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

[Guest]

More (s)crap added to the mortar so it better approximates the shape of the real thing:

[ATTACH]478202[/ATTACH]

Mainly so that the cover, when I build it over all this, will sit right.

I also cleaned up enough track links for both sides:

[ATTACH]478203[/ATTACH]

AFV Club says you need 72 or 73 links per side, but this is 50 for each, because that’s enough for what will actually be visible if you leave all the mudguards on the tank (as here), plus a little extra to be sure. Don’t forget, if you’re building a Churchill too, that part of the track can be seen through the mud chute behind the idler wheel. Without that, about 40 links would be enough.

[Guest]

One track built:

[ATTACH]478324[/ATTACH]

If you want to make a complete track, with its ends connected (I don’t, but it would be necessary if you’re building a Churchill without mudguards), you need to start like this:

[ATTACH]478325[/ATTACH]

Each link consists of two pieces, a large outer and a small inner. For a complete track, start by hooking one inner into an outer piece so they hinge, and then adding a second inner piece to the outer one, trapping the first inner piece. The best way to keep the track articulating is to let some liquid cement flow into the gaps indicated by the blue arrows, and then squeeze the inner and outer parts together so they don’t pop apart on their own accord.

However, this is not the easiest way to build the track, because if you continue in the same direction you need to keep sliding an outer piece under the last, which is a little difficult to do. Far simpler is to work in the other direction:

[ATTACH]478326[/ATTACH]

Hook an outer piece over the end of the track, add the inner piece for the same link, apply glue where indicated by the blue arrows in the previous photo, and press the two pieces together. This is quick and easy to do, as well as relatively painless as far as workable tracks are concerned.

If you do want a complete track, you can still work in this direction, of course — just make sure one inner piece is hinged to the start of the track.

[adt70hk]

Looking good Jakko. Will remember this for the future.

Andrew

[Scratchbuilder]

Coming along nicely Jakko. I like the idea of not wasting the mortar. And the sealing paste works...
Mike.

[Guest]

The sealant is just a bit laborious to apply with a fine brush and have it thick enough that it won’t disappear under the paint. I’ve now done most of the model, but I had to go back over the bits around the driver’s hatches at least once to build up the thickness.

I’m still debating how to replicate the canvas over the mortar and around the turret, though. Epoxy putty is one way, but I’m not fond of it and I’m not a very good sculptor, but I also don’t fancy trying to get something like tissue paper into shape around all of that.

[Scratchbuilder]

For my 'canvas' I use the tissue you find in the washroom, I have a roll that has been with me for years, double sheet and strong. I rough cut the shape and the use either a mix of thin pva or thin liquid sprue (sprue melted in liquid cement). That is what I used for making the 'canvas' roof for my Antar winch cover...


Looks a mess but once cleaned up and painted does the job...

Cheers
Mike.

[Guest]

That’s pretty much one of the ways I’m considering to do this, yes. Just trying to decide beforehand which will likely be least difficult

[Guest]

Exhaust pipes built:

[ATTACH]478461[/ATTACH]

They’re still loose, like the winch cage, because I want to paint them separately, and that’s also why I haven’t added the armour that goes over the exhausts yet. I also added the support rods for the engine access hatches, from some copper wire because I don’t see the point of trying to clean up the very fine kit parts without breaking them.

[scottie3158]

Jakko,
All looking very good mate. I like to use lens cleaning wipes, once I have cleaned my specs I let them dry out they are stronger than tissue accept PVA well and have a nice material like appearance.

[adt70hk]

Jakko,
All looking very good mate. I like to use lens cleaning wipes, once I have cleaned my specs I let them dry out they are stronger than tissue accept PVA well and have a nice material like appearance.

I nicked some of the ones belonging to my mate at work for just that purpose!

[Guest]

I may have to see about obtaining some of those. Though I was also this → ← close to breaking out the epoxy putty today, except I still didn’t manage to overcome my reluctance to use it

[Guest]

Tonight, I did build up the courage Or rather, I stopped thinking about it, went to my hobby room, and just pulled open the pots of Magic Sculp …

[ATTACH]478511[/ATTACH]

According to the instructions for the real thing, there is some piece of cloth over the fan housing on the roof, but no pictures of it so I had to guess. The bag over the machine gun is illustrated, but I think what I made here is a bit more voluminous. Still, it doesn’t look too bad, I think.

The piece of copper wire between them is because both were removed from the tank by more Cordtex explosive, and the circuits for these two were linked so they were always detonated simultaneeously.

[Jim R]

Those covers look very good Jakko

[Guest]

Thanks, I’ll make another, then

On the real thing, the hull-turret join was to be sealed first, followed by the gun, but on a model it’ll be easier to do it the other way around. I mixed up some more Magic Sculp, cut it into small bits and teased it out into flat pieces so I could drape them over the mortar and sculpt them around it:

[ATTACH]478621[/ATTACH]

This was a bit tricky because, being thin, pliable and hanging essentially unsupported, it’s hard to get rid of the seams between two pieces. I had to insert a sculpting tool inside a few times to give some counter-pressure. After adding the rest and pressing in some folds and creases, I ended up with this:

[ATTACH]478622[/ATTACH][ATTACH]478623[/ATTACH]

I’ll still have to do more work on it to smooth things out and probably fill some gaps once it hardens, though.

BTW, you can see two colours of putty, which is because I had to mix up some more, and that came out a different colour because more of the discoloured outside of the lump of hardener got mixed in.

[Richard48]

V nice Jakko.I like the Churchill and set up the IPMS Churchill SIG here in u.k.We did a few shows but i gave up when my wife became ill.Chris from Inside the armour was a great help and Marcos Serra.I wish AFV club would do the Mark 1 and 2 versions to complete the family.I know International models Asia do some conversions.
Richard