Introduction

With the arrival of the new AFV Club Churchill Mk III and the pending arrival of their AVRE Mk III, Resicast have produced another of their very useful stowage sets to populate these vehicles.

The Set

The set comes packed in the standard sturdy professional box supplied with most Resicast kits. It contains a variety of stowage items, enough for 2 vehicles and probably a bit more.

Cast in a light grey resin the items were free from any damage or air bubbles and the clean up looks to be minimal. Inside the box you get 4 plastic zip bags layered in bubble wrap for extra protection. The items are cleanly and crisply cast with excellent detail. Also contained within the box is an A5 four page set of instructions showing possible placement for the items.

In brief here’s what the zip bags contain:

Bag 1:
You get 2 x replacement rear turret stowage bins one with ammo boxes attached to the sides. Both show signs of dents and usage.

Bag 2:
A bag of spare track links of various lengths, both early and late style tracks are provided, which is neat, and you should have sufficient quantity to add that bit of extra armour often seen on these vehicles.

Bag 3:
Contains a variety of smaller individual stowage items, Jerrycans, cable reel, biscuit tins, telephones boxes, first aid boxes, fire extinguishers, a frying pan, 6pdr ammo box. Some of the items show deliberate damage.

Bag 4:
This contains slightly larger individual items including; camouflage net, various soft stowage items, ammo boxes, compo boxes, both open and closed. Again some of these items show deliberate damage.

All items are well cast with the minimal amount of clean up being required. There should be more than enough for two vehicles. The stowage isn’t limited to use on the Mk III but could be used on any Churchill and probably on a lot of other vehicle also.

Normal precautions apply when working with resin and you will need a shape X-acto blade and razor saw to deal with any pour stubs.

Conclusion

A very useful set of stowage, applicable to any Mk of Churchill, with sufficient items to allow modellers to apply that nice individual touch. A lot of the stowage is generic and could also be used on other vehicles.

Don’t forget that all stowage is tied down with rope and that ammo boxes and tracks were often welded onto the vehicle. You should refer to your reference photos for additional thoughts on placement, but ideas are given in the instructions.

As this set is labelled Churchill Stowage No 1, it is quite possible we shall see a No 2 set sometime in the future, as this has been the process with both the Sherman and Carrier stowage sets in the past.