For a moment I was afraid that I had to abandon the painting project of the Infantry Tank Company from the MW Dieppe PDF. Not only put it on hold for a while but abandon it completely. But gladly I saved some money and could buy a few blisters. I ordered 4 blisters with Churchill I or II and a blister with an infantry platoon (BEF) only to found out that the store owner forgot to order the infantry blister.
Two of the Churchill blisters are set aside these will bes used to form the Company HQ. The other two blisters are used to converted them to Churchill I OKE.
Using the prototype that I built earlier, that can be found here: here, and also using this webpage Modelling the Churchill OKE on the BF website as references I set to work. Not saying that this is the best or easiest method to convert the tanks but it is the method I used.
I am not going to write down every little detail because some can be found in the above mentioned website.
Materials used: 2 Churchill’s I, cardboard (I used a cardboard that is used to protect photo,s when you mail these,brass wire, greenstuff, small tubing, plastic of blister, wood-glue (can also be pva), super-glue, pliers, cutter, ruler pencil with a very sharp point, hobby-knife, ruler.
Of-course when you take a picture you always forget to include some of the materials.
First I cleaned the model and removed all flash from the hull and tracks (a lot) and removed at the back of the hull
those little piece that are no longer needed there. Make sure it is flat. On the picture below you can see at the right tank which pieces are removed from the back of the hull. Then I drilled a little hole in the front of the left track the size of the brass wire. When this was all done I glued, after dry-fitting, all pieces together.
Next I take the plastic of the blister and cutout a piece with the size of 15mm x 4.5mm. This piece is then glued to the back of the hull in such way that it sticks out a little above the hull. Most importantly is to keep the top of the plastic strip horizontal.
Time to concentrate on the fueltanks. I tried every kind of method, plasticard, plastic of a blister but nothing works for me. Each time things went wrong. By accident I used cardboard. My intention was to make some kind of template of the cardboard but when I noticed how sturdy it was and how well I could bend it without breaking I decide to use the cardboard.
First I drew all the lines were the folds would be on the cardboard. Note all lines you see on the cardboard on the picture is to make 2 fuel-tanks. I took my time to draw all the lines. I wanted to be sure that all lines were straight and all sides that would form the fuel-tank were the size they should be.
After all lines were draw I could score them with a hobby-knife. Again I took my time doing this. Making sure not to score too deep so the cardboard would break or tear when folding and making sure that the score was deep enough so it was easy to fold.
When this was done I cut the piece of cardboard out at the right size and fold the in the right shape. Next I glued a little piece of wood on the inside, on both ends of the cardboard (see picture). These pieces of wood will be used to glue the cardboard to the back of the tank.
Time to glue the cardboard to the back of the tank using super-glue and make it look like some sort of fuel-tank. I started with top. This is glued to the piece of plastic that glued on the back of the tank earlier. Done this in such way that the topside of the fuel-tank is horizontal and straight but also on the same level of the top of the glued on plastic. Next is the bottom-side. This took a little longer work because I had to keep sure that the topside stayed horizontal and strayed but also the side that would be the back of the fuel-tank would be nice and vertical. So after some dry fitting I glued the bottom side to the tank. After that I immediately glued the inside full with wood-sticks to make sure the fuel-tank would stay in the right form. I also painted a thin layer of woodglue over he cardboard to give extra sturdiness. The glue isn't thinned down.
While all the glue is drying I took some greenstuff and mould it together till the substance got the right green colour. The greenstuff is then used to fill the sides of the fuel-tanks. With the leftovers I filled some little gaps in the tracks. Now the tanks are set aside to let the greenstuff dry and harden for 24 hours.
While the greenstuff is drying I drilled the hulls at the back of the left tracks, see left tank on the picture, and bended the brass wire, that is needed for the fuel-pipes and flamethrower, in the right size and form.
After the 24 hours drying time it's time for the next step. With a fine file a filed the greenstuf sides of the fueltank till they are smooth and flat. After that a second layer of woodglue is applied over the whole fuel-tank. This means also a layer on the sides of the fuel-tanks. This is done to be sure that the small sides of the cardboard also get a protecting layer.
Now a hole is drilled in the left-hand side of the fuel-tank where the fuel-pipe will be placed. This was a bit time consuming and needed some measurement to get the hole on right spot. With the hole drilled I can place the fuel-pipe and also place the flamethrowers. With these in place the conversion is complete.
Picture below. The fuel-tanks seen from the back.
Picture below. Front of the tanks with the flamethrowers in place.
Here it is the complete platoon of Churchill I OKE.
For my very first conversion I am very pleased with how they look.
Dieppe - Churchills in Action
Churchills at Dieppe
On these sides you can find lists of all the tanks involved, the commanders name of each tank, names of the tanks, turret number, regiment number and in which LCT they were transported and to see what happened to the tanks. Very interesting is to read that each 3rd tank in the LCT towed or a Bulldozer D7 (2 in total) or a Daimler Scout Car (7 in total) ashore.
Reading this I think that when the Dieppe PDf briefing will be updated to Rulebook V3 standards a Scout car Platoon should be included. And maybe a Bulldozer D7?
Thanks for looking and reading.
Two of the Churchill blisters are set aside these will bes used to form the Company HQ. The other two blisters are used to converted them to Churchill I OKE.
Using the prototype that I built earlier, that can be found here: here, and also using this webpage Modelling the Churchill OKE on the BF website as references I set to work. Not saying that this is the best or easiest method to convert the tanks but it is the method I used.
I am not going to write down every little detail because some can be found in the above mentioned website.
Materials used: 2 Churchill’s I, cardboard (I used a cardboard that is used to protect photo,s when you mail these,brass wire, greenstuff, small tubing, plastic of blister, wood-glue (can also be pva), super-glue, pliers, cutter, ruler pencil with a very sharp point, hobby-knife, ruler.
Of-course when you take a picture you always forget to include some of the materials.
First I cleaned the model and removed all flash from the hull and tracks (a lot) and removed at the back of the hull
those little piece that are no longer needed there. Make sure it is flat. On the picture below you can see at the right tank which pieces are removed from the back of the hull. Then I drilled a little hole in the front of the left track the size of the brass wire. When this was all done I glued, after dry-fitting, all pieces together.
Next I take the plastic of the blister and cutout a piece with the size of 15mm x 4.5mm. This piece is then glued to the back of the hull in such way that it sticks out a little above the hull. Most importantly is to keep the top of the plastic strip horizontal.
Time to concentrate on the fueltanks. I tried every kind of method, plasticard, plastic of a blister but nothing works for me. Each time things went wrong. By accident I used cardboard. My intention was to make some kind of template of the cardboard but when I noticed how sturdy it was and how well I could bend it without breaking I decide to use the cardboard.
First I drew all the lines were the folds would be on the cardboard. Note all lines you see on the cardboard on the picture is to make 2 fuel-tanks. I took my time to draw all the lines. I wanted to be sure that all lines were straight and all sides that would form the fuel-tank were the size they should be.
After all lines were draw I could score them with a hobby-knife. Again I took my time doing this. Making sure not to score too deep so the cardboard would break or tear when folding and making sure that the score was deep enough so it was easy to fold.
When this was done I cut the piece of cardboard out at the right size and fold the in the right shape. Next I glued a little piece of wood on the inside, on both ends of the cardboard (see picture). These pieces of wood will be used to glue the cardboard to the back of the tank.
Time to glue the cardboard to the back of the tank using super-glue and make it look like some sort of fuel-tank. I started with top. This is glued to the piece of plastic that glued on the back of the tank earlier. Done this in such way that the topside of the fuel-tank is horizontal and straight but also on the same level of the top of the glued on plastic. Next is the bottom-side. This took a little longer work because I had to keep sure that the topside stayed horizontal and strayed but also the side that would be the back of the fuel-tank would be nice and vertical. So after some dry fitting I glued the bottom side to the tank. After that I immediately glued the inside full with wood-sticks to make sure the fuel-tank would stay in the right form. I also painted a thin layer of woodglue over he cardboard to give extra sturdiness. The glue isn't thinned down.
While all the glue is drying I took some greenstuff and mould it together till the substance got the right green colour. The greenstuff is then used to fill the sides of the fuel-tanks. With the leftovers I filled some little gaps in the tracks. Now the tanks are set aside to let the greenstuff dry and harden for 24 hours.
While the greenstuff is drying I drilled the hulls at the back of the left tracks, see left tank on the picture, and bended the brass wire, that is needed for the fuel-pipes and flamethrower, in the right size and form.
After the 24 hours drying time it's time for the next step. With a fine file a filed the greenstuf sides of the fueltank till they are smooth and flat. After that a second layer of woodglue is applied over the whole fuel-tank. This means also a layer on the sides of the fuel-tanks. This is done to be sure that the small sides of the cardboard also get a protecting layer.
Now a hole is drilled in the left-hand side of the fuel-tank where the fuel-pipe will be placed. This was a bit time consuming and needed some measurement to get the hole on right spot. With the hole drilled I can place the fuel-pipe and also place the flamethrowers. With these in place the conversion is complete.
Picture below. The fuel-tanks seen from the back.
Picture below. Front of the tanks with the flamethrowers in place.
Here it is the complete platoon of Churchill I OKE.
For my very first conversion I am very pleased with how they look.
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| Bull, Boar and Beetle |
Dieppe - Churchills in Action
Churchills at Dieppe
On these sides you can find lists of all the tanks involved, the commanders name of each tank, names of the tanks, turret number, regiment number and in which LCT they were transported and to see what happened to the tanks. Very interesting is to read that each 3rd tank in the LCT towed or a Bulldozer D7 (2 in total) or a Daimler Scout Car (7 in total) ashore.
Reading this I think that when the Dieppe PDf briefing will be updated to Rulebook V3 standards a Scout car Platoon should be included. And maybe a Bulldozer D7?
Thanks for looking and reading.
Looking good ,hopefully you can get them painted before the really cold wheather comes ?
ReplyDeleteLES
Thanks. Intention was to paint the infantry platoon first but now that I didn't get these in my order I don't know what I will do. Maybe I will wait till I have the whole company complete and than paint all in 1 batch. Still need, beside infantry platoon, 6 Churchill III.
DeleteThat is cracking work Hein......cracking!
ReplyDeleteWow, those look great! Will be bookmarking this post for when I (eventually) get to my own Churchill Infantry Company.
ReplyDelete