2 Magnificent Seven Paul Barker describes his Churchill Mk7 3 Up until the War and Peace rally at Beltring in 2000 my preference had always been to mo...
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Magnificent Seven
Paul Barker describes his Churchill Mk7 2
Up until the War and Peace rally at Beltring in 2000 my preference had always been to model German armour, I’d never had much interest in Allied tanks. However at that event, the sight of a restored Churchill Mk. 7 Crocodile clattering into the arena at a stately 12 miles per hour ignited a passionate interest in this vehicle. 3
The kit this article is based around is of course manufactured by Tamiya and has been around since the 1970’s, being rereleased a few years ago with new crew figures and as a nice little touch a jubilant, presumably recently liberated French civilian. In addition I utilised the etched brass detail set produced by Eduard for this kit, and the white metal Fruilmodel tracks. While the basic kit has stood the test of time very well indeed, these extras add a little bit more and bring everything up to today’s standards.
As I always include an interior in my models, the first thing to do was acquire some information on the Churchill’s innards, which I was able to thanks to a modelling colleague who builds mainly British armour. So armed with photos and drawings I scratchbuilt a full interior from plastic sheet, rod and strip.
I marked, drilled and cut the hull sponsons to build the lockers for the batteries and the Besa ammo pouches. The large fire 4
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extinguishers were made from the plastic handles on the little Tamiya screw drivers and the main gun breech and Besa machine guns ‘borrowed’ from the Tamiya Cromwell. Finally a Mk. 19 radio set was added, this one is by Accurate Armour.
The interior was sprayed with a mixture of light grey and silver to reproduce the silver paint used in the interior of British tanks, followed by a light wash of thinned dark brown oil paint and to finish off I added some chipped paint using dark brown enamel. Some accessories were added, including some Besa ammo boxes, a Sten gun, a Thompson machine gun, 2 Bren guns and a case of vintage Chardonnay to complete the interior.
I built the hull according to the instructions, only exchanging some kit parts with etched replacements. Etched brass was used to build a new muffler and replace the gratings over the air filter boxes on the hull sides. The driver and machine-gunner’s access hatches, (parts A11 &A12) were carefully cut in half, and the moulded on lifting handles replaced with items from the Eduard set, as well as the hinges and inner hatch detail.
The driver’s and gunner’s periscopes had light reflector covers added, again taken from the Tamiya Cromwell and all hatch lifting handles were replaced with etched parts. I scratchbuilt the two towing eyes and their shackles from plasticard and spare bits.
The main alteration to the turret was to remove the two prominent bulges either side of the gun opening as these are a post war feature. The turret walls and the mantlet were coated with liquid poly and stippled with an old brush to produce a cast armour effect. Brass casting numbers from Aber were added to the mantlet and the air filter armour covers. Finally, small tie down loops also from Aber were added to the turret sides.
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PAINTING After a coat of black primer, the model was sprayed with a light coat of Olive Drab, then again with a lightened mix of the same colour. After this, markings were applied using the kit supplied decals for the107th R.A.C.
The lower hull, suspension and running gear were sprayed with a mix of Tamiya Buff and Flat Base, while the tracks were painted a dark brown before being fitted. I gave the entire vehicle a wash of Burnt Umber oil paint, quite heavily round the lower hull and light local washes around detail on the upper hull and turret. After this had dried I drybrushed over the upper areas with a mix of Khaki Drill and Olive Drab, gradually lightening the mix with white. The tracks were drybrushed with gunmetal and paint chips added with a fine brush and dark brown paint.
Quite a long but ultimately very rewarding project, hopefully the photos will speak for themselves!
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