PMMS

bookModelling the Churchill Tank
Osprey Modelling 21
By Mark Bannerman
Published by Osprey Publishing.

Soft cover, 80 pages
ISBN 1-84176-869-3

Review by Peter Brown


Britain's Churchill tank was the last of the Infantry Tank concept to see service. Rushed into production in 1940 it suffered early teething troubles, at one stage it came close to being withdrawn but was redeemed by its performance in Tunisia and extensively re-engineered to become almost a new design. It served with the Army Tank Brigades which were as specialist infantry support units in Italy and North West Europe, a few went to Korea and small numbers were in service with other armies post-war with the Australians having around 50 though they did not see action.

While there have been several small scale kits, for many years anyone wanting to model a Churchill in 1/35th only had the Tamiya kit, though available in two versions it depicted the late-style Mk VII with and later without the Crocodile flamethrowing trailer. This limited the versions which could be depicted as these tanks had many differences, both obvious and hidden, from the earlier versions. Over the years there have been many conversion sets available to produce mostly the cast-turret Mk IV-V-VI versions and the Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers variant based on the IV, some have been better than others and some are no longer produced though several such as the current Legend and Resicast ones are reviewed elsewhere on this site.

The situation has changed in recent months with the release of Cromwell Models series of all-resin kits, although this book briefly mentions them these kits came too late to be included in detail. As such all the models depicted use the Tamiya kit as the basis, with a mixture of aftermarket and scratchbuilt items to convert to various subjects.

As is typical of the series, it begins with an brief overview of the tank - though I would advise caution on the comments on the Mks IX to XI and the "Super Churchill" being the A41 Centurion - which includes photos of several vehicles in museum collections, then a short section on the tools used to build the models.

The main part of the book covers detailed builds on four subjects -

Several other models are also shown in less detail, though the techniques used to produce them are similar to those in the longer chapters. Subjects covered are -

Rounding off are sections listing reference books and websites, available kits in several scales, a "tweaks list" for backdating the Tamiya kit, notes on weathering, making a scratch-built Mk I or II turret and finally a colour chart which can be cut out and used separately.

While the book may seem to be simply a set of how-to articles on building the one series of tanks, construction details and tips are applicable to most models so there will be something for most modellers here. Some may be disappointed at there being no 1/72th or 1/76th models included, certainly one would have increased the range covered.

All in all, for anyone wanting to model Churchills this will be a very useful book and it will teach techniques if the builds are followed.

Highly recommended.



Page created September 22, 2005

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