Churchill update.

Next up is the hull and attaching the sponsons. Nice detail on all the parts and a small PE part added to the machine gun makes it stand out. Good fit of parts as well makes this and easy and enjoyable build.

Hull Besa machine gun and its mounting.

Forward hull plate and machine gun fitted.

Hull floor and rear plates with the side sponsons added.

Upper hull plate fitted and glued. Clamped to ensure a good fit and no warping.

I am going to leave the front mud guards off so i have thinned the plastic on the track guards.

Next up…
Another AFV Club model, this time it's a Churchill MkIV. Great kit and i 'm building this out of the box. excellent detail and a small PE fret adds to the detail. We start as usual with most armour models with the suspension. i have built a few Tamiya Churchill's before (there is one on this blog) and as they are rather old kits they go together rather quickly due to the simplicity of the parts, this kit however is state of the art. The suspension and sponson units are multiple parts and i found a bit tricky to assemble in places. Once built up they are robust and very well detailed. The springs and careful gluing enable a moving suspension and wheel arm for rough terrain. I may incorporate this into a base for the finished model. I'll look into this when base construction starts. Here is a photo build so far.

Side plates awaiting rivets.

Rivets added.

Springs and suspension arms.

Springs and arms added.

Side plates and suspension units mated and glued together.

The start of the wheel units.

I found this very tricky to assembly at this stage. Mud scrapers and side plates glued up.

Fiddly bits.

Coming together.

Wheels added.

x2 and finished.

Drive sprockets and track guides added.

The finished sponsons. Note small PE parts added, these are to hold the spare tracks on.

At last! here is another build. AFV Club's M5A1 with additional resin sets from Blast for the sand bag armour and stowage.

Built out of the box and only the resin parts added on. I'll let the photographs do the talking.

Primer added.

The turret. I had a few problems with this, as I was going to have the hatches closed but it appeared to me that the fit was bad and the hatches would overlap the top plate of the turret. I had a search for some pictures of the real thing and i couldn't see a picture of an overlapping hatch. Hmmm, crew figures and open hatches it is.

Stowage from Blast. Brilliant set and a joy to paint.

Olive Drab primer coat from vallejo. Impressed with the coverage and tightness of paint layer.

First highlights on.

More colour added.

A low light sprayed on to give some more depth to the colour.

Sand bag painting. I used lots of different colours to add some impact to the model. Tamiya, Lifecolour and vallejo brands were used either from the bottle or mixed together.

My first use of a stencil.

Excellent result.

The base structure from Plasicard.

Tracks on and washes started, getting there. Washes and filters are a mixture of MIG and home made. I kept wear and tear to a minimum as i wanted the vehicle to look as if it was not long in service. Dust and dusty washes were added to replicate the dust.

The base with my regular texture paint added to the border.

Here i have added an embossed cobblestone sheet that i pick dup at a model railway show. Quick and easy to use as it has a self adhesive backing too.

The finished model with crew figures from Miniart. Albion alloy's wire for the aerial.

Not my best figures but i'm happy enough.

The stowage sets really add life to the tank.

You can see the different colours of the sandbags.

Here are some photographs i took at the IPMS Scale modelworld, Telford. It is a Centurion and i took photo's of the track and wheels for the different colours, textures and mud splatters. Useful shots for the modeller.