RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

inger wrote:H Louis,
You seem to be leading the life I dream of: moving almost seamlessly from model project to model project!!

After 34 years in IT projects for a Telecom, spending most of my time in past 10 years behind a screen on conference calls and live meetings with Toronto, Seattle, India... with hundreds of emails and instant messages per day coming through, spending a few hours of free time alone with my models and my thoughts was a way to keep my sanity. I am now officially retired since May 1st... You understand the last thing i want now is to spend more on my life behind a screen designing 3D parts. I will keep on cutting my styrene plates...

Model Builder 4 wrote:Another awesome step by step Louis

Thanks, It makes me want to do a better job.


With the completion of the suspension, I decided to close the panniers.

A 3mm plasticard is added to the other side. Total width of the panniers is now 37mm as per specs.
The top of the panniers on which the metal tracks will slide on is closed with 3mm plasticard. In my calculations, i had left 1mm free to add a 1mm plasticard overlay on top to cover all the layers for a smooth finish. All this plasticard will make a very strong model.
1mm plasticard was added to top surfaces for a total pannier height of 41.5mm without the suspension.
Say what you want about 3D printing, styrene plates still make the best and smoothest armor plates that can be for scratch built RC tanks.
It is important that the two sides be identical. I made sure through constant checking during their constructions.
Now, let's detail them.

Regards, Louis

lmcq11 wrote:Say what you want about 3D printing, styrene plates still make the best and smoothest armor plates that can be for scratch built RC tanks.

I completely agree. I'm not a fan of 3D printed parts at this point or even resin. Much rather deal with styrene.

Hi,

The Churchill Mk III has a rectangular escape hatch on both sides, lager than the rounded one on later variants. As it is a very visible feature of the tank, especially on DIeppe beach, i wanted to make sure it is well represented and operable.
It features a pistol port.
I could not find good pictures yet of the interior of the hatch, especially the pistol port mechanism. I was not able to repro it yet.
The AFV Club 1/35 kit provides good details to reproduce, including the bolt head types on the frame and door hinges.
Notice the overlay of the hinge area.
Basic components are made of 1mm plasticard.
Hinge wire is a section of a Heng Long antenna.
The side doors are complex to reproduce and quite rich in features, including holes for 20 bolt heads of two variations that need to be done with the basic tools that i have. The door is positioned prior to gluing the operable hinges on its flat surface.
The bolt heads on the door frame are 1.7mm Meng SPS-008 while the 4 large ones on the door hinge are 2.2mm Meng SPS-004.
The completed side doors.
Continuing on following post

More pictures of the side doors. While analysis the close up pictures, i can see a couple of mistakes i made here and there, but they are not too bad.
Regards, Louis

Sure, Louis: you see "mistakes," but I see miracles. Jeepers I wish someone made a Churchill accessible to us mere mortals.

Such rapid and detailed work. Bravo Louis.

How will you keep the doors closed while the tank is trundling around rough terrain? Magnets?

Every time I check into your latest post my jaw drops in amazement. I have completely run out of hyperbole comments. I’m definitely a loyal fan of your modeling skills and attention to prototype detailing.

Next-level as always Louis, it's great to see it all coming together; the distinctive silhouettes are already forming. How do you find the sintered nylon running gear? Curious to see how much work they'll need before painting, it's an interesting surface texture.

Thank you all for your encouragements !

Estnische wrote:How will you keep the doors closed while the tank is trundling around rough terrain? Magnets?

They currently hold in closed position by friction. No need yet for a small magnet.

Raminator wrote:How do you find the sintered nylon running gear? Curious to see how much work they'll need before painting, it's an interesting surface texture.

Yeah, typical 3D printed stuff that i am not fond of, no printed lines though, more like micro orange skin. I gave them a round of sanding. They are small and solid, won't break. I can imagine that the first coat of primer will reveal their true nature... Show here at maximum zoom as they currently stand.
Continuing with the build.

The side panniers have been mounted on the chassis. A lot of comparative study and measurements went in before i glued them on. The positioning holes of the Ludwig kit are not used. The model is mostly scratch built rather than a kit at this point. Every millimetre need to be accounted for as it will create issues later.
Now building the frontal idler extensions as shown here. I am noticing that all tanks that have broken tracks show tracks with deep sagging just before the sprocket.
Therefore, those rail extensions provided on the 1/35 AFV Club kit did not exist on the Mk III or were removed by the Canadians before Dieppe, like most of the track covers and the turret rear basket. There is no reference material explaining the modifications done before the raid. The only thing mentioned is that the Churchill hatches were made watertight with balloon material.
Further evidence that the track rail extensions did not exist. One less thing to do...
Here on Blondie
Four idler extensions were created. each fitting its particular place as the angles are not totally the same and have little variations due to scratch building. But i noticed later that the inside extension run lower than the external ones on the 1/35 kit, so i will have to adjust to correctly repro that by adding a section under. These idler extensions are made of 3mm plasticard. A bit thicker than scale but required for solidity. This design is really weird, closer to WW1 than WW2 era.
For now, let's take the one for the exterior right side and do a prototype, which will avoid repeating mistakes and will speed up creation of the others. Rivet positions are planned and then installed.
continuing on following post

Some things just can't be 3D printed.
The Churchills of Dieppe were thoroughly inspected and reviewed by the Germans. They were also a major source of interest for nearby celebrities, such as fighter ace Adolf Galland and below Sepp Dietrich of the LSSAH, refitting in France in 1942.
That picture is a good source of info for the idler adjuster of the Mk III at Dieppe, shown with a close up.
I also have my pictures of the Mk VII in Calgary, with a similar arrangement but somehow showing differences and simplifications, likely due to modifications.
Capture from the Ludwigs website showing the functional idler adjuster coming with the kit, vaguely inspired by the real thing.
Honestly, it is difficult to see that these are parts for a Churchill idler adjuster. I decided that i needed something more realistic.
I could see in reference pictures that the adjuster runs on rails. These can be reproduced using brass channel strips. Its better than being strait on the plastic, more solid too. I sanded the exterior side of the strips a bit to make them less thick. The plastic part also needed preparation as they no longer use the Ludwig base pattern and dimensions.
The middle part of the Ludwig kit were reused and thoroughly reworked to be closer to scale and run on rails like the real thing.
The Churchill adjusters are pretty rough themselves so no need for perfection here. Basic shapes are created and positioned for dry fit and testing. The bolt is an M2.5. Too short but this is what i have on inventory at this time.
continuing on following post