bigfiver69

After considering a Matilda and a Valentine as my next project, I've settled on building a Churchill tank.

I'm not exactly sure which mark that I'm going to make, but it will be a 1944-45 northwest Europe beast for sure. Might do the AVRE version, but not 100% on that.

My plan is to build the tank out of styrene (went out and bought enough over the weekend). My plan is to use the drive sprockets and tracks from a Heng Long panzer 3. I plan to buy one, and gut it - using the electronics, turret ring, gears, tracks and sprockets.

Question - is there a version of the HL P3 that has turret recoil? I mostly just see the airsoft one.

Considering the Cromwell took 2 and half years, I'm hoping I can get this done by Christmas!

septon

i have used panther tracks on my churchill as p3 tracks are way to narrow


paul

ausf

If you are looking for just the Pz IV turret ring, motor, wiring harness and gear boxes, I have them.

I only have metal tracks though, but plastic sprockets, idler, etc.

pattoncommander

Great news....something new and British will be a definate plus. Good luck.

bigfiver69

Hmmm.... panzer 3 tracks are too narrow, eh?

I do have an old Tiger (no smoke, no sound and the airsoft gun refuses to work)... I'm wondering if I could gut that and use the tracks and gear?

Captain Nemo12

There was a talented French modeler who built a 1/16 Churchill a few years back. From what I remember, he used HL KV-1 tracks.

bigfiver69

Hmmm.... I'll take a closer look at the KV1 tracks as well.. thanks for the info!

And Paul... when you made your Churchill (super cool by the way!) what did you use for gearboxes? I just scaled up the Bradford drawings, and the hull is so narrow! I have no idea what will fit in there!

After I scaled up the drawings, I realized that this is a BIG tank... long at least. I'm going to be chopping a lot of styrene...

Shep

septon

i used tamiya sherman boxes

bigfiver69

Super cool!!

Did you do a build thread?

septon

heres is the build on here
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_10...m.htm#10613501
and on my club forum
http://www.rctankregiment.com/rctank...php?f=34&t=540

paul

bigfiver69

Many thanks for those links, Paul. Great looking build! Still a little hard to believe no one has offered a truly British tank in this scale.

I'm just getting started on the turret. Hope to have some picture to share over the weekend.

Brian

Panther F

I'm with you on the British tanks... even if it does sound a little "whiny" to some.



Okay now, let's see some action because:
















~ Jeff

Rex Ross

-

Check the tank dimensions on more than one source. I have found that they vary a little bit depending on the source. Due to a "typo" in a publication that I used once as a reference, I have a tank that is a scale FOOT (12 inches) too wide. I look for scale line drawings, usually 1/35 or 1/48 scale, and take them to Kinkos/FedEx to have them enlarged to 1/16th scale. Discrepancies that only amount to a few scale inches are acceptable to me, but a mistake of a FOOT really ruined my day. I didn't discover that until the paint had been dry for over a year.

Happy chopping!
Rex

bigfiver69

Thanks for the heads up! I double checked my references against the Tamiya 1/35 kit as well, so I should be okay. I would HATE to finish this, and then see it the wrong scale.

Got to work last night and today. I like to start with the turret, so I made some patterns, and cut the floor of the turret. I cut the hole for the turret ring, and then built an interior plate that I could use to 'wrap' the walls of the turret.




Next up, built the face of the turret, with the opening for the gun mantlet. As you can see, I'm using the trusty lego blocks to ensure things stay square and to add strength.






Then, added lego blocks around the edges...




Then, started wrapping the exterior walls of the turret. Looks a little flimsy now, but I'll be fitting the top plate of the turret on the inside (rather than laying it on top) so that will help the shape and strengthen it.



So... bit of a start. Hoping to have the rough shape of the turret boxed in by the end of the weekend.