Hasegawa 1/72 Churchill Mk I & II

[huib]

This is really a very nice kit to build. It's an oldie from 1975, but fit is perfect, and it is an excellent starting point for scratchbuilding lots of details. I built two versions using the same kit as a starting point: A Churchill Mk I from the raid on Dieppe, and a Churcill Mk II from a training unit in England in 1942.

BURNS, Infantry Tank Churchill Mk I, Headquarter Troop, B Squadron, the Calgary Regiment, Dieppe, August 1942

Hasegawa 1/72 Churchill Mk I


Hasegawa 1/72 Churchill Mk I


Hasegawa 1/72 Churchill Mk I


Hasegawa 1/72 Churchill Mk I


Hasegawa 1/72 Churchill Mk I


Hasegawa 1/72 Churchill Mk I


Hasegawa 1/72 Churchill Mk I

BEEFY, Infantry Tank Churchill Mk II, fictional unit, England 1942


Hasegawa 1/72 Churchill Mk II


Hasegawa 1/72 Churchill Mk II


Hasegawa 1/72 Churchill Mk II


Hasegawa 1/72 Churchill Mk II


Hasegawa 1/72 Churchill Mk II


Hasegawa 1/72 Churchill Mk II


Hasegawa 1/72 Churchill Mk II


Hasegawa 1/72 Churchill Mk II

And some pics of both tanks together


Hasegawa 1/72 Churchill Mk I & II


Hasegawa 1/72 Churchill Mk I & II


Hasegawa 1/72 Churchill Mk I & II


Hasegawa 1/72 Churchill Mk I & II

[Wiking]

Very very well done the old Hasegawa.
A lot of small and big bits you add on.
Weathering is also nice as the figures.


Both Churchill cry for a nice base!

[Kekso]

I like them both... weathering is very good

[Frankzett]

Wow, great Churchills. Do you use Peddinghaus decals for the Dieppe-Churchill - what quality do they have?
Recently I made my own resin casts of some Churchill parts to convert the Esci- and Hasegawa-Churchills in Dieppe-versions.
This Hasegawa kit ain't too bad, but the turret has some mistakes, the gear is too simplified-I think- and it has no fenders. You could convert the spoked wheels of the initial versions with a drop of styrene glue into the later wheels . The Esci-kit has good dedails but the gear is nearly the same like the Hasegawa-kit and the turret has wrong proportions.

Greetings
Frank

[huib]

Thank you guys, for the nice comments!

Do you use Peddinghaus decals for the Dieppe-Churchill - what quality do they have?

Yes, I used the Peddinhaus decals for the Dieppe version. They are very thin, and I had some problems with the very small ones that warping and sticking to itsself. But in the end I managed and they look fine. Very thin carrier film, no silvering.

... it has no fenders.

But the early Churchills, upto the early Mk III's didn't have fenders. So for the Mk I and II that is correct. They only have small mudguards above the sprocket wheels, which I had to scratchbuild. With the Dieppe Churchill it is a bit more complicated. This a so called 'Mk I rebuilt', with partial fenders behind the engine air intakes. You can see it at the pictures. I also had to scratchbuilt them.

[Frankzett]

Yes right, some Mk I were upgunned to Mk III six-pounder tanks. And of course the Dieppe-tanks have this typical partial fenders with small mudguards (with the spare tracks) and air intakes for amphibian action. But well, the fully mounted fenders were standart with the beginning of the production, we can see that with the footage of the "Yukon" landing exercises before the raid...
But a further question, did the Canadians really have the khaki service colour for the tanks? There are some reconstructions with greenish olive or khaki drab. I am very interested in this theme, what kind of reference did you use?

Greetings
Frank

[huib]

the fully mounted fenders were standart with the beginning of the production,

The pictures that I know of the Yukon excersise landings only feature Churchills without the full fenders, only with the small ones above the sprocket wheels. But possibly I haven't seen all the pictures.

did the Canadians really have the khaki service colour for the tanks?

Good question! I am not a 100% sure myself. In the past most images or models of Dieppe tanks and other vehicles were painted in a kind of olive green. If this is right the official colour designation should have been Khaki Green no.3, which was used by the British in the beginning of the war.

But more recent material suggests that the coulour of the Dieppe Churchills should have been S.C.C. 2, a brown colour described as coffee with milk, or fresh dogshit. S.C.C. 2 was introduced in the end of 1941as the standard colour for British military vehicles as the stockpiles of the chemical agents (chromium oxide) necessary to produce green colours ran out because of wartime conditions. From then British vehicles started being delivered from the factory in S.C.C. 2. In the field or at the barracks they were often, according to regulation, camouflaged with a dirsuptive pattern of very dark grey, or dark brown.

As the Churchills that landed at Dieppe were of the latest models (Churchill Mk I's and Mk II's 'rebuilt' and Churchill Mk III's) and were specially prepared for the raid with wading gear and waterproofing, I reasoned that they came from the factory or from the rebuilding workshop shortly before the raid, and for sure not before 1942. So they had to be in S.C.C. 2. As the Churchills from the Yukon excercise are from an earlier type, they might have been Khaki Green no.3 probably.

The problem is that Khaki Green no.3, and S.C.C. 2 both look exactly the same on black and white pictures.

Mike Starmer is generally considered the authority on WW2 British vehicle colours. Here is a very useful article: http://www.mafva.net/other%20pages/Starmer%20camo.htm
But it gives only general rules and regulations, and no answer on specific situations such as this one.

I hope this answers your question and provides the reasons why I decided for S.C.C.2 as the colour for my Dieppe Churchill (and Khaki Green no.3 for my Churchill Mk II)

[Frankzett]

Frankzett wrote:
the fully mounted fenders were standart with the beginning of the production,


The pictures that I know of the Yukon excersise landings only feature Churchills without the full fenders, only with the small ones above the sprocket wheels. But possibly I haven't seen all the pictures.

OOps, yes You are right! The early ones had no fully mounted fenders. I had wrong memory with a few photographs. However a few single ones must be equipped with full sized fenders in summer 1942, I saw this in the Osprey "Churchill Infantry Tank 1941-51" page 5; an landing exercise with LCT 121, which were lost at Dieppe 1942 (TLC 5), and footage of embarking Churchills (I think these are Yukon exercises) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3d7HMlKFNw with fenders but without air intakes ...

Greetings
Frank

[Peter]

Excellent work on these tanks! Like it how you did the tracks!