Churchill Mk. III

This is the old but totally respectable ESCI Churchill III kit from the Eighties. Even with the advent of the new Dragon kit of the same version, I think the ESCI kit still stands up pretty well. Oddly, I always thought that the box art incorrectly labeled this kit as a Mk. IV Churchill, when on examination, it is clearly a Mk. III. I have since realized that what they were referring to was that the Churchill was actually the Infantry (type) Tank Mk IV, (verses the Cruiser type tank). The Matilda was the Infantry Tank Mk. II and the Valentine was the Mk. III. Therefore the literal name of this particular tank would be Infantry Tank Mk. IV, Churchill Mk. III. Got it?

[Even though the kit is 30+ years old, it still stands up pretty well.]

The weak points would be the molded on tools and tow cables, solid hatch handles, and simplified grates on the air intakes, but the rivet detail on those big old sponsons sure looks nice after a burnt umber wash. The molding and parts fit are both good and over all, everything looks pretty decent.

The Churchill was one of the most important British tank designs of WWII. Based on lessons learned in WWI, the tank was an antiquated design by the time it went into production in 1940. With its elongated hull designed to cross trenches, and its slow lumbering speed keeping it close to the infantry it was meant to support, the design was truly a bridge between the origins of tank warfare to the more modern concepts we've become accustomed to today. The tank's career was almost over before it began, as it became apparent that the style of war that it had been designed to fight had changed forever. Its lack of speed however did not hamper its effectiveness as much as its meager armament, which proved to be the Churchill's biggest issue while in service. The problem was that the turret was not big enough to easily accept a new gun. This led to a series of compromise solutions meant to extend the service life of this important British tank design.

The Churchill Mk. III entered service in March 1942, and introduced a new welded turret with more powerful 6pdr gun. It had a crew of five, and was powered by a Vauxhall-Bedford "Twin-Six" 12-cylinder gasoline engine that produced 350hp. The Churchill had a top speed of 15mph, 8mph cross-country, and could cross a 10ft trench. Even though it was an antiquated design, with its heavy armor and roomy interior, it was a popular choice for conversion into engineering, bridge-laying, and recovery variants, and over 5600 total units were produced.

[I feared it might be tedious, but it was a snap.]

The way the kit goes together with all those little road wheels sandwiched in the sponsons is clever and very interesting. I feared it might be tedious, but it was a snap. Everything built up pretty routinely, with the only issue I experienced coming about when I tried to install the rear drive sprockets. The axels molded into the inside of the sponson parts didn't line up. It wasn't even very close. I ended up just cutting one of the mounts off and super-gluing the sprocket to the other. It wasn't perfect, but it worked.

I used the ancient Eduard brass detail set for the Churchill, which took care of the hatch handles and added some other nice bits, including the machine gun shrouds and the storage racks on the rear fenders, but it still didn't address the air intake grates. I was going to try and make them out of brass mesh, but I ended up drilling them out by hand using a micro drill, and was satisfied with the result.

[The kit came with styrene link-n-length track.]

The Eduard set also provided the cable catches above the sponson side doors, which looked great when I installed them, however I realized they would look a lot better if the cable actually ran through them. So I took some round styrene stock and ran it through the cable holders, and blended the ends in on either side. I have read where the kit comes with both rubber band and styrene link-n-length track, but my sample, which I bought at AMPS several years ago for $5.00, only came with the styrene. They probably worked better than the rubber bands would have anyhow!

[A primer coat of Model Master Burnt Umber enamel was applied.]

[Tamiya Khaki Drab was the color of choice. ]

I applied a primer coat of Model Master Burnt Umber enamel, and worked out all the imperfections that I found. As for paint, every reference I consulted indicated that Tamiya Khaki Drab was the color of choice. Even though I prefer to use enamels, and have hardly ever used Tamiya paint for a color coat, I took the advice and used the Tamiya paint. It went down very well and I am very happy with the resulting color.

[Tamiya acrylic clear coat was applied for decals and an oil wash.]

After paint, I gloss coated everything with Tamiya clear to get ready for decals and a wash, and at this point, I decided it was probably a good time to figure out what markings I was going to use. The kit decals appeared to cover two vehicles and were... old. I was concerned that they would not stay together, but I didn't really have any other choices. To make matters worse, the ESCI instruction sheet in my kit gave no mention of the decal schemes or placement at all. I assumed there was at one point an extra page of decal information, but I figured it had vanished by the time I got the kit. Checking the web, I found other write-ups on this kit, which stated the same issue, so I guess this was the way it came.

[The decals stayed together, and went on without any problems.]

[The markings depict a 51st Royal Tank Rgt. Tunisia, 1943 tank.]

I went through all of my Churchill reference and as luck would have it, I found pictures of both tanks included on the decal sheet in David Doyle's Ampersand Publishing Churchill book. It turns out that the decal sheet provides markings for a Dieppe Raid Churchill and a Tunisian Churchill, of which I chose the latter. My luck continued to hold out as the decals stayed together, and went on without any problems. I sealed them with a clear topcoat and dull-coated the entire tank with Model Master Acryl. This was followed by a dry-brushing with the base color mixed with oils to bring out the highlights.

[The base was primed with Burnt Umber, and then feather layered with increasingly lighter shades of browns, tans and buffs with an airbrush .]

The base is a cast resin product from Washington state based Masterpiece Models. They produce four or five different styles, and over the years at different AMPS contests, I have managed to find several of them. The detail is nicer than some of the other comparable offerings from other companies, and this piece had only a few air bubbles that needed to be fixed. Sometimes I layer groundwork over these pieces, but this time I decided to just paint it so I wouldn't loose any of the fine detail. The procedure was strait forward. I primed it with Model Master Burnt Umber, and then feather layered increasingly lighter shades of browns, tans and buffs with an airbrush until I got what I wanted. I then picked out all of the rocks, twigs and stones with a handful of different colors. Next I gave it a clear acrylic topcoat, and then washed it with oils. This of course was followed by dull-coat, and dry-brushing.

[The Churchill was one of the most important British tank designs of WWII.]

[The finished turret, note the signal flags in the attached cylinder.]

This was a nice little project. Fairly simple and not very complicated. Even though the kit is 30+ years old, it still stands up pretty well to more modern offerings. I like building the older kits, especially if they are like this one. It's also nice to get this much enjoyment out of a project that cost a good bit less than $20.00. All considered, I think it is a testament to the engineering quality that went into these ESCI kits from so long ago.