I was reading through some of my WWII reference materials this weekend, and I found what could be an interesting subject. Pictured on the cover of The Second Front, from the WWII series from Time Life Books, are 2 Churchill tanks with 3 large snorkels attached. (I have owned this series for 20+ years and never noticed that unique feature before.) In the near future, I would like to modify the 1/35 Tamiya Churchill in my “stash” with these unique snorkels. Does anyone have an idea where I can buy an aftermarket set? Or do they exist at all? I really don’t want to attempt to scratchbuild them. My ability in that dept. leaves a lot to be desired! The 2 tanks pictured don’t appear to be any of the D-Day “Funnies,” just standard Churchills with snorkels. Any and all comments / suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks.
nforunately I cant remember exactly the name, but I saw a resin snorkel kit for the churchill on ebay a while ago, pretty cool. I think it might have been something like Royal models?
Is this what you are looking for? Its by Cromwell models. Unsure if they do wading kit as a conversion, maybe worth emailing them to see. http://www.xs4all.nl/~cromwell/
MattSix - Could those have been some of the Churchills used at Dieppe? They had a snorkel that looked like American Football goalposts but bent outward. These were Mark II’s and issued to the Canadian Forces inn Operation Jubilee. The link brings you to a picture of a couple of them on the beach of Dieppe.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/churchill_tank.htm
Are these the ones you mean?
Mike T.
Barrovian- That setup is exactly what I am looking for! (Minus the tank, of course.) Definetly a unique subject. (I always like to find something a little different to build. I get tired of seeing builds of the same old thing. Please, not another Sherman, or yet another Tiger?) I love the fully visable tracks. How about those wishbone exhaust pipes? The photo in the book did not show the ehaust setup. Thanks so much for the info! This kit / conversion will definetly stand out on my shelf!
Hi Guys
Get hold of “Modelling the Churchill tank by Mark Bannerman (Osprey Modelling)”
I have this book, pure gold… (CIRD, AVRE, SBG… drool)
It covers some significant versions including the Dieppe Tanks but would some significant mods to to backdate Tamiyas’ Mk7 to Mk 1/2…
with full build-up article, including those air INTAKES…
Link to pic here http://www.hannants.co.uk/search/?FULL=OAMOD21 or try Amazon, or your usual suspects…
I also have Accurate Armours’ Resin Wading Trunking & Aber/Eduard? PE for the same…
& the Dieppe photobook, I’ll look them out for you…
Fruil & AA do replacement early track in metal & resin respectively…
Cromwell models have an entire section on the different Churchills, it’s a more or less bespoke service, as you can have a kit of the exact version you want…
Quoting the bottom of their page …
“Later releases will include: The Gun Carrier, ARVs MK. I & II, Bridgelayers, etc.
Optional accessories will include: D-DAY Wading trunking and Exhaust for AVRE; Replacement AVRE fascine and sledge; Optional ammo/stores load and sledge.”
It’s erm… on my ‘to do’ list…