1/35 AFV Club Churchill Mk V

[speedgraflex]

Thomas,

Your work is phenomenal! The push-pull of textures, what looks like actual mud and earth clotting the tracks, and splattering the undercarriage... how was this done? I have seen attempts before, never such successful emulation of the effects of rolling through softened earth with who knows how many tonnes of metal, sinking its metal into the soft ground and spinning fragments up into the air...! Good golly! The Roy Sutherland mix should be named after you. The surfaces of the tank are immaculately recreated. You tamed a painted steel beast, truly, with an award winning presentation! These are the hands of a Master at work! And your photography is superb. I know only as much as Wikipedia allows about the Churchill Mk V, only as much as a build review by the Perth Military Modeling site tells me about building an AFV kit, but I am seeing beautiful frames sculpted by a great craftsman with sensitivity to form and details. I particularly enjoy the two spades onboard, one positioned akimbo by the design of the deck frame, perhaps... what a rendition of history. Salutations! Congratulations! Champagne! Beer! A good night's rest! Proud of you, Thomas! All the best,

[Stikpusher]

That is gorgeous!!! at least as far as a Churchill can be so...

You captured to look and essence of that tank perfectly!

[Jeeves]

Easily my most favorite WWII tank- nicely done!!

[Thomas_M]

...The only letdown in my eyes are the two MG-barrels. Painting them gunmetal and giving them a slight bore on the tip would be a nice addition me thinks.

I had some hopes nobody would notice this...
I ususally do such things, drilling the muzzles open or even better, replace by metal barrels. Only, here I wasn´t in the situation to do such things. I am now sitting in the corner, with a bag on my head...

[Thomas_M]

Bruce, as usual I am more than jealous on your so poetic writing! Really, I wished I could express myself as you can do!

Thank you all for your comments! This build got a little fighting with me towards the end, as it got somehow hard to achieve the "usual" weathering effects.

...The push-pull of textures, what looks like actual mud and earth clotting the tracks, and splattering the undercarriage... how was this done?...

Bruce, I for the first time tried two products from Vallejo:

- 73.807 European Mud:

(Source: Modellbau König http://www.modellbau-koenig.de)

and

-73.826 Mud and Grass:

(Source: Modellbau König http://www.modellbau-koenig.de)

I like last one most. Way to go for more tank kits!

[Stikpusher]

I am going to look for that mud and grass effect at a shop nearby that carries those products. I love that look on your build and remember cleaning off lots of that stuff of my tracks once upon a time. Thanks for sharing how you did that.

[Thomas_M]

You are welcome, Carlos! One thing about what I like to do is to learn from other modellers, and even more, to share knowledge.

[dmminiatures]

Congratulation on the build, Thomas. I saw your WIP and the finished model album. I love both of it. All the elements played its parts. I really like the work that you did on the exhaust and pioneer tools (shovels). my only suggestion is that I think an antenna on the turret would be a nice addition.

Thanks for the info on the mud/grass bottle (I did it the hard way) and nice to see how the product came out.

Monty

[Thomas_M]

Monty,
thank you so much!
An antenna? Hmm... If only I could trust myself not to break it...

[LyleW]

Wow. That is all.