Misc: Bugger! Researching, or not...

Atmospheric image of Churchill AVRE deploying its bridge.

Hmmm!? Having been putting quite a bit of effort into building hinges for the SBG (small box girder) bridge on my Matchbox Churchill AVRE kit I decided I'd do a bit of research on the subject. I'm wishing I had done so before embarking on this aspect of the model now.

An odd but interesting image.*

It turns out that I can find no documentary evidence at all of this particular Churchill AVRE variant being a folding or 'scissor' type bridge. Indeed, in the Tank Chat video by David Fletcher for the Bovington tank museum he makes the point that skippers of vessels transporting these mechanical monsters disliked them precisely because the bridge acted like a sail, interfering with their ability to control the boats navigation.

In country road traffic.

And all the photographs or very brief clips of film I've seen (the latter hard to find and usually embedded within longer YouTube videos) show the bridge as one long object. Unfortunately for me I'd assumed, from the construction - two more or less identical mirror image halves - and possibly from vague memories of images of the Valentine tank-based scissor type bridgelayer, that the enormous bridge would, logically and obviously, fold away. Well, it seems not.

What a whopper!

Loaded on a transport, along with a fascine carrying AVRE.

Having said all this, I did find one or two sources of information hinting that either they could/did fold, or that there were some variants that might've done so. Witness the two images below. The first of these is an illustration, however, not a contemporary wartime photo. I don't know what the provenance of this is, or its basis in fact, if any. And then below that there's an example of a model built in that basis. Note that both have extra elelemrnts on the furthest part of the bridge. These look a bit spurious or dubious, as then look like the get in the way of deployment. 

What info is this illustration based on?

Likewise this model/diorama?

I reckon I'll post about this on some other fora, and see if I can get some input on this issue, and hopefully clarify it. As mentioned above, I may have seen image at some point, such as that directly below, of a Valentine 'scissor' type bridgelayer. And perhaps subconscious memories of this prompted my assumption that the Churchill AVRE bridgelayer would deploy in the same manner? 

A Valentine bridgelayer deploying its scissor type folding bridge.

But not so the Churchill.

But without exception the wartime photos of the Churchill AVRE bridgelayer show the bridge as if it doesn't hinge in the centre. I'm surprised, as this makes it very front-heavy, unwieldy, and no doubt tricky to manoeuvre. Imagine trying to negotiate combat damaged towns with that enormous thing on the front! And one suspects that destroyed river crossings would, as often as not, be found in built up areas.

The fascine and bridge-laying Churchill AVREs often operated in tandem.

This photo shows how huge and cumbersome an attachment the bridge was.

For now I reckon I'll have to set aside the build, until such time as I resolve this issue to my own satisfaction. I'm guessing I'll wind up building it in line with the historical evidence. In which case I could proceed right away. But part of me hopes that a folding version might have existed, and I'd certainly love to successfully build such a type, as I've enjoyed trying to scratch-build the bridge with working hinges. 

The frustrating thing with this is that I've been trying to improve on my tendency to leave projects unfinished, and see them through to completion. And this discovery kind of temporarily derails that process. At least in respect of this build. But I guess it also means I can either return to older projects and get them done, or embark on something new.

Kit Build/Review: Matchbox 1/76 Churchill AVRE Bridge-Layer, Pt. III

Making tubular bits of sprue for my scratch-built hinges.

This 1/76 Churchill AVRE is bound to take a bit longer than a normal build, on account of the bridge. Particularly so as I'm trying to make it deployable. To do this I decided to build two little hinges on the underside of the bridge. This has been both challenging and fun. I probably should've tried to rig some sort of reliably accurate vertically aligned drill-press. But I felt that'd be too time-consuming, so I just pressed on - boom, boom! - with freehand attempts. 

Parts prepped, ready for assembly. Note angled notches in bridge-ends

After a lot of fiddly freehand drilling, and many failed off-centre bits of sprue, I finally got six pieces I felt were good enough to use. Gluing these to the bridge required shaving off some bits of the structure where the hinges would sit. Then I had to glue them in place accurately positioned enough that the 0.6mm central hole would align through all the segments. This wasn't easy! Especially as the holes weren't perfectly central on any of the parts to start with.

Hinge elements being glued in place.

Another view.

I then made two pins, approx' 0.5mm in diameter, and roughly 6mm long. These go through the little tubular sprue sections, forming the hinges. Getting these in was tricky, as the central holes weren't perfectly aligned. But with a little gentle persuasion I managed it. This first attempt resulted in one fully functional hinge, and one which failed. 

Sliding the pins into the hinges.

The hinge that failed is on the right in the above picture (and is the upper hinge in the photo below). What happened was the central tubular piece got glued to the outer two pieces, resulting in one big block, which then sheared off from the bridge when I attempted to test the moving parts.

I decided to try and keep the successful hinge, and remove the central part of the failed one, and work on it - reducing the width a fraction and widening the central hole by 0.1mm - before re-assembling it. I also reinforced the central tubular parts on both sides of the bridge, as these are the weakest, and most likely to fail.

The hinges, glued, ready for testing.

Below is the dis-assembled hinging mechanism. The two hinges have been very slightly worked on, in particular the upper of the two, i.e. the one that failed. I'll give that a good few hours to cement. And then I'll re-insert the metal pins, and hope that the hinges won't break! I'm thinking I may add end-caps to either one or most likely both sides of the hinges as well, to prevent the pins from working their way out.

Dis-assembled, working on fixing the failed upper hinge.

Patience is paramount! I must give the repaired hinge time to really set. It's not easy to leave it alone! If I'm successful, the next thing is either mounting the whole bridge to the tank, or painting both tank and bridge before attempting to do so. Hmm!? I reckon the latter is probably the more sensible option... but... 

Kit Build/Review: Matchbox 1/76 Churchill AVRE Bridge-Layer, Pt. II

Prepping bridge parts.

The instructions for this venerable aulde Matchbox model start with assembling the bridge. I saved this part for after I'd made the tank. It's a rather lovely thing! You need to pay attention at this stage, as the components are quite siecifjc in how they go together. 

Oops! I forgot to add a weight to the inner rear of the tank.

Having assembled the bridge, whilst casting my eye over the instructions I spotted an important step in the construction of the tank that I'd omitted; adding a counterweight, so the attached bridge won't topple the model forwards! 

I used a hacksaw to remove the head of a latte heavy hex-headed bolt. I then had to bar God the resulting nut bybreming about 1mm from opposite sides, so it'd fit in the very narrow Churchill tank body. As ur forgotten to do thus at the construction stage, it meant I had to perform fairly drastic surgery to the rear underside of the rank body to get the weight in.

The instructions called for 20g of weight. Miraculously that's exactly what the nut weighed initially. It lost a gram in the process of dancing the two sides, winding up weighing 19 grams. I superglued it into the base of the tank, and 'stitched' the patient back up with surgical glue!

The nut part of a large bolt, sawn off by hand.

It also required a small amount of narrowing to fit...

... on two opposite facets.

Bridge and winch assembled.

By end of play last night I had all the kit assembled, bar actually attaching the bridge. Oh, and the mudguards (are these what Americans call the fenders?). The winch assembly is a fun thing to assemble. Fiddly but satisfying! 

I may be mad. And/or it may prove impossible. But I have a yen to build the bridge in such a way that it actually folds, so it can be shown both stowed and deployed. Hence saving this part of this build to the end. I'll need to fabricate some mini-moving joints!

Winch assembly in place.

So, that's it for part two of this very enjoyable build. Today is friday, the tubal teaching day of this half-term. Once the work's out of the way, I can return to the conundrum of building the bridge. I also need to source some crew figures, to populate my now open-hatched vehicle. What fun!

Kit Build/Review: Matchbox 1/76 Churchill AVRE Bridge-Layer, Pt. I

 

I recently built a 1/72 Churchill, which I wound up modifying with a scratch-built spigot mortar. I then read about and got interested in Churchill AVRE types of all sorts, including these bridge-layers. I posted about wanting this kit on a few sites, and a fellow member of Wisbech IPMS kindly got me one at a show. Thanks Darren!

Inside the box...

In the box, which was still wrapped in its original cellophane, was a kit potentially as old as me. The sprues are in three different colours, green, beige and brown. The decals, which I assumed would be fossilised, look like they might be ok. Which, in a kit of this vintage, is pretty amazing. There's even a tube of ancient glue!

The rubber-band tracks are of a more plastic than rubber material.

Beige and brown sprues... nice!

The instructions start with the bridge. I decided to skip that, and start with the turret. I'll probably do the bridge last. In part because I want to make the bridge workable. The petard mortar is not as nice, in mine 'umble opinion, as my scratch-built one. I've built it as is. But I might want to redo the gun at some stage.

Will the ancient glue still work?

Assembling the running gear, pt. I.

I like the running gear assembly on this kit. Having all the road wheels in a single piece makes it easier to assemble. And the rubber-band tracks in this kit seem to be more plastic than rubber, meaning they actually glue together! 

Running-gear, pt. II.

Tracks on, turret with modified hatches.

Tonight I'm stopping at this point, having assembled the bulk of the Churchill body. I already left the two stowed blankets, or tarpaulins , off the turret. I'm not sure whether or not to put the mudguards on over the tracks either. Quite a few AVRE I've seen don't have the upper track guards

Mostly assembled. Do I add the upper track-guards?

Kit Build/Review: Airfix Churchill Mk. VII, Pt II

I didn't get as much time modelling yesterday as I'd hoped to. And what little I did was just some painfully slow painting: first I base-coated the Churchill and several other gray undercoated Allied vehicles in Humbrol acrylic Olive Drab; then I set about blocking in areas of other colours, black tires, wooden tool handles, gunmetal where required, and different shades of greens and grays for blanket rolls, etc.

I opted to make the Universal Carrier and associated gun (6 pdr?) a darker Olive Green, such as many of the WWII British vehicles I've seen in places like Bovington and the Land Warfare Hall at Duxford are. The (?) truck will be getting that 'black clouds' type camo' I've seen on such vehicles. But that'll have to wait till another day. As we turned in, on account of a Teresa having an early start and requiring my taxi services.

A whole heap of Allied materiel gets the Olive Drab treatment

I took the opportunity to further painting work on a few other languishing models, giving me a nice chunk of Allied gear. Some of these vehicles will be populated with figures. But that's not going to be immediate, as I don't know what figures to use, and only have a few Jeep riding Yanks anyway. I'd like at least some of this stuff to be British (or poss' Canadian?) ... hmm!?

Blocking in some other basic colours.

At this juncture I decided to fix the (6pdr?) gun, by adding a little disc underneath, to stop the trailing arms from continually falling off. This proved to be a tricky and very fiddly/delicate operation, involving some masking, so as not to allow cement to seep into the moving parts and glue the whole shebang into one solid immovable block.

Note tiny disc plate and two-part masking mit ein tiny hole.

Mask in place, disc gluing. Success!

Once I've got a bit further with the painting of all these Allied vehicles, I'll need to address decals. British markings appear to be a bit of a minefield. So, with the Churchill AVRE, should I do it up as the 79th, as in Hobart's lot? Or are there other options. My researches so far are inconclusive and confusing. A divisional emblem and individual tank name and number are, I think, essential. Bridge weight discs and arm of service flashes aren't visible on many (any?) of the wartime photos that I've seen. Some Churchill AVREs appear to have had the geometric squadron marking, and sometimes letters and numbers as well (see second pic below). I've seen models with aerial recognition stars to. But I've not seen them on actual wartime vehicles yet. 

Percy Hobart, of Funnies fame.

A terrific picture, but not many markings visible.

Yesterday ended with a visit to Hardwick, and a pub dinner with my dad and family, and my sister and nieces and friends of theirs, at The Blue Lion. Pub drink prices, at least in some places, are going through the roof! Still, that's good in some ways. It'll prevent me getting too bibulous. My dad's been knocking back the sauce rather worryingly of late. Fortunately on this occasion, he was under control! It was lovely to see my sister, over from Spain, with daughters Ali and Sofi.

Even though we only stopped for an hour and a half (constrained once again by my darling wife's work commitments), the trip each way is an hour long. All this family business doesn't half cut into one's modelling time! Thank goodness we don't have kids. Then I'd never get any hobby type stuff done.

Useful track reference...

Speaking of which, back to the models. I found this quite useful link (there's a vertical volume suspension system pun in there somewhere!), in my quest for inspiration and information when painting tracks. Whilst the page in question deals only in VVSS tracks, it's good enough for me as general ref' for Allied tracks as a whole.

I've opted to undercoat all tracks black, except where they're either spares or armour, in which case they may well be the same body colour as the vehicle (often getting painted in situ). Once all the other basic blocking open of colours is done, I'll gloss spray a whole batch, and start adding weathering washes, the decals, etc.

My current WIP batch is growing ever larger.

Thought I'd include these two Sherman's.

I have a whole heap of Shermans, of various types. I plucked out two in an Olive Drab that matches my current batch of models. Blocking in the tracks was very messy, as they are very chunky in their detailing. As well as blocking in colours for tools and stowage, I had some fun adding one of the two crew figures from the Hasegawa Grant kit I built recently to kind of these tanks.i had to do some surgery on both arms to get them to sit more naturally. Plus I made a map and map case, to add a little interest.

The original Churchill, now an AVRE mortar, almost lost in the crowd.

The original dynamo for all this work, my Churchill AVRE conversion, is now almost lost in the crowd! This is in part due to my confusion over markings. But otherwise it's down to the glacially slow speed I'm currently working at. I had hoped today I'd have gloss coated the whole bunch. But I didn't finish work on the blocking-in of base colours till about 10.30pm. Hopefully I'll do it tomorrow, before we head over to our friend Patrick, for a day on his boat.

Three Jeeps, one completed ages ago. Two on the go.

I like this guy. One of two figures from the Hasegawa Grant kit.

I forget where the trailer in the above photo came from. Was it with the Academy Halftrack? I enjoy adding some stowage, including a coil of cotton thread rope, fixed in place with liquid cyanoacrylate glue, aka superglue. The figure was the other of the two that came in the Hasegawa Grant tank kit I built recently. I did that all hatches closed. The figures don't actually fit those hatches anyway! So I thought I'd use them elsewhere. I've now put one in one of my many Sherman's, and gave this chap ready for another, when the time comes.

Kit Build/Review: Airfix Churchill Mk. VII, Pt I

I bought this kit a while back, having previously brought several others from the same Vintage Classics re-release range beforehand. When I bought it was partly just on account of it being the cheapest kit of interest to me on the shelves at the model shop in Ely. I couldn't really justify spending on - or even afford - any more models at the time, having no money and several large piles of unmade models at home. But I could just stretch to £6! So I indulged myself.

I wasn't initially planning a conversion with this kit. But it so happens that, at some later point, I stumbled across photos of the Churchill AVRE with petard mortar, whilst researching something else. This reminded me of a former fascination for this variant, so I decided to convert it. I started building the model before this, however, at a meeting of the Wisbech IPMS.

Scratch-built spigot mortar.

I retained the internal part from the kits gun, to mount the spigot on.

I opted to start assembly with the turret, as the running-gear of this vehicle, with all those tiny road wheels - eleven pairs making twenty-two times two, or forty-four of the little blighters - was a bit much. At this stage I made the turret up as per the instructions, including the usual gun. Not yet having opted to do the spigot mortar conversion. 

It was only when I got home from the model club meeting that I made the decision, after assembling the body of the tank. That was Monday evening. Yesterday, Tuesday, I scratch-built the petard mortar. That was fun. Although I haven't done the greatest of jobs on it, using the wrong plastic card - too thick! - for one bit on the right hand side of the barrel. It's probably also poking out a bit further than it should; the length of the large tube is okay, I think. But the narrower part is probably a bit too long.

Temporarily fitting the turret.

Getting the running-gear cleaned up ready for assembly.

Oops! Forgot to add tracks before adding the outer section. Doh!

Anyway, never mind. Overall I'm quite happy with how it's come out. I decided that, apart for the mortar itself, I'd leave the tank as is. Some AVRE have numerous other alterations, for attaching fad Ines, bridging equipment, etc. But some that carry the mortar are otherwise quite normal. And even amongst the mortar variants there's a great diversity. In fact even the mortars themselves vary a fair bit!

All that remains now is to paint the bugger. I'm hoping that I can go to town on this one, and make the single colour scheme really 'pop', as they say. As for markings I'll do some research, and try something different from the decals supplied with the kit. I really like those square markings you see on British tanks. If they're appropriate, I'll use them.

The main body and turret done...

... the whole kit, fully assembled and converted.

Just before turning in, and whilst half watching John Carpenter's Body Bags horror anthology, I undercoated the tank in Halfords grey. Tomorrow painting and markings!

Undercoated...

... in Halfords grey.

I love the spigot mortar!