!) you'll see that the kit track has 72. On the left end, the first links of each are lined up with each other, so you can see on the right end how 73 workable links is about 1/2 link longer than the vinyl track.



In order to be able to remove and replace the tracks for finish and weathering later, I modified the last links on each end of each run with holes and metal pins.





This is a small modification that should be within the capabilities of most builders. I used a #74, .0225", .055mm diameter drill to make the holes. I used the molded on track pin detail to line the holes up and started them with the tip of an X-acto knife. The track pins are steel sewing pins with the heads ground down and the lengths cut with a Dremel with a cut-off disk.

The tracks now install and uninstall easily.











The tracks are still a tight fit, and I may experiment some with adding a 74th link to each run so that the tracks will lie "heavily" on the supports to the rear of each idler wheel. However, for now, they're good to go, and it's time to move on to something a little more fun and interesting than cleaning wheels and track links!

Thanks, Al: BTDT. There are simply too many sites and on-line walk arounds to list them all.

In regards to the "Churchill Project" site, Montgomery's book pretty much reprints all of the photos on his site. There's quite a bit more in the book, but just about everything on the site is also in his book.

Shillito's site is very useful, indeed, though. For example, his is the only place that I know of where the difference between the two conical bolt protectors (hull side details) is illustrated and discussed. His site also covers a lot of other details not addressed in most other references.

I was actually quite surprised that Montgomery makes no mention of the difference in the bolts on his site or in his book.

Interestingly enough, AFV Club provides BOTH types in the kit, parts E29 and E30. (There is a good clear photo of the E30 types on page 70 of Doyle's book and they can be contrasted easily with the E29 style on the facing page, 71.)

Cheers!

BTW: If one of the moderators would like to edit my typo in the title of this blog, I'd appreciate it. It should read, of course, "AFV Club" vice "AFC Club." Thanks!

Hi Mike,

I built the Mk III back in 2010 with the ITA interior and Resicast engine so I will be interested to see where you're going with this one. Mine is awaiting a suitable recovery truck, yet another pending project.

Haven't yet purchased Doyle's photo walkarounds although both sound useful. I found both sites very useful at the time and good links if people don't want to buy the reference books.

I have the Mk IV partially built with engine and interior sitting in front of me. Gotta love the AFV club kit; so many builds to do and never enough time.

You're off to a good start, have fun.

Al

Hi Mike .. I got a AVRE Mark III to build one of these days ...So I'll be following this one with interest.
Have fun!

Rick

@ Rick: Thanks for checking in. Hopefully you'll find something interesting and useful (or at least entertaining!).

That AVRE is a neat vehicle and on my "some day" list, too.

@ One of our Friendly Mods: I hate to be a PITA, but when someone corrected the typo I made with "AFV Club" the rest of the blog's title "Churchill Mk.III" got deleted.

Could I impose on your good graces once more time to change the blog title to - AFV Club AF35153 "Churchill Mk.III"

Sorry for the trouble, but I'm not sure many guys will recognize the blog subject going just by the kit number.

Thanks, again!

Nice to see you are underway Mike and by the speed of things another one that may well get finished 'this year', your on a roll mate.

The Churchill has always been a favorite of mine but along with some of the WW2 German Panzers, to many wheels to deal with

Setting the tension of the tracks shouldn't be a problem with a small amount of ground undulation but I'm sure you have already taken that into account.

Looking forward to more updates.

Keith.

Mike, You show off

Good to see another great build underway, I'll be glued to this one!

@ Keith: I've actually been working on this project for about 3-4 weeks now, but have only just reached a stage where there was enough "uniqueness" to justify starting a new build blog.

I do know what you mean about wheels, though - 44 road wheels, 22 per side. I thought it'd never end!

@ John: All just basic stuff thus far, mi amigo.

I am working on the gearbox compartment right now, and hope to have some new pics up soon. The last couple of days have been a trip down the ol' "research rabbit hole" figuring out the internal details. In particular, the difference between the 5" air outlet and the 8" air outlet was a bit perplexing.

I was leaning heavily on Montgomery's "Hayne's Churchill Workshop Manual," but he neglects to point out that tank illustrated in his restoration has the early, 5" opening. I used his photos and made a very neat (and incorrect) inner rear hull modification and had trouble understanding why the air outlet grates wouldn't fit.

(This might have been obvious had Montgomery included a detailed "walk around" album of his tank, but he doesn't.)

Finally, I went back to Shilito's "Armour in Focus" website to figure it all out.

Now, I'm un-modifying my quite neat modification. The required changes were much simpler than what I had done.

(Photos to follow in a later post.)

Anyways, what the modeling world really needs is a comprehensive print reference for the Churchill, something along the lines of Taylor's "Into the Valley." I had great hopes for Montgomery's book, but it's not the reference it could have been.

On the plus side, I now know what the inside of the rear hull looks like!

Also, I might mention here that the small, molded on coil spring and lever on the hull sides just below the drive sprockets only applies to tanks with the "mud plough," another detail not noted in any reference that I know of. So, since I've removed these in anticipation of adding them back with the Voyager PE parts, I can just keep what I have and not worry about them (since my subject tank does not have the "mud plough").

A slow start, but a start nevertheless...

@ The Moderators: I would still appreciate it if one of you would correct the title of this blog to read:
AFV Club AF35153 "Churchill Mk.III"

I don't believe that many readers here will recognize the subject just from the kit number.

Thanks!

Ok, kind of a slow start on this blog, but it seems to be picking up a bit now, I hope.

My planned display will include showing how the Churchill tank was re-fueled and re-armed. An unusual feature of the Churchill is that the fuel fillers are internal necessitating that the crew open up the rear gearbox compartment in order to "gas 'er up." Of course, the AFV Club kit does not have any internals, so to show the re-fueling operation, I will have to add the gearbox compartment details.

This means building these innards before closing up the hull, and there are some kit design elements that have to be worked around. I'll show some pics of what I've done to these below.

A particular issue is getting the air outlet area correctly detailed since it will be very visible with the gearbox compartment doors open.

So, for anyone who read the last post, here's the 5" air outlet conversion that I started on (before I realized that it was incorrect for the 8" air outlet on my model):



I had based this work on photos in Montgomery's book of his restoration. As I said earlier, he does not identify his Churchill as having the earlier, 5" air outlet.

After I had done most of this conversion to the inner rear hull plate, I noticed that as I was dry-fitting it, something wasn't right. More research and after re-visiting Shilito's "Armour in Focus" website, I realized what was wrong.

The inner rear hull plate with the three openings was used with the 5" air outlet design. It does look cool, and I had put a lot of thought into how to get the modification added seamlessly to the kit part. Oh well...

Now that I know what I'm looking for, there's a drawing in Fletcher's "Mr. Churchill's Tank" on page 33 (top) that shows the details of the 8" air outlet inner rear hull. Shilitto also has photos of this area on his website. The unmodified kit part is already pretty close to the correct design just requiring a slight lowering and the addition of three simple vertical stays to hold up the plates that form the gearbox compartment roof and the combing for the hatches.

So, with much anguish, I cut my neat 5" air outlet conversion apart... I then lowered the level of the vertical rear plate. I'll add the three stays later in the conversion. After clean-up, the inner rear hull plate was ready to install.

In the mean time, I had to either add a layer of styrene to the rear hull side walls OR mill the forward side areas thinner. The step in thickness on the kit's inner rear hull sides is not correct (they should actually be the same thickness as their very ends).

Milling the kit side walls thinner was doable, but once the area is detailed and the gearbox roof, hatches, and hatch combings were installed, the correct thickness would be invisible to a viewer. So, the easier route of adding extra material to the sides to eliminate the step was the way I went.

I cut holes in these side pieces for the main brake drums. I then added them and filled the seams and sanded the sides to a uniform thickness in the gearbox compartment.

The main brake drums actually fit inside the final drives which are also contained inside the drive sprockets. However, only the inside faces of the brake drums are visible in the gearbox compartment. These were made with disks of styrene. Bolt detail was added around the edges of the brake-final drive holes.





I also added the circle of bolt heads for the gearbox lube drain access plate on the bottom of the hull and a thick styrene wall at the location where the engine and gearbox compartments are separated.

This wall will be used later to anchor the forward end of the fan and clutch as well as holding other details.



After these parts were ready, I glued up the lower hull according to step 10 in the instructions. I dry-fit the hull roof and upper hull glacis in order to keep everything nice and square for later. So the little bit of the hull roof visible in this photo is simply dry-fit in and held in place with the rubber band while the hull glue-up is drying.

Next on my list was to fabricate the two distinctive steering brakes with their cooling fins.

Basically, at this stage, I will scratch-build the gearbox (with the steering brakes). From there, I will add the clutch and fan. This will give me a unit that I can then use to space and align the gearbox mounts. I don't have any scaled drawings or plans of the gearbox, so everything has to be made using visual proportions and fitting the new parts into the existing kit area.

The first step in making the gear box is to make the steering brakes on either side of it. The thickness of these along with the "muff couplings" between the steering brakes and main brakes establishes the allowable width of the gearbox. So, steering brakes first...

Here are the parts for these:



I'm using stacks of .010 styrene disks alternating between two different diameters to create the cooling fins. These disks were cut from sheet styrene with a compass circle cutter, the center holes were drilled, and the disks were stacked on a Dremel tool metal cutoff disk screw holder.

I chucked this in a lath to turn each of the two diameters of disks to make them all even, but this operation could have also been done by turning the stacked disks against a sanding block using the Dremel. I turned one half of the disks to the large diameter, and then I turned the other half to the smaller diameter.

When stacked alternating from large to small, I came up with short cylinders with the cooling fin detail around them.

I also used the Dremel tool holder to get these stacks of disks concentric while gluing them up into their final configuration.

Here're a couple of shots of the steering brakes. They still need some clean-up after the glue dries and small holes will be drilled in the brake adjuster hole plugs. But, I think you can get the idea.





Next up will be the gearbox itself and some details added to replicate the hull bolting and assembly inside the compartment.

Once again, if any of the moderators happen to tune in, please correct the blog title to read AFV Club AF35153 "Churchill Mk.III" (i.e. add the "Churchill Mk.III" part).

Happy modeling!

Mike,

Great work!! I'm following with strong interest!

As for moderators, you might need to send someone a quick PM. It's hard to check all the posts on a given board for requests like yours, but I'll bet if you address them directly they'll be glad to help.

Michael

Mike nice to see you started another out of box build !!!!!
can't wait to see this at the next meeting
dave

Mike,
I am going to be watching this one. Appreciate the reference list as well as the SBS. Your work is making me want to drop the M103 that I am working on and start one of the two Churchill that are collecting dust in the stash.

John

Nice bit of scratch building on those steering breaks, very neat.

@ The Mods: Thanks, guys! I promise to proofread my thread titles better in the future.

@ Michael: Thanks for the advice on contacting the mods. Obviously, it worked!

Hope the build holds your interest and you continue to find it interesting as it progresses along.

@ Dave V: Oh no... not again! See ya next week, moi droogie!

@ John: Oh, man, that M103 is such a bummer. I was pretty enthusiastic about it, too.

These AFV Club Churchill kits are very nice. There are also a lot of interesting subject vehicles and settings that they can be built in.

Unfortunately, IMO, there's no "single-best" reference if you want to venture off the reservation with the kit, though. However, the information seems to be out there, it's just not all in one place.

@ Andrew: Thanks for the kind words. Hopefully you'll find some more of the up-coming work as interesting.

So, since cobbling together the steering brakes, I've been working on the basic gearbox.

The Churchill gearbox has a difficult shape to try to sort out. Also, there appear to be a couple of slight variations in the details and shape of the box. Much of my time has been spent looking over photos, measuring the kit compartment and making sketches of the box trying to establish its shape and some working dimensions to build against.

For what its worth, here's a look at my working drawings. I freely confess that they're more than just a little messy and some of the information may be somewhat cryptic to others. But, they suited my needs and maybe they'll give someone else a head start if they attempt the same thing some time.



After allowing for the thickness of the steering brakes and muff couplers, and subtracting that from the available width between the main brake drums in my built, I came up with an allowable maximum width for my scratch-built gearbox of 27.5 mm. I rounded down to 27mm to allow for a smidge of Murphy room.

Working from the available photos (mostly from Shillito's "Armour in Focus" website), and eye-balling the proportions of the real gearbox against my steering brake drums, I came up with 12 mm front to rear and 10 mm deep for the basic gearbox. The bolting flanges and cooling / strengthening fins will be added to these dimensions using about 1 mm of maximum depth / width.

At this stage, just getting the basic box shape without all the details is the critical task.

I used .030 sheet styrene (~1.1 mm thick) laminated into two main parts, an upper and a lower half. The lower half has the thick rear flange that also forms the rear gearbox mounting ears on either rear corner.

I've also cut a center "flange" piece from .010 sheet (~.3 mm) which establishes the angular front flanges to either side of the input shaft.

After allowing the glue to dry, I've started carving the basic shapes of these upper and lower halves. Since the carving along the front and rear edges cut through the initial glue application, after getting the basic shapes, I coated the halves with glue again, and have set them aside to dry overnight.

Here's a pic of the gearbox basic parts right now.



I still need to refine the shapes some, especially at the input shaft area on the front. But for now, the glue needs to dry hard.

To give you and idea of how these basic parts will fit together, here's another pic with the parts simply set on top of each other.



I will work on the refining the shapes and then glue these parts together. I'll then add the cooling fins / strengthening ribs and the oval area on the front where the input shaft is attached to get these additional shapes right. I can then add a layer or coat of thinned putty to fair these parts together and give the whole basic gearbox a cast look.

After that point, it will be a matter of adding details - nut and bolts, the air compressor, the shifter linkages and the input shaft. Once the input shaft and its surround is added, I will be able to establish the locations of the gearbox mounts inside the compartment. But more on all that later...

Happy modeling!

I'll be watching as well.
Dan

Move over and make room for me too!

It's not everyday you see a detailed Churchill build.




Jeff

Hi Mike,

ITA do a drop in engine and transmission, that includes the fuel tanks.

http://www.insidethearmour.com/otherchurchills.html

Whilst I recognise the effort and detail scratch building can produce in this case I'm not yet convinced it would necessarily be the best route to choose. However, if you have the time then it's probably not really an issue.

The steering breaks look good but the ridges look a little too thick, although that may just be the photograph. I see 7 rather than 5 ridges in these sections?

The transmission has a lot of complex shapes, so you've certainly set yourself a challenge.

http://www.armourinfocus.co.uk/churchill/ctracks.htm







Cheers

Al

edit,

this is the ITA kit in place on the Mk IV I'm been building





These are the fuel tanks

@ Dan: Appreciate you checking in and following along.

@ Jeff: You, too!

@ Al: I'm totally aware of the ITA set and have very carefully examined the photos of it on on their website.

The answer to your comments -




The ITA set only gives a very poor approximation of the details of gearbox and its compartment, so, this isn't about whether I "have the time," but that I'd rather get my build more correct and accurate.

For me, scratch-building the details is "the best route to choose."

Since Al raises the issue of the number of cooling fins on the steering brakes, I'll offer up these images for reference. There were apparently several variations in the number of cooling fins on the steering brakes over the production of the tank.

Here we have a photo of the entire Churchill gearbox compartment originally published in one of the wartime operation manuals and re-published on Montgomery's "Churchill Project" website.



In addition to the general complexity of the details (mostly absent from the ITA set), note that each of the steering brakes have five cooling fins vice the seven that Al mentions. These are the 5-finned brake drums that I based my scratch-built ones on.

(BTW: The innermost "fin" closest to the actual gearbox is not actually a fin on the brake drum but rather is the disk on the end of the gearbox that holds the steering braking components, and so is actually part of the gearbox itself.)

Here's another view of a different Churchill gearbox, this time taken from Shilitto's "Armour in Focus" website.

You'll note that these steering brake drums only have a single wide strengthening rib (and the facing disk on the gearbox) with no cooling fins at all.



Happy modeling!

Finally saw this yesterday while on a business trip and didn't want to post with my phone.

Looking good as always Mike. I'll be following along.

Great progress Mike and another build well worth watching progress.

Mike,

I haven't bought a kit yet that can't be improved on and the ITA set is no exception, to say it gives a very poor representation of the details is one opiion, I'd say it gives good basic details that one can build on if one chooses.

but that I'd rather get my build more correct and accurate

The steering breaks look good but the ridges look a little too thick, although that may just be the photograph. I see 7 rather than 5 ridges in these sections?

Have fun.

Al

@ Al:




Well... My build, my opinion.

And since it's my build (and I build to suit myself) my opinion that the ITA set is not accurate nor detailed enough for my purposes is sufficient for me.

In regards to 5 vice 7 cooling fins, there are photos of both. I have based my work on an example that has 5-fins. I've posted the reference photo of this 5-finned example above.

Thanks for your interest in the build.