Scratchbuilt Churchill Mk.IV AVRE SBG

[MonsieurTox]

Thank you guys for the comment!
I think I'm not totally done with the weathering as I'm not really pleased with it...

And I'm not done at all with this build as I have started that...

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[Herr Dr. Professor]

MonsieurTox I wonder if someday you could post a photo of all (or at least most) of your models together. You are one of the skilled, amazing modelers who make RCTW so interesting (and make awed modelers like me keep plugging on in modest ways).

[MonsieurTox]

MonsieurTox I wonder if someday you could post a photo of all (or at least most) of your models together. You are one of the skilled, amazing modelers who make RCTW so interesting (and make awed modelers like me keep plugging on in modest ways).

Thank you for your very kind, I'm out of town right now but I will take a pic when I get a chance.
However I'm relatively new so I don't have a lot of models and most models are in progress. I've never shown some of them here (yet) :

-Heng Long chassis and Heller StuGIII - finished
-M5A1 Stuart RC conversion - finished
-Trumpeter Panzer IV rc conversion - finished
-scratchbuilt Churchill Mk IV - mostly finished
-Torro M16- never finished, have to redo everything on it
-Renault FT rc conversion - in progress
-Tamiya Tiger I, christmas present in the early 2000, was finished 20 years ago but I'm redoing a complete overall
-Tamiya King tiger - in progress
-Tamiya static Jagdpanther converted to RC - it's in running condition, I used the Kinger tiger gearbox and used the static Jagdpanther shafts that I modified, replaced it with a HL gearbox in the King Tiger
-Heng Long Sherman - stock (for now)
-custom M4a1 hull with HL Sherman chassis - in progress
-Trumpeter M4a3e8 converted to RC - running condition but still have to do everything on the hull
-scratchbuilt Leclerc - mostly done
-scratchbuilt Hummel - mostly done

I'm going to use the TK 7.1 to lift and lower the SBG on the Churchill, however I found it's going to be very difficult to get everything automated as they had to do some of the operation by hand on the real thing...

[ColemanCollector]

I just read this build start to "finish", and I'm blown away. Such stunning detail all the way down to bolt securing wires and scale screw head slots on the hatch hinges!
Everything is so crisp, delicate (an odd adjective for a Churchill!), and accurate. Beyond museum quality, and it moves! Like the Professor said above, it will keep me plugging away, too!
Oh, and pretty sweet Pétard Spigot Mortar!
Mike.

[MonsieurTox]

I just read this build start to "finish", and I'm blown away. Such stunning detail all the way down to bolt securing wires and scale screw head slots on the hatch hinges!
Everything is so crisp, delicate (an odd adjective for a Churchill!), and accurate. Beyond museum quality, and it moves! Like the Professor said above, it will keep me plugging away, too!
Oh, and pretty sweet Pétard Spigot Mortar!
Mike.

Thank you Mike,
Yes I've tried to be as accurate possible on this one, I love the building process but I do love going to see the original in the early stage of each project, doing photo survey, looking for original documents etc... And there's not enough Churchill around here! Luckily we will see more with the Tongde release!

I'm very happy the way it's running, I have to take some vids of it!
I had some problems running it originally when I was using the TK 7.0, the receiver was becoming super hot and was shutting off, I guess too much current draw due to the blue motors... Now I've switched for the TK 7.1 I no longer have this issue.

[ColemanCollector]

The weathering looks subtly nice. I mean if you think it looks too clean you can always tell people it was next in line behind the Matador, and then these guys got at it (Roermond, Netherlands 1944)!

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Mike.

[Tiger6]

Army regulations stated that if you were not in direct contact with the enemy, you were required to clean your vehicle once per week - no matter how many holes you had in it...

[MonsieurTox]

The weathering looks subtly nice. I mean if you think it looks too clean you can always tell people it was next in line behind the Matador, and then these guys got at it (Roermond, Netherlands 1944)!

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Mike.

Haha yeah nice one! Not every tank has to be a mess!

I have some pics I've never posted with a bit more dust on it :

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[Tiger6]

that is looking really good

[MonsieurTox]

that is looking really good

Thank you very much Tiger !

So now that part I is finished, it's time to start part II of this project !

This is a small box girder bridge.

I took as reference as much pictures I found as I can and the AFV Club kitparts as reference for the part breakdown when I designed my parts. The AFV Club kit is nice but not totally accurate. But to be honest, it's impossible to get it 100% correct, the pictures available are not enough, most often they are taken too far away and details like the bridge to churchill bracket is mostly hidden. I found some cool videos of a demonstration of Commonwealth soldiers building a SBG bridge (the one used with the Churchill was the same, with the middle portion removed and some parts added to it like the bracket, the 2 poles etc).

Parts have been designed in Rhino then I cut with the CNC. Instead of having individual corner profile, I prefered to make them as several sections with a M shape, like in the kit. It adds strength and it speeds the building, no need to cut them at the right length and gluçe it at the right angle...

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Most of the parts (but not all) for one section :

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the 4 sections assembled :

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And finally it takes shape :

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The planks will be made of wood, probably Samba wood as balsa would be too soft for the weight of the Churchill and its metal tracks.

I tested, the bridge has no problem to handle the heavy weight of the Churchill ! That's a good news.

Thanks for watching !