A 'Modern' Churchill

[robibob1]

The concept: A Churchill Mk. VII being used by a rebel/militia force in the Middle East (possibly Kurds). I have no idea of any backstory, or even if this makes any logical sense. Really it's based on a conversation I had with a friend that happened to coincide with this GB. This is my first attempt at a whif and also my first forum post, so please let me know if I'm doing anything wrong.   More details and pictures to come.

[NARSES2]

Firstly, welcome to the forum and secondly that sounds like a good idea 

Perhaps a Churchill that was converted for engineering uses and then sold on and converted back to give it a more "warlike" purpose in life again ?

[Old Wombat]

Yup, welcome to the forums! Joining in is much more fun than watching from the side-lines. Believe me, I'm a wombat!

As far as I can tell only the Iraqis used Churchills in the Middle East in the post-war period. So, perhaps there are/were a few left lying around which the Kurds appropriated, refurbished, slapped a Soviet gun into & used in the modern conflicts?

I suggest a more modern Soviet gun as there's more likelihood of ammunition & parts for servicing being available & the old 6pdrs were probably either removed on conversion to civil use or corroded from sitting around as display pieces for too long.

[Nick]

I like the idea - there's lots to play with there.

Yesterday I was looking up some old tanks at www.preservedtanks.com
Plenty of British ones - http://preservedtanks.com/TypeCategory.aspx?NationalityId=4&Volume=2
Churchills here include the AVRE model and the Crocodile flamethrower http://preservedtanks.com/TypeCategory.aspx?NationalityId=4&Volume=3

Sherman tanks were converted into bulldozers for the groundnut scheme in East Africa....
Of course, there are Soviet and US tanks in Africa so mixing and matching is possible!

[robibob1]

So, I think the intention is to make some sort of engineers' vehicle, like the AVRE. Of course not an actual AVRE, but a Churchill with some sort of high-caliber, short-barreled gun for demolition. The other main idea is to give it bar/slat armour to protect against shaped charges, those being popular these days.

[rickshaw]

So, I think the intention is to make some sort of engineers' vehicle, like the AVRE. Of course not an actual AVRE, but a Churchill with some sort of high-caliber, short-barreled gun for demolition. The other main idea is to give it bar/slat armour to protect against shaped charges, those being popular these days.

I don't think they are actually any more effective today, than they were in WWI when they were basically abandoned.   I'd also think that 200+mm of armour, which was what the late model Churchill's had is going to be more than effective at stopping "shrapnel" (which BTW is a specific sort of shell, which uses musket balls for effect,  Unfortunately nowadays shell splinters get incorrectly called "shrapnel" which they aren't).   I'd say, go with the existing armour rather than add anything to the vehicle.   

[Scotaidh]

I did one of those - a Churchill Upgrade - here: https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=45828.45

I'm interested to see your take on the subject.   

[sandiego89]

Welcome to the forum Rob. Sounds like a perfect entry.

[robibob1]

Now for photographs:



Here I experimented with some basic camo patterns. I probably won't use any of them. (Apologies for the poor lighting)

Paint wise, I've almost run out of Tamiya 'Desert Yellow' and quality of the finish isn't great due to my use of, as some call it, a hairy stick.
In other news, I've made a start on the gun. It's just several layers of plastic add glued together and filed into a tube. (It's that white thing in the first two photos).
I will have a go at doing bar armour, just to see how it looks. Bearing in mind this tank is intended for use against lightly equipped forces with RPG-7 type weapons.

So, that's all for the moment. If anyone has any suggestions on camo patterns I'd love to hear them.

[Old Wombat]

No suggestions for the colours but you might want to shrink the images by putting "width=1000" into the image thingy (don't know the actual term) in front of the link.

EG: (img) becomes (img width=1000) but with square brackets.

So you get:

[NARSES2]

Coming on well

[Captain Canada]

Nice one. So far lol

[TheChronicOne]

Welcome!! 

We need an update! It's looking really good so far from what I see. 

[robibob1]

Hi, sorry I haven't posted any updates. I've mostly either been busy with other things, or just tired. Hopefully I'll be able to put more work in soon, just need to draw up a template for cutting the plasticard.
In other news, I've bought myself an airbrush for Christmas (not a very good one) so hopefully my painting should be better in future.

Edit: Happy New Year!

[TheChronicOne]

HNY! 


Airbrush, huh? Well, you just leveled up.