Churchill BARV - Done !

[Buzzbomb]

Finally back at the bench after the move of abode.
This weekend at a Model Club Build Camp.... loving it.
Took an old Churchill build that need a revamp.

Reading around Churchill sites, there have been a couple mentions of the original BARV (Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicle) concept, may have been based on the Churchill, before moving to the Sherman as the base hull.

With the carcass of the Churchill, it was time to have a go at a "what if" Churchill BARV. It is an old Legends conversion of the Tamiya Mk VII Churchill back to the Mk IV versions.

Bit of hackage to remove bits not needed


Start getting the hull shape together. The basic concept of the boaty hull works, to get all the bits of a tank that does not like water, waterproofed was clearly the way forward


Bit more detail and starting the rivetting. Out of rivets so, more to follow a bit later.


Next will the push gear, more rivets, walkways and lots of other stuff

Thanks for looking

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Nice save on the Churchill.  Hope the project will be free of complications as you get further along with this conversion. 

[Kerick]

How many rivets are there? I think I see one out of place….. 
This will be very interesting!

[GTX_Admin]

looking good

[Old Wombat]

How many rivets are there? I think I see one out of place….. 
This will be very interesting!

That was when Doug the Driller was distracted by Rosie the Rivetter bending over to pull another rivet out of the box.

[Buzzbomb]

thanks for the interest.

On a roll with this one, whilst I procrastinate around what to do for the current Remote Controlled GB.

Added some more detail and had the rivetting experience. I use Tichy Train rivets. Simple to use, mark carefully, drill, cut the rivet and drop in.


Half profile full frontal Damn one set of tracks is backwards Luckily not fully fitted yet.


The top with the access, inlets and exhausts


Next step is the walkways and some detail gubbins.

[finsrin]

Never foresaw a Churchill had this potential in it,,,  err on it 

[Frank3k]

Nice scratchbuilding project! I thought you were using Archer rivet decals at first.

[GTX_Admin]

Liking this

[Dr. YoKai]

Known in service as "Slightly Larger Willie". Nifty looking project-I like it as is, but I imagine it'll be getting cranes and booms and winches all over...

[raafif]

Someone on a website claims ... true ??

"The Churchill BARV (BARV: Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicle) was a modified Churchill ARV Mk I. They had shingle plates fitted over the suspension arms and deep wading gear. Some of these had a box-shaped dummy turret. Only a few Churchill BARVs were produced, for recovering tanks on beaches, the Sherman proving better for this task."

I have a gutted Churchill too so may do something evil with it.

[Buzzbomb]

Someone on a website claims ... true ??

"The Churchill BARV (BARV: Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicle) was a modified Churchill ARV Mk I. They had shingle plates fitted over the suspension arms and deep wading gear. Some of these had a box-shaped dummy turret. Only a few Churchill BARVs were produced, for recovering tanks on beaches, the Sherman proving better for this task."

Yes that is what I read as well. My take is that that this build is more the refined, operational version rather than a cobbled together proof of concept. Still yet to find any photographic evidence of the "real" Churchill BARV vehicles. Bound to be out there somewhere.

Getting near the end. Added the walkways, although I would really like to have a do over on that. Did not get the grain right and it is all over the place, plus the joins are lot more obvious than what I would have liked.
Sadly I did not have enough brass mesh on hand to do one piece job, that would have made it much easier to handle. Oh well it is not a competition model by any stretch.
Added grab handles around the superstructure and tow cables and some chains




Front view with pushing rig


Quick primer coat to really highlight the missed and missing bits. There are a few, so another session to fix all that.
I have been on/off about rivets vs welded for the front face. it sort of looks wrong without the rivets, so another thing on the fix list

[Old Wombat]

And rivets were so very British at the time.

[finsrin]

Struck balance on superstructure.   Right height proportion for doing BARV duties.  All touches like surrounding platform, chains. handles, etc make sense. 

[robunos]

Someone on a website claims ... true ??

"The Churchill BARV (BARV: Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicle) was a modified Churchill ARV Mk I. They had shingle plates fitted over the suspension arms and deep wading gear. Some of these had a box-shaped dummy turret. Only a few Churchill BARVs were produced, for recovering tanks on beaches, the Sherman proving better for this task."

I have a gutted Churchill too so may do something evil with it.

Just to put the cat amonst the pigeons, I found this, from 'British Tanks and Fighting Vehicles 1914-45', B.T.White, Ian Allen, ISBN 7110 0123 5, page 229 :-


"Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicles
One part of the detailed planning for the D-Day invasion of Europe included
provision for the recovery of “drowned” or disabled armour and vehicles from
the beaches, both above and below the tide level. For this work the REME
Experimental Beach Recovery Section, based at Budleigh Salterton on the Devon
coast designed and experimented with, in 1943, Churchill and Sherman Beach
Armoured Recovery Vehicles.
These early Beach ARVs were ordinary Sherman and Churchill tanks with
the gun turrets replaced by a ?xed rectangular structure and the engine air inlets
and exhaust had tall metal cowls added. The hulls were completely waterproofed
so that the vehicles could wade in up to about seven or eight feet of water. The
BARV crews were trained to use shallow diving apparatus so that towing ropes
could be attached under water to vehicles to be recovered.
The Churchill BARV was abandoned at the prototype stage since the hull
with its side entry doors needed more waterproofng attention than the Sherman
and three cowls were needed for the engine compared with the Sherman’s one."


and a (not very good) picture . . .





cheers,
Robin.

[ChernayaAkula]

Very, very cool! 

Would also work as steam-punk landship.

Front view with pushing rig

Ned Kelly has upped his game! 

[GTX_Admin]

 

[Buzzbomb]

First up,

These early Beach ARVs were ordinary Sherman and Churchill tanks with
the gun turrets replaced by a ?xed rectangular structure and the engine air inlets
and exhaust had tall metal cowls added. The hulls were completely waterproofed
so that the vehicles could wade in up to about seven or eight feet of water. The
BARV crews were trained to use shallow diving apparatus so that towing ropes
could be attached under water to vehicles to be recovered.
The Churchill BARV was abandoned at the prototype stage since the hull
with its side entry doors needed more waterproofng attention than the Sherman
and three cowls were needed for the engine compared with the Sherman’s one."

cheers,
Robin.

Robin, great image, first I have seen. Yes that looks a lot like a Churchill Mk II ARV, with deep wading gear, fully agree with the reasoning for abandoning the the Churchill as a BARV.
My take was that the Churchill got the same level of updates as the original Sherman trials vehicle did, with a superstructure, to contain the Air intakes (two large Square stacks) and removal/welding shut of the hull doors, which would be now be largely redundant. Interesting read on the REME Museum site around the use of the divers, where evidence suggests that the diving gear, was too cumbersome to scramble out of the hatches, so was largely removed and diving work done the more old fashioned way, by holding their breath.

So pretty much this is it







With its Sherman cousin, this Sherman BARV is a really old build that was cobbled together for a club display, so not really that accurate.

[Old Wombat]

That is awesome, BT!

Looks so steampunk it's scary!

[Dr. YoKai]

That is awesome, BT!

Looks so steampunk it's scary!

 Indeed! I could see this in a scale-o-rama'd version as an excellent 'Landship'. Really like the overall gray finish.

[Frank3k]

Looks fantastic - nice variations on the gray, too. The tracks look real as well.

[finsrin]

RW accurate or not BARV looks right for the job.  With Sherman BARV they complement each other.  Rivets add to character it already has.   Masterful job on tracks to look like dirty metal. 
Must admit did not know about BARV vehicles until now.

[Story]

That is one hell of a carcass renovation!