Italeri

Churchill Mk.III

This is the re-release of the old ESCI kit. My kit was composed of two olive green and one silver gray plastic moulds, the latter replacing the ugly flexible tracks which are found in the 1980's boxes.

The kit depicts quite correctly depicts an early batch of this tank: the 6pdr gun has the short barrel; the smoke discharger and the trailing hook are missing. I don't care much about little discrepancies, so I found the general dimensions quite correct (the hull side air intakes could be a bit too prominent making the overall width a bit wider) and there is a good amount of detail. Only the turret sides in my example suffered of a very little warping.

If made out of the box its worst part lies in the turret/hull interlocking, in the turret front/mantlet and in the mud discharging area. Luckily nothing that is irrepairable. The parts I didn't like in this kit (turret/hull interlocking problem apart) were the front fenders molded solid to the sponson. They were often removed and I would have preferred them as separate parts.

Here and there you will find little imperfections that need to be fixed but fundamentally the base is still quite good nowadays, even after thirty years. This is almost surprising if one considers when the molds were sculpted, and if built with a little bit of care it can still defy more recent kits.

As in almost every ESCI kit I've made there's also a figure. In this kit it's a British tanker, the head is a bit over sized, the legs look a bit short and the general look is a bit stiff. Anyway it will be useful after a little sculpting job.

The Churchill Mk III fought in Tunisia, Italy and in Normandy. It was used as the base for some specialized armored vehicles used on D-Day, while fighting vehicles were updated to the new standards with a reworking program. I choose to make one of them depicting a Normandy campaign tank, so I added the appliqué armor, an interesting option which is quite easy to do. I used a 6pdr long barrel, but a 75 mm barrel can be used too. Here is how I proceeded:

Hull

The hull roof is placed a little less than a millimeter under its real level. This is very little, but it was enough to require a turret base alteration (see below). When I realized the problem it was too late. After having considered a pair of options I choose to let it as it is and going on in this way:

1. The catwalks are a bit too long. When you put them on the hull, you will see that when the central part is correctly placed, the curved front and the curved rear don't touch the vertical plate of the fenders molded to the sponson. To correct the problem I carefully cut off the curved ends of the catwalks and glued the straight central parts (you will note that they stand a bit higher). In each central rounded flat area (this is the turret rotation zone) there is an ejector mark. I filled them and sanded (the cyanoacrylate glue is transparent and in the photo the mark is still visible, but is already filled and sanded), removing also the inner relief, that should reproduce the outer parts of the turret base ring. I removed the smallest inner half moon segment: this gave me the measure for the new turret ring.

2. On the hull roof the edge strips were removed between the half moon catwalks flat area.

3. A 0.50mm thick base was added as large as the external turret ring. I made this because I flattened the bottom surface of the turret ring to have a smooth rotating area.

4. A 23mm diameter ring was made with 0.50 x 1.50mm plastic strip, glued to the hull roof after having positioned the catwalks. It was still 0.50mm higher, but it looked better than before.

5. I glued the fenders, trimming to the correct dimensions (the forward ones will need a careful job of filling and sanding to find the right shape and the reconstruction of the external sloped edge).

6. The flexible part of the four fenders was thinned after having assembled the sponson.

This is not only one way to approach the problem; obviously everybody can find another and better way. If I were to make another Italeri Churchill I'd try to shim the hull halves to reach the right roof level. In that case the 23 millimeters ring high described above would be consequently reduced.

Details

• The hatch handles (crew and engine) are too much raised, I sanded them down a little.
• The periscopes guards are a bit undersized. I replaced them with a 2.5mm diameter x 1.0mm thickness plastic section, flattened forward and with a 2.0 x 1.5 x 1.0mm plastic piece placed over, sloped in place.
• On the visible side of the front of part 35B there are 3 (three!) ejector marks. I filled them with cyanoacrylate glue and sanded down.
• The front upper edge of part 34B was shimmed so it could be filed it at 90° without removing too much material.
• In the Mk III, the upper run of the tracks lie on two "L" shaped rails that went from the idlers almost to the sprockets. In the forward section they were supported by three sloped rods. The half moon devices that are molded in the kit aren't totally wrong: they are right for a Mk I/II. I didn't remove the catwalks (a common occurrence visible in the muddy campaigns) and the only visible part is where there are the mud dischargers. I made these rails (with their track lengths) before closing the catwalks with 1.0 x 1.0mm plastic strips and stretched sprue.
• The sponson molded catwalks side slots were closed with 1 x 0.5 mm plastic strips. I don't know why the old ESCI cast makers did them; I didn't find photos that show them.
• I added the appliqué armour on the hull sides. During this operation, I realized that the sponson bolt heads weren't symmetrical (just after having glued two identical plates!). So I corrected the right side one that is in the wrong position.
• The mud dischargers were made with an "L" shaped profile, not with a solid one. However having chosen an up-armored tank I didn't have to make them new: in this configuration there weren't any.
• The trapezoidal plates over the holes for the mud discharger need to be replaced with thin plastic (it wasn't made with armor plates!) with the upper side 16mm long.
• The track cleaning system also had a mud scraper placed between the tenth and the eleventh wheel couple (being forward the first). I had to add it by scratch building with plastic strips.
• Just back of both side air intakes there are single spare track links molded in place. They are well done but they are too shallow, missing the guide rail. To have something more realistic I removed and replaced them with shimmed track links (see below).
• The 1 gallon oil can (14A) must be placed in one of the two rear fender racks, not on the turret side. I added their holders with stretched sprue and thin plastic strip.
• Extra items are always welcome and ESCI nicely often provides them. Here we have two tent rolls to be placed on the turret sides. I put one of them in the empty fender rack. As always the soft items need to be shaped to the hard surface were they will lie or they will look much too stiff. The second roll went in the spare part box: two identical rolls on the same tank are surely unrealistic.
• The wooden jack bases, made with 6.00 x 4.00 x 1.00mm plastic pieces, thin metal sheet strips and little thin stretched sprue segments, were added to the inner sides of the idler holders.
• The upper rear plate was modified for a NWE tank. I removed the 32½ gallon drum tank supports and filled the slot of the interlock. An outside telephone box from an UM Sherman was added on the rear plate.
• The smoke dischargers were added by 1943. I scratch built them (in closed position) with 1.00 x 1.00 x 3.00mm and 1.50 x 0.50 x 3.00mm plastic strip segments.
• I added also the towing hook, installed by 1944 scratch building it with plastic and sprue pieces using photos.
• A "U" towing hook, taken from a Dragon Churchill, was added.
• Also the belly received some care with maintenance hatches made with thin plastic.

Preview sample purchased by the author.

Article Last Updated: 09 October 2014