Australian Churchill MkVIII in Korea

[Buzzbomb]

Awaiting feedback from the Moderator as my idea (the lone idea I have at the moment) would be for a kit that is basically already built out of the box, not painted but would require mods for the subject I have in mind.

[GTX_Admin]

Mod has approved

[Buzzbomb]

During the Korean War, the Australian Army contingent took zero Armoured vehicles.
At that time the Churchill was equipping the Armoured Regiment, with other WW2 era tanks such as the Grant. It would appear that the powers to be considered the Churchill unsuitable for Korea.
The Brits thought otherwise and took some Churchill Crocodiles, which appeared to mostly perform as gun tanks.

So.. what if the Australians did send some Churchills to Korea, including the Mk VIII version of which Australia received the Crocodile version



So after checking with GTX, I got the okey dokey to use this completed out of the box Churchill Crocodile, because really, it would have ended up here either starting now or earlier.
There will be a bit of modification done from this starting point



Add in a bit of 95mm Close Support business, ex a Tamiya Centaur


Lets move forward, after a bit of backwards from here

[Volkodav]

 

[Old Wombat]

 

[Claymore]

Bring it on! 

[Dr. YoKai]

 From what little I have read about the Churchill, it was popular in Italy precisely because of it's climbing ability. Given the Terrain of much of the Korean peninsula, I can see it being successful there. And I have always like the CS versions of just about every British tank.

[Buzzbomb]

Doc, you are right about the climbing ability, this is also a great reason to take it Korea


After a short trip away, back at the bench
Cleared out some left over turret builds from the spares box


The easiest way is to just use the standard Tamiya Mk VII Turret and ignore the fact that the Mk VIII turret roof was a bit higher and the turret a smidge longer.

Ok tried to ignore that... and failed.  So the modified turret with the extra 4 odd inches added to the length and the roof a bit flatter and the mantlet opening squared off to accommodate the 95mm weapon.


Bog it up and see how it looks after the sanding once it cures.

[Claymore]

 

[Old Wombat]

 

[Buzzbomb]

Most of the turret work done
Scratched up a new 95mm gun barrel, to fit better in the Tamiya mantlet bits.
Textured up the turret after the mods and various bits from the spares from AFV Club bits and old Resicast bits, like the turret bin, which , of course, was a different design for the Mk VIII



Added some Hydran type post war smoke launchers, to give a point of difference, they were fitted to vehicles from 1946 onwards, with some conjecture that some were fitted very late WWII. I figured that once the Australians saw the Centurions, which were next on the list, they need to have some too on their in theater vehicles.

I am considering having a flexible .30 US MG on the commanders cupola.  Australia used .303 for all the infantry weapons, the Churchill already has the 7.92mm BESA as its guns, adding a further type just adds to the supply issues. However cool it might look.
Might just throw a Bren up there, that fits more in keeping with available weapons. But not the ridiculous Lakeman mount

[Frank3k]

The turret looks great, so far. A Bren would be a good fir.

The 7.92mm BESA cartridge should fit some Bren MG. Is the standard .303 cartridge similar?

[Old Wombat]

The 7.92mm BESA cartridge should fit some Bren MG. Is the standard .303 cartridge similar?

No, the BESA used the 7.92mm Mauser cartridge, which was rimless, while the .303 (7.7mm) British cartridge is rimmed

[Jeffry Fontaine]

What if the coaxial machine gun was swapped out and replaced with a .303" Browning?  Then the addition of a second .303" Browning on top of the turret would be complimentary and the logistics tail would be resolved. 

The other option would be to incorporate the M1919 Browning in 7.62X63 (30.06) in both locations and achieve the same goals. 

[Buzzbomb]

What if the coaxial machine gun was swapped out and replaced with a .303" Browning?  Then the addition of a second .303" Browning on top of the turret would be complimentary and the logistics tail would be resolved. 

The other option would be to incorporate the M1919 Browning in 7.62X63 (30.06) in both locations and achieve the same goals.

The Churchill NA75 version did use the .30 MG as part of the fitting the Sherman 75mm gun system, the swap out of the hull MG BESA to .30 followed to standardise the ammo.

Still flip flopping on this, I have retyped this three times to prove it.
 As I am doing the Crocodile version (so I do not have to remove all the Crocodile fittings), there is no bow MG, although they were supposed to be quickly interchangeable. So that leaves the Co-ax as the only MG with a hard fitting.
Stay tuned.. it will appear one way or the other.

[Claymore]

Nice work on the turret. 

Swapping the turret BESA for a Browning sounds like sense but then again no one has ever accuse the military mind of taking decisions that made sense.  The British recce Cromwells deployed to Korea kept their BESAs even though the Centurions which made up the bulk of the armoured units were armed with co-axial Brownings.  I suppose the logic was that if the logistics chain had to support different main gun ammunition, it might just as well also support different MG ammunition.  Probably never crossed their minds to do anything different! 

[Buzzbomb]

Stayed with the BESA, there is a whole lot of training to consider as well. Using that classic military catch all clause.. Doctrine 

So this is just about it.
Updated the old Tamiya 4 Gallon 2 Gallon cans with more accurate types and switched out the single Jerry Can holder for a triple installation

Final Turret mods, second extractor and stowage



Finally, decided to put on a flexible Bren as a utility MG on a turret mount on the commander Cupola, the Bren I have will probably change as it is a Universal Carrier mount and this will need some vertical axis

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Where did you source the stowage bin at the rear of the turret? 

Nice details and BESA or Browning, a machine gun is still a machine gun. 

[Buzzbomb]

Where did you source the stowage bin at the rear of the turret? 

It is a left over Resicast bit from an ancient Resicast conversion for the Churchill NA75

Initial painting underway

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Where did you source the stowage bin at the rear of the turret?

It is a left over Resicast bit from an ancient Resicast conversion for the Churchill NA75

Initial painting underway

Thanks for the source information.  I always liked the shape and size of that bin and thought it would work well on other vehicle types beyond the Churchill. 

[Buzzbomb]

Thanks for the support team.
Some shots of the tank just about finished, some little bits to go on. Or not.





Resin figures from a set a buddy has purchased for the 3D printer, there about 6 poses, all basically the same with different heads and arm poses. For some reason the sculptor put webbing on  It came off nicely though
the poses are a bit wooden, but it could be said that for Brit mid-late war Tank figures, for in a hatch, you would not need any others, just mix and match this lot around.


Still a few touch ups before the final okey dokey.

[apophenia]

Thanks for the support team.
Some shots of the tank just about finished, some little bits to go on. Or not.

Still a few touch ups before the final okey dokey.

And she is looking awesome already! Very nice work 

[Old Wombat]

The finished pic's will be the kicker, but she's looking fantastic right now! 

[Claymore]

As always, looking great. 

[Dr. YoKai]

That came out beautiful.