British Steel -- Revell Churchill

In a bout of nostalgia and inspired by my mate Jocke's blog posts about his Normandie trip, I decided to kick off my summer holiday by building the old Matchbox Churchill AVRE in 1:76 scale. This is of course the re-released version by Revell. It comes with a folding girder bridge but I decided to build it without the bridge, as I don't think I will be playing many bridge-laying scenarios.

British steel in form of the Churchill AVRE close support tank.

 AVRE stands for "Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers" and was a collective name for a number of variants used by engineers for various purposes. This version carries a 290mm petard mortar for demolishing bunkers and strongholds. Just what I need for Chain of Command. (But of course I can use it in IABSM too or any other WW2 game.)

There's not much to say about the construction and painting, so I will let the pictures do the most of the talking. It's a nice little kit, builds quickly and the components go together well. The only downside to the kit is that it's 1:76 scale (if you care about those things) and that it has the infamous rubber band tracks of old. Most of them are hidden on the finished model though. On to the pictures!

Turret and track assemblies. 

My non-existent familarity with British tanks in general and the Churchill in particular made me assemble the track sides wrong, mixing components from right and left sides. When I noticed the glue had already hardened and I had to cut the pieces away with a knife. They came out ok in the end, but slightly wonky.

Tank done. The turret has been textured using Green Stuff.

Base coat, Vallejo Russian Uniform.

Black "magic" wash, consiting of Future + GW Black ink.

While I was waiting for the black wash to dry I couldn't resist assembling a couple of old Airfix 6-pounder guns. The decal sheet for the Churchill was missing and I was hoping it was in another box somewhere. Instead I found a stash of Airfix carriers and 6-pounders!

Yes, those are Airfix! They will be getting some metal crew though.

Drybrush with VJ Russain Uniform + GW Foundation Gretchin Green

Detailing done and based. Tracks and exhausts done with Coat d'Arms Rust and Vallejo Pigments.

The roll was painted Coat D'Arms British Khaki and washed with GW Devlan Mud.

Both hatches in the turret are separate and can be done open, but I decided I wanted them closed.

MIG Pigments European Dust has been applied to the base and the tank, tying them together nicely.

From this angle you can see the tracks are not straight... otherwise it's not that noticable.

Nice bit of hardware, that 290mm mortar is going to give Fritz a headeache!

The base was done from a section of Games Workshop's modular movement tray, cut to suitable size. It was covered with Tamiya textured paint and and drybrushed GW Khemri Brown when dry. The Churchill was glued on and everything was dusted with MIG European Dust. GF9 Summer Flock Blend and various tufts and flowers from Army Painter was glued on here and there.

Unfortunately I couldn't find the decals anywhere. I'm not that picky about it, since I will only ever field one Churchill AVRE I don't need to distinguish it from another one. Still, I hope to find another set with a nice allied star to put on the turret. But I like it as it is.