RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Exhaust pipes are installed permanently.
Under the engine deck, arrangements are made to later connect a smoke unit.
For the deep wading exhaust stack, a 6mm aluminum pipe is selected. I am using the AFV Club part as a model for dimensions and shapes.
The stacks are created telescopically. Parts are cut and superglued. Angles are made with a nail file. Then the pipes are filed to smoothen the curves. Superglue mixed with aluminum dust is then used as filler, filed and polished. When an issue is found with a specific joint, such as wrong dimension or angle, it can be broken with a blade, reworked and re-glued. Each stack has a total of 14 sections.
One of the challenge is to create two stacks exactly alike in shapes and dimensions, but also in reverse position.
The completed stacks.
Installing the stacks on the exhaust. Looking ok but as i used the AFV Club 1/35 model as reference, any issue with them were reproduced here, such as the missing slope that i will have to repro on the next accuracy exercise.
They look convincing.
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There is a brace between the two stacks that was made using a 2mm brass strip.
And here are the first views of the Churchill Mk III with its rear deck, exhaust and stacks as it stands today.

Bolt heads installed earlier were replaced by bolt tips and nuts, as seen in a ref picture.
Next step, detailing the turret.

Regards, Louis

Louis,

Your deep wading exhaust stacks are pure eye candy! WOW!

Cheers,
Eric.

Speaking of Elmod Fusion Pro and Beier boards, I have both and my humble opinion is that the Elmod is more suitable for WW2 tanks as the Beier is overkill for the old tanks. The Beier has tons of lighting features and other extras but I ended going back to the Fusion for my Tiger1. The Beier will control my 1/48 Civil War gunboat (one of these days). Both are excellent boards in their own right and worth every penny.

Louis,
Beautiful work, my Friend. The careful craftsmanship is evident as always. I was reading through and catching up on the Thread. It struck me that those Churchill headlamps ( at their base form ) look an awful lot like early Panzer III and IV headlamps. Some modification would be needed to create the long shields on the face but then you would have working lights up front ( if you wanted them ) Anyway, following along and looking forward to paint and the crew.
regards,
Painless

Jimster wrote:Speaking of Elmod Fusion Pro and Beier boards, I have both and my humble opinion is that the Elmod is more suitable for WW2 tanks as the Beier is overkill for the old tanks. The Beier has tons of lighting features and other extras but I ended going back to the Fusion for my Tiger1. The Beier will control my 1/48 Civil War gunboat (one of these days). Both are excellent boards in their own right and worth every penny.

Thank you Jimster, I do not know either boards so i could not comment. As i am definitely more a builder than an electronic guy, i like to keep my electronics simple.

PainlessWolf wrote:It struck me that those Churchill headlamps ( at their base form ) look an awful lot like early Panzer III and IV headlamps. Some modification would be needed to create the long shields on the face but then you would have working lights up front

You're right, i did cut a corner here by using these solid metal headlights. I'll put that on the plan to relook at them.

Continuing with the detailing of the turret.

View of the 1/35 Churchill Mk III turret from AFV Club. It is only now that i realize that the Canadian removed the rear turret bin from their tank, reason unknown.
The MK III is equipped with a rotating commander cupula with only two periscope. Vision was later enhanced with all around periscope on later variants. Although i thought it would be simple, the Mk III cupula is actually quite rich in features not easy to repro.
The cupola is made to rotate. It is composed of 2 roundels, a base of 2mm thick and an overlay of 1mm for the top with the embedded hatches. All shapes and dimensions are taken from the 1/35 kit.
The cupola core.
For the cupola and the gunner's hatch, i need 8 working hinges of a specific design. Scratch built like everything. The body of the hinges is made of 0.5mm plasticard, with 1mm aluminum tube and 0.5mm brass rod.
View of the Churchill prototype working hinge. These are stronger than they seem.
Hinges are assembled using superglue, careful not to get any glue near the working mechanism. Superglue can be made to resemble the welding.
View of the gunner's hatch.
Hatches are ready to be hinged.
This is a picture of the German fighter ace Adolf Galland visiting the DIeppe battlefield and inspecting the Churchill tank. This picture provides a wealth of information on the hatches.
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Really inspiring work! Every time enthusiasm for my own project flags, a quick look through your work gets me back on track (no pun intended).

Interior cushions are installed.
Hinges are installed on the gunner's hatch and commander's cupola.
And working extremely well.
The hatches have a complicated locking mechanism.
Need four locking mechanism, one per hatch.
Installed locking mechanism and i also added the flat headed bolts on the hinges.
They are not made functional but i understand that the hatch corner can fit into 2 available position slots on a latch and held in place with a spring.
View of one of the commander's cupola armored periscope with lifting cover.
Simply repro on a best effort basis in plasticard.
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Other views of the hatch and periscopes.
This cupola has a lot of features.
One of the forward periscope and ventilation port.
The back armor of the turret has a rounded bolted access plate. Position for the bolts needs to be carefully drawn.
View of the turret back plate and empty mount points for the basket.
The rear of the turret has two antenna mounts.
Overview of the turret top layout.
The cupola is made to rotate, I am thinking of making it servo operated.
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