Churchill MkII road wheels Rubber or Steel ?

Modeling Subjects Armor
1

Please help

I have found a few pics of both MkI’s and II’s but they are kinda fuzzy and it’s really hard to tell what they are.I also found a pic of what was supposed to be a roadwheel for a MkII and it was solid steel but it was not on the tank,so I thought my problem had been solved but then I found a pic of a MkIII and it has rubber road wheels.I checked to see what the differences were between the two and other than the turret and the track guards it never mentioned the road wheels.

2

Steel. Kind of like a little train wheel. Interior color, if you want, was silver.

Ron

3

Agree 100% with Ron … even the Mk.III’s had steel road wheels. Do you have the pic of the road wheels with rubber on them? All my references point to solid steel.

4

A favorite site Robert put me onto:

http://afvinteriors.hobbyvista.com/archive.html

Has some very FUN Churchill info on it.

Ron

5

I must apologize I was confused(maybe I need to quit painting my models in the closet with the door shut) .I rechecked my references and you all were correct all Churchill’s had steel wheels.Thanks for the quick input it is much appreciated.

6

Actually, the concensus is 99.44% right. However, there was at least 1 attempt to put rubber tyres on the road wheels of early Churchills (may have been the prototype). It was call the Whisperfoot or some such, but obviously I don’t have my reference materials handy at the moment. I’ll try to remember to look it up tonight. Obviously the concept was not a success as they didn’t continue with it.

7

i wouldnt bother looking tonight, the kit was built in 2004 and the Questrons been answered[:)]

8

Ah, but we’re here to educate the next generation of builders, if nothing else[;)] Besides, I was curious so I looked it up anyway. The short version of the story is that in September, 1942 the Fighting Vehicle Proving Establishment tried out a project (codename Pussyfoot) which was a Churchill Mk II with rubber tyres. They also changed the tracks.

The test was not a success, as the rubber tyres heated up and at top speed (a whopping 16mph) started to disintegrate. Also, they did not make the overall noise go down very much, and at least with the new tracks the tank developed a terrible whine at top speed.

The project was canceled, needless to say. Next time I’ll check the date on the forum posting before I leap in with hopelessly out-of-date information [B)]

9

lol if its on the very last page or near it then its old[:D]
well you cauld say the answers there now, thanks for the info[:D]