Introduction

Inside the Armour is I am sure well known to modellers who are into after-market additions for models. Those modellers who have a hankering for the Churchill tank should know Inside the Armour better than most due to a pretty good range of after-market products available for this tank and its variants. Chris Meddings the man behind Inside the Armour has decided to dip his toe into publishing and released what is hopefully the first in a series of books on modelling the Churchill tank. The first of these books were shipped over the weekend and my pre-ordered copy arrived Monday and this is a quick review to provide a look at what’s between the covers while waiting for a more in-depth review to be written.

Review

This new book from Inside the Armour is a paper backed offering which consists of 107 pages. There are five projects covered between the covers which are written, built and finished by Chris Meddings, Roman Volchenkov, Jim Guld, Sean McConnell and Kristof Pilinckx. The picture quality is good and the text does not appear to have any glaring errors present. Paper and print quality is very good and so should be up to the task of surviving the ham fisted modellers amongst us, namely the likes of me.

This is not one of those books where you read for two days before getting to the juicy part, it starts right off the bat diving into the first project, in this case written by Chris Meddings. The book looks at building models to match period photographs for the most part and I have to say I really rather like this approach. When relevant it points out what areas are important to look at in a photograph and gain the most information from it. The build is then covered in as much of a step by step approach as possible within the limitations of space, this does do a good job of covering the specifics of the model being built and that includes painting, finishing and adding figures. Now obviously this book cannot show the model being built piece by piece, but it does do a good job of covering the essentials of the build.

While the builds covered are for the most part based on images of a specific tank, the information and techniques covered are applicable to a large number of builds of various Churchill tanks. The kits, aftermarket products and even the items purchased from hardware stores are clearly listed and so creating an easy to use shopping list for the modeller both generally and specifically if wishing to replicate the same specific build.

Also covered in addition to the five projects is a look at how to tackle and beat some of the more problematic assembly steps of AFV Clubs Churchill range in as easy and painless a way as possible. In this case the title looks at getting the working suspension together as a feature in its own right and this is an area of the models from AFV Club where many have suffered. There are a number of scale drawings in the book covering 1/35th and 1/16th scale parts for those looking at a little scratch work. Lastly there is a good reference section that points out to the modeller details specific to the various versions of the Churchill.

Conclusion

As I said this is a quick first look at this new title from Inside the Armour, its intention is to provide you with a taste of what you can expect until a more in-depth review is ready. I should point out that those who purchase this title may, if quick enough get a bonus in the form of decals used on the five projects in the title. I am very pleased with my purchase of this title and the best recommendation I can make is that I will be purchasing the second title when it is hopefully released.