Great news, thanks for the heads up! This looks like it's going to be a nice kit, and I just bought the Tamiya kit, doh! alloy barrel looks like a nice touch, as do the suspension springs. I imagine AFV club will treat this like their centurion kits and once they have a basic kit sorted, produce numerous variants and versions. Personally i'm hoping for a close support version with a hull mounted howitzer and North Irish Horse markings for Italy. Hint hint Mr. AFV club! Cheers, James

hopefully this will encourage tamiya to produce a new 1/35 scale version of the Crusader

Why would they want to do that exactly? If they want to issue one in 1/35th, they'll simply use their commercial agreement with Italeri and re-box theirs. Manufacturers see models simply in terms of 'Units Sold' - a company like Tamiya has no interest in re-doing any of their existing products. They see it simply in terms of product X is available, therefore, why add to it?... If more evidence is needed, just bear in mind that AFV Club's Churchill is the first of this AFV in 30+ years Tamiya had more than 3 decades to issue more variants or update their VII did they do it?

one reason is they have produced a 1/48 scale version of the crusader and they have done the same to 1/48scale tanks by produced a 1/35 scale version from a 1/48 scale kit ie hetzer before and second is it is allied need i say more

Wouldn't it be cool to do a postwar Irish Churchill? I doubt the kit comes with an Irish decal option. Still, I guess I could do one, by printing my own decals, if I can find a photo for reference. Unless the Irish modified their tanks with some kind of unobtainable accessories. Can't you just imagine this behemoth, growling and clanking its way across the quiet Irish countryside?

At the moment, you'd have to use Tamiya's Churchill VII. I'm not even sure that the Irish Army didn't use an even LATER mark - any info? The reason the Mark III is so useful, is that the hull is narrower than the VII which gives FAR more conversion potential. It's also going to be easier for AFV Club to produce more variants without major re-tooling.

the mk111 i would like to build is with the 75mm gun and extra armour on the front turret as the picture in the book MR CHURCHILL'S TANK also hoping they will include in one of the churchill marks they may produce one with the mk2 cupola

Thanks for sharing the pics, Looks like it is up to the AFV Club std. of OOTB detail. The coil springs are a nice addition. Glad to see the new offering from AFV Club

Why would they want to do that exactly? If they want to issue one in 1/35th, they'll simply use their commercial agreement with Italeri and re-box theirs. Manufacturers see models simply in terms of 'Units Sold' - a company like Tamiya has no interest in re-doing any of their existing products. They see it simply in terms of product X is available, therefore, why add to it?... [/quote] Um, someone is forgetting the new Hetzer and Blitz truck kits. Both of which are older reboxed Italeri kits seen in the Tamiya lineup (albeit Japanese release only I believe), and now new tool 1/35 Tamiya kits of each have been released. The Tamiya-Italeri relationship is an interesting one, but doubt the rules they play by will prevent a Crusader series in 1/35 from Tamiya if they are so inclined. As for the new Churchill, it could not get here soon enough. Best, Mike