Mr. Churchill's Tank

Historical Background

The Churchill tank has its origins in General Staff specification A20, which was intended as a replacement for the Matilda and Valentine tanks. In accordance with the British infantry tank doctrine, and the experience of trench warfare during World War I, the A20 was required to be able to traverse shell-cratered grounds and demolishing infantry obstacles and fixed enemy defences. For these purposes, high speed and heavy armament were not needed. The vehicle was initially specified with two Ordnance QF 2-pounder guns, each in a side sponson, together with a co-axial 7.92mm BESA machinegun. A third BESA and a smoke projector would located at the front of the hull. The specification was later revised to include a turret and drawings were made using the Matilda turret. 

The task to build the prototypes was given to Harland & Wolff, who completed four of them in June 1940. During that time, consideration was given whether to fit a heavier gun at the front of the hull namely a 6-pounder or the French 75mm gun. In the end, a 3-inch howitzer was chosen. The powerplant was the same as with the Covenantor tank: a 300 hp flat-12 Meadows engine, causing the 43-ton A20 to be underpowered. Vauxhall was approached to provide an alternative engine which they did, using a Bedford six-cylinder lorry engine, giving 350hp. With the fall of France and all that the German Blitzkrieg entailed, the trench warfare scenario was no longer applicable, causing the A20 design to be revised. Done by Henry Merritt, the Director of Tank Design at Woolwich Arsenal, it was based on combat experience in Poland and France. The new design specification, called A22 or Infantry Tank Mark IV was given to Vauxhall in June 1940. The A22 was given the name 'Churchill', which according to Winston Churchill, was not named after him, but his ancestor, Sir John Churchill, the 1st Duke of Marlborough.

The hull of the Churchill was made up of flat plates, which were bolted in early versions and welded for later marks. The hull was split into four compartments: driving, fighting, engine and transmission. The suspension has that Great War feeling (as with the French B1), being fitted under two large panniers on each side of the hull, with the track running over the top. There were 11 bogies for each side, each carrying two 10-inch wheels. The turret is originally of cast construction and rounded in shape, armed with a Ordnance QF 2-pounder gun. The Mark I carried a 3-inch howitzer in the hull, allowing it to fulfil its infantry tank function (the 2-pounder was not provided with HE shells, being mainly intended for anti-tank work). However as with the B1, the hull gun has poor field of fire and the entire tank has to be moved to aim the gun.The Mark II dispenses with the hull howitzer and replaced it with a BESA 7.92mm machinegun. 

The Mark III introduced the Ordnance QF 6-pounder gun, improving its anti-tank capability. The turret was also enlarged with a hexagonal shape and flat sides. This gave the Churchill a better anti-tank capability against Panzer III and IV it met in North Africa. Also at that theatre, a resourceful officer named Percy Lowell managed to fit American 75mm gun, from numerous knocked-out Shermans into a Mark IV turret, creating the NA75 variant. The gun has worse anti-tank capability than the 6-pounder but with greater versatility by being able to fire HE rounds. The US 75mm is however still weak against the improved Panzer IVs and a new 75mm gun was introduced on Mark VII, which also featured another new turret. The original armour of the Churchill was originally specified to be between 16-102mm (in fact, in 1941, it was the thickest, better than the Matilda II and the KV series). By the time the Mark VII entered service, the frontal armour has increased to 152mm, with only the armour of the King Tiger and the Jagdtiger surpassing it. The only downside was that the armour plate was flat, reducing its effectiveness as compared to sloped armour plate.

With the loss of so much heavy equipment and vehicles in France and with the threat of an imminent invasion, the War Office instructed that the Churchill had to enter production in one year's time. The design was frozen in July 1940, with prototypes completed in December and in June 1940, the first production Churchills rolled off the production line. However, because of its hasty development, the tank was plagued with problems with the engine being the most apparent being unreliable, underpowered and difficult to access for maintenance. The Churchill was first used during Operation Jubilee (the Dieppe Raid) on 19 August 1942. The Canadian 14th Army Tank Battalion (Calgary Regiment) took 60 Churchills for the raid. In the event, all were lost, either being destroyed or abandoned. In North Africa, six Churchill Mark IIIs (dubbed the Kingforce detachment) saw action during the Second Battle of El Alamein, where they proved the near-invincibility of their armour. Following the successful trial, the 25th Army Tank Brigade was sent to the theatre, taking part in the Tunisian campaign. In mainland Europe, the Churchills were the mainstays of British tank brigades, operating in support of the infantry.

The Churchill also provided the basis for a number of the specialised vehicles used for Operation Overlord, colloquially known as 'Hobart's Funnies' (after the 79th Armoured Division's commander, Major General Percy Hobart), namely the AVRE (Armoured Vehicle, Royal Engineers), Crocodile flamethrower tank and the ARK (Armoured Ramp Carrier). The Churchill even saw service during the Korean War, equipping C Squadron of the 7th Royal Tank Regiment. Apart from the UK, Canada and Poland, the Churchills were also operated by the Red Army during World War 2, receiving 258 Marks III and IV (another 43 was lost when U-Boats sank their transports). Post-war, the Churchill was also used by Ireland, Australia and Iraq. In 1943, an attempt was made to produce a 17-pounder armed variant. The larger gun required an enlargement of the hull, resulting in the Infantry Tank A43 Black Prince. Six prototypes were completed when World War 2 ended but the Black Prince project was abandoned when the A41 Centurion proved to be a more simple vehicle.

The Kit

Tamiya Military Miniatures Kit 35210 is actually a re-box of kit 35100 Churchill Crocodile flame tank originally released in 1977. The Churchill Mk. VII, released in 1996 is virtually the same kit as the 1977 release (the gun Churchill can also be made OOB using the Crocodile kit). Tamiya cleaned up the moulds, remove all the Crocodile-related parts and added a new sprue with four new figures (the original figures are still there though).  The parts are spread among five sprues, an upper and lower hull and two one-piece tracks. The plastic were moulded in dark green except the new figures sprue which was moulded in light gray. On first looks however the kit exhibited all the hallmarks of an earlier-era Tamiya kit, chiefly a rather light detailing, which compares poorly with AFV Club Churchills. However, at the time of writing, the Tamiya kit is the only late-mark Churchill in the market and unless AFV Club (or anybody else) announced a new Mark VII Churchill, this kit is the only one available. There are figures galore in this kit: three crew members and a farmer figure plus the original two figures (one crew and one infantryman). Also included is a farm cart and a small clear-moulded sprue for bottles. The kit provide markings for three tanks:

1. 'Ben Nevis', 6th Guards Tank Brigade, 3rd Tank Battalion Scots Guards

2. 'Briton', 34th Tank Brigade, 107th Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps

3. 'Iceni', 3st Tank Brigade, 9th Royal Tank Regiment

Construction

While normally construction starts with the suspension, the Churchill kit started with the front armor panel. Me being a traditionalist (sort of) jumped to Step 4, that is the suspension. Tamiya moulded all the wheels and springs together with the side sponsons. While this simplify the build, it sacrificed some details on this area. Yet, it was welcomed by me as the wheels alone were in the tens! And due to its design, the idler wheel would also have to be fitted at this stage. Only after then I moved back to the front armor panel. The hull machinegun was slotted into place and the stopper was glued behind it. This allows the machine gun to swivel freely and hopefully reducing the chance of it being broken during the build. Afterwards the glacis plate and the rear panel was put into place; the headlights were however left of at this time.

I then moved on to the upper hull. The upper hull is mainly a one-piece affair but with separate front fenders. The hatches for the driver/co-driver and the side hatches were first cemented to the hull. The engine air intake were assembled but only later I realised that the armoured plates on the intakes are post-war additions. The intake grilles were solid but since I add part B14, they were mostly hidden.  The exhaust are left off as it will be painted differently from the rest of the kit, and that also means that the exhaust fairing/cover will be placed later. The tow cable, spare track links, pioneer tools and cans were also left off. The upper hull was not glued at this time. I test-fit it on the lower hull, found the fit satisfactory i.e needing no filler and left it separate to ease painting and fitting of the tracks.

The turret, as usual was the last assembled before painting. The Mark VII's turret is a composite cast / welded construction (cast sides and welded roof) and I should have enhanced the cast texture (there is basically none actually OOB) before painting, and also replace the moulded tie-downs with wire. However, I have to mention here that the Churchill was started by me years ago, got sidetracked and was only restarted several weeks before. So in my 'excitement', I forgot to redo the cast texture. Also, I am not sure whether the roof of the turret is supposed to look as it was, or needing extra weld beads or whether the fit is real bad. I cemented the roof to the turret shell as it was. Also, when I originally build this kit, I did not intend to use any of the figures, so the hatches were glued shut. The stowage box at the rear of the turret was fixed last.

Painting and Decalling

I painted the model using Mike Starmer's mix of SCC15 Olive Drab of XF-61 Dark Green, XF-62 Olive Drab (I substituted it with Gunze OD) and XF-3 Flat Yellow. For markings I chose 'Briton' as it was the most vibrant of the three available. However the decals have been left outside the protective plastic for too long and they partly disintegrated when handled. This is especially with the tank registration numbers and the tank's nickname. Also, the latter should be placed on the upper half of the engine air intake; however because of the condition of the decals and that I misplaced the first decal for the name, it was placed on the lower half of the intake. The track was painted Flat black and then washed with AK Interactive's Track Wash. They were superglued and looped around the running gear. The upper hull was then mated to the lower half. A wash using black-brown mixture was then added.

Finishing

Although the kit figures were not used (and discarded), I end up adding a figure from Miniart's British Tank Crew Set. I was thinking of adding spare track links, leftovers from the Dragon Sherman Firefly, but there were just a few left that I feel that it wasn't worth it. The rolled tent/bedroll included in the kit were painted XF-57 Buff and then stuck to the turret sides. The tow cables and the kit's spare track links were mounted on their places on the sides of the hull. The jerrican and flimsies on the rear bumper was replaced with their counterparts from Bronco's British Field Accessories Set (the kit jerrican is of American pattern, plus like the jerricans of the Tamiya M16 featured previously, lacked some details; the flimsies were aneroxic and also lack details). Since the Bronco flimsies are larger, a little surgery was done to the mount. I also added a 25-pounder ammo box and a pair of 6-pounder ammo boxes, also from Bronco. I was thinking of adding camo nets but decided not to as the build has already taken too long a time. Further weathering was restricted to an application of Mig Productions European Dust pigment.

Conclusion

Tamiya's Churchill is an old kit and really has been surpassed by the more modern AFV Club kits. However, at the time of writing, it remains the only Mark VII available in the market. However, it is still good built out of the box and with extra effort, can be on par with the newer AFV Club Churchills.