1/72 Dragon Churchill Mk III (Dieppe 1942)

Modeling Subjects Armor
1

I picked this little guy up during my travels today. I remember it was the only tank model my little brother ever picked up over the years and I’m going to build this one up for his birthday this next March.

The only thing I’ve changed so far has been the counterweight on the end of the cannon barrel. The orriginal one was bored out too large and was out of round. The one I replaced it with is a bit big but I’ll sand it down a touch before I’m done.

So far my first impressions of a 1/72 Dragon kit are not as impressive as the M-103 was. There is a little flash and some of the sprue connectors are in difficult to clean places. After about an hour this is as far as I got.

It doesn’t match up to any references I currently have for a Dieppe raid Churchill, but I’ll dig into some research and see what others have done with this kit.

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend. :slight_smile:

2

Awright Mike, let’s see how do you like the 1/72 scale! Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

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That’s what that is on the end of some barrels? A counter weight? I never knew that and never even questioned it. [I]

I’ve been away from here for awhile building a model train car and when I get back I see you’re building a tiny kit. The last time I was here you were building a giant tank and another with a giant turret… [:D] I’ll be following this

4

Thanks guys. :slight_smile:

This is not my first forray into braille scale tanks though. I did find a build review that I will follow, plus add a few of my own ideas to. http://www.amps-armor.org/ampssite/reviews/showReview.aspx?ID=3060&Type=FB

It points out a more historical build that I’m after and many points of interest that will guide me to making a better finished model. First, I’m not really buying the brown paint job that Dragon says these come in. I’ve not seen any in brown before and I don’t like it at all.

I’l be painting mine in a more greenish color with brown tones as I think it’ll look more appropriate for the finish.

I built this Revell Sherman with my oldest son last year.

And this Revell T-90 after that.

1/72 Armor is not a new area for me to dabble in lol.

So wish me luck, as I intend to replicate the “prominent” welding lines on the turret and add a few details to make this stand out a little better from the crowd.

Thanks for your interest and Happy modelling, my friends. :slight_smile:

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Not enough braille scale builds on this forum, nice to see someone with your talent take one on. Nice start by the way. Looking forward to see how it progresses. Now if only I could finish the T-34 I started some six months ago.[:$]

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Yeah I noticed that when I went to go look for other builds of this kit. I figured I’d not be one of the first to do so lol.

Thank you for the kind compliment. I aim to not disappoint lol.

If you need motivation to finish your T-34, then I challenge you to do so. Double dare! lol :smiley:

7

yes, I remember the T-90. Very tight painting on these. Well done

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Thanks Sprue! I’m planning on making the Chruchill even better than these two examples. :slight_smile:

9

Last night before bed I laid down all of the stretched sprue for my welding beads.

I also started on the the upper hull by thinning down the fenders to a more respectable thickness.

^ You can see the thickness reduced on the left side in comparison to the right side. (My camera didn’t want to focus, sorry)

Then I found that one of the tow shackles was broken off of the lower hull. A bit of sheet styrene has found its way to replacing this missing piece and I’ll sand it down to the correct shape after the glue fully cures.

This morning I went over all of my weld beads with my 45 degree exacto blade and shaped the sprue into weld beads.

You can also see that I extended this bit of the lower turret as it is supposed to be sticking out from the upper turret. Dragon has made this detail opposite of what it should be and it needed to be corrected.

The periscopes for an early Mk III need to be flush, and not raised. i drilled out the periscope holes and just dropped them in without issue.

Then I added the early type commander’s sight vane.

And then lastly, a bit of dry fitting to see how it looks so far.

That’s all for now. I’m trying to figure out how the fenders were attached so I can replicate those details when I assemble the hull halves together later. I’m pretty sure they were not attached by magnets lol.

I almost forgot to mention that I drilled out the 2" mortar hole next to the Loader’s periscope, filled in the tiny hole where Dragon wants you to incorrectly place the newer style Commander’s sight vane, and lastly reshaped the gun tube counterweight to the more correct size.

Have fun and happy modelling, gentlemen. :slight_smile:

Edit: I can see now that my loader’s hatches are out of alignment. I’ll have to fix that! (Grrrr.)

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Those tiny SP weld seams… [Y]

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What does SP stand for?

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LOL… I don’t know. I meant to refer to Stretched Sprue.

Oh yeah, Sunday afternoon [B]

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lol I’m just gumming some Popeye’s chicken. Still getting used to not having all of my teeth lol. Just a few more weeks and I’ll have new ones.

That sprue is hair thick and I waited over night before making the bead detail. I wanted to keep them as uniform as possible because of the scale. Going overboard on that would make it look terrible.

In the end i hope to fool the uninitiated into assuming its 1/35 lol.

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Looking good. Really like how those weld beads turned out.

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Popeyes Louisiana Chicken is Bomb as far as fast food fried chicken is concerned. Ways better than KFC-idge.

16

Hello Mike!

Nice work on that Churchill!

Say, what is happening to you? Those passing references of pain killers, teeth taken out? I’m starting to worry about you! I hope you get better soon and good luck with your models!

Paweł

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Weld seams on a 1/72nd kit??? Are you sure your pain-killers aren’t making you crazy? [:P]

All joking aside very cool and I hope you’re feeling better soon, sounds very painful.

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lol. I’m fine guys! Just had my upper teeth taken out because I DID NOT take care of them. They were causing my problems so I’m having them replaced. I’m just on the IB 800’s now so no odd effects with fuzzy memory now lol.

And no, that didn’t effect my judgement on the weld seams on a 1/72 model lol!!

It was more of a personal challenge to see if I can do it and I’m happy with these results, so yeah, welds on a 1/72! He,he,he,he,he!

I carried on with the welds onto the hull as well. They look really cool and they hide the glue seams like a champ. I’m not sure about the accuracy of where they are located, but they look really good.

Even added some to the back hull just for visual interest.

I removed and replaced the angled plates on the front hull sides. Dragon has also reversed these as well and molded them backwards, which works well for adding the correct detail in the end.

I’ve got the tracks on now as well. I wanted to paint all of those wheel assemblies first, but I don’t trust those dang DS tracks to stick to anything but a clean surface. So I’ll try using a wash “bath” to get some dark color deep in there later and see if that will get me to where I want to be concerning the unpainted deep recesses in there.

I still have some more pieces to put on there, but it’s shaping up very nicely!

That’s how far I’ve gotten on this project. 1/72 moves a lot farther than 1/35 even when adding details and modifications. But this is a pretty simple build. The only issue I’ve had so far has been the suspension. There are way too many sprue connections and they are not so simple to remove as they should have been because they are thick.

Dragon engineered these into two simple parts for easy assembly, but neglected to let you know that it will take you at least 45 minutes per side to just clean up the parts correctly. :confused:

So far its a great kit and easy to modify into a beautiful replica of a Mk III. Of course there are mistakes due to the manufacturing process and Dragon’s use of previously made kits of a later mark to make an earlier model. I don’t blame them for doing so and it still makes a good model without any modifications. :slight_smile:

I’d like to see them make a Mk I or II to add to this line, since they were also present in the Dieppe Raid. :slight_smile:

Anyways, I’m happy with these results and I’d recommend this kit without reservation.

Have a great day and Happy Modellling!! :smiley:

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That is looking fantastic Mike! You are a braver man than I Gunga Din! I’ve built 680 small scale armor and military vehicles and I never dared once to add weld seams to such small models. I bow to you sir. Well Done!

Looking forward to seeing more.

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Thank you very, VERY much sir!

It is surprisingly easier than you would think. Same as adding them to 1/35th but I wait and let the sprue cure overnight because its so thin. The next morning its still soft but it won’t try to wander out of place as I shape it with a needle point. There’s a bit of squinting involved, but its not too hard on my eyes since I’m naturally near-sighted.

No need for any bowing, and there will be more lol.

Painting this little monster is going to be the biggest challenge because of the suspension I believe. We’ll see if my ideas will work to sort that out when the time comes. :slight_smile:

Thank you for the read, and reply. :smiley: You have a great day, sir!