Churchill Mk. IV AVRE with Small Box Girder Assault Bridge Mk. II

[scottie3158]

That is a cracking build, your eye for details and research do you credit.

[Jim R]

Looking better with every update. That's a lot of wheels to polish. The story of the tape is interesting. Amazing how things stand the test of time. Certainly a model that people will talk about.

[Guest]

Sorry Jakko.

No worries, unlike some here, I expect topic drift

That is a cracking build, your eye for details and research do you credit.

Thanks, but I always notice details later that make me think, “I should have caught that …”

Looking better with every update.

I sure hope so! Though I would also post ot if I completely ruined the model somehow.

That's a lot of wheels to polish.

Just a few quick passes with the soft toothbrush, really It would have been much more work with a cloth, though.

Certainly a model that people will talk about.

As long as it lasts, sure …

Anyway After painting the track, I also painted the rubber tyres on the idler wheels, with my usual method of dark grey followed by a wash of thinned Indian ink. Then it came time to fit the tracks. How to do that in a few sort-of-easy steps: insert the track at the drive sprocket (that’s the rear) and push it forward. This will probably involve tilting the model this way and that (and a few more directions), pushing, wiggling and withdrawing it slightly a lot, until it finally emerges at the idler wheel. Pull it through far enough that both ends are about equally exposed. Then take some thread, loop it through the eyes in the track links to pull the ends together, and tie the thread off:

[ATTACH]485575[/ATTACH]

Don’t pull it taut when you do this, but leave it slightly slack because if you don’t, the track will be very tight around the wheels. With the knot tied, pull the track further (or back) around so both ends disappear:

[ATTACH]485576[/ATTACH]

This method works quite well and means you don’t have to build a full track. It will also do for any Churchill that has some, but not all of the mudguards on — even one piece is enough to hide the thread. Just make sure your track is long enough that it will pass the mud chute on the side at the front, because part of the track will be visible there.

Then all that remained was the other side, and it’s starting to look like a tank:

[ATTACH]485577[/ATTACH]

Here’s a close-up of the now-painted spare track links/armour on the turret:

[ATTACH]485578[/ATTACH]

These were painted a dark red-brown, then given a wash to shade them and drybrushed with medium brown for highlights.

[Neil Merryweather]

That is a cracking build, your eye for details and research do you credit.

Seconded!

[adt70hk]

Just a catch up Jakko. That's looking very, very good indeed.

And as always great research.

Very well done.

Andrew

[Mini Me]

Nice! :thumb2:

[Guest]

After adding more rust to the exhausts, by stippling various shades of brown with an old, thick brush, I could install the exhausts:

[ATTACH]485681[/ATTACH]

After that, I put on the tie rods for the wading ducts on the sides:

[ATTACH]485682[/ATTACH]

That required cutting them to length, after estimating how long that was, but fitting them into the turnbuckles I had glued to the hooks was a little tricky. Still, it worked in the end. They don’t attach to anything in the middle on my model, because there will be a little plate over the bit in the centre, but on the real thing, I think they attached to a little vertical rod on each side of the base thing, that AFV Club didn’t mould onto the part. The two rods to the rear duct will be fitted later, once the winch cage is on, because they need to go through that.

[Jim R]

Looking very good Jakko. You definitely produce "talking point" models. I doubt this one has ever been built before

[scottie3158]

Looking good mate.

[Guest]

Thanks

You definitely produce "talking point" models. I doubt this one has ever been built before

If you mean this exact, particular tank, T68927, then I think you’re probably right I also kind of doubt many people have built a Churchill that has been properly waterproofed rather that just sticking ducts on, but part of me would like to be proven wrong on that.

[Richard48]

Getting there Jakko.Im tempted to do some more Churchills.Definately a Canadian reworked Mark 1 at Dieppe.Also want to revisit a 1950s Iraqi army one which is different.
Looking good.
Richard

[Guest]

I intend to build at least a fascine carrier at some point, with the fascine, as two of those were also used at Westkapelle. I wouldn’t mind more Churchills, but I’ve got so much else to do too, and I build so slowly …

[The Smythe Meister]

Blimey that's looking good Jakko
.... Been a while since I checked in, but the progress is superb mate :thumb2:

[Richard48]

I intend to build at least a fascine carrier at some point, with the fascine, as two of those were also used at Westkapelle. I wouldn’t mind more Churchills, but I’ve got so much else to do too, and I build so slowly …

Sounds cool Jakko.Im glad i bought some limited edition Irish Churchill decals a few years ago.The only snag would be getting a mark 4 kit with the postwar side armour mounts but i guess the AVRE mark 4 would have the bits and possibly the fascine carrier version?.Plus getting a 75mm gun to make it viable.
You cant be as slow as me mate.Ive got a French m4a2 Dragon made in 2013 still waiting for paint and an RAF phantom started in 1992!!!!.
Mr Snail pace.
Richard

[Guest]

Blimey that's looking good Jakko
.... Been a while since I checked in, but the progress is superb mate :thumb2:

Thanks

Im glad i bought some limited edition Irish Churchill decals a few years ago.The only snag would be getting a mark 4 kit with the postwar side armour mounts but i guess the AVRE mark 4 would have the bits and possibly the fascine carrier version?

Looking at the instructions on Scalemates, I think like all of AFV Club’s AVRE kits come with extra armour plates, on sprue L (that also has the mortar and other AVRE fittings) while the uparmoured doors are on sprue M, though IIRC the armour plates are not quite the style seen on this Irish tank:

[ATTACH]485788[/ATTACH]

I don’t think the big square bosses with bolt heads are included, but those are easy to make from some plastic card and punched bolt heads or something.

Plus getting a 75mm gun to make it viable.

Just buy AFV Club’s Mk. VI kit — the tank in the photo above is captioned as a Mk. VI on the site where I found it, not a Mk. IV. That kit doesn’t come with extra armour, though.

(It’s apparently a Mk. VI, anyway — there was a question on Missing-Lynx recently about how to tell them apart, but I don’t remember because the differences were so small I think it’s mainly a plate in the side of the turret, part Q4 in that kit, if you look at step 32 of the instructions. Which the tank in the picture doesn’t have … so maybe it’s a Mk. IV after all?)

You cant be as slow as me mate.Ive got a French m4a2 Dragon made in 2013 still waiting for paint and an RAF phantom started in 1992!!!!.

I don’t think I want to list all the models of the past 30 years or so that I started but never completed It shouldn’t be too much longer before this AVRE is finished, though …