Reviewed by Glen Porter

Osprey's Modelling the Churchill Tank will be available online from Squadron.com

Mark Bannerman is almost as well known in modelling as the Churchill Tank. Obviously his writing skills are as good as his modelling, as this is a very easy book to read and understand.

The subject, on the other hand, although well known, has only been produced as a mainstream plastic kit by one company in 1/35 scale. The Tamiya Churchill Mk VII and Crocodile, a flame throwing Churchill Mk VII, have been around since the late seventies, early eighties, but stands up well against todays offerings. However, many after-market products have been released in resin, white metal (pewter) and PE, to convert the Mk VII to some of the other more common Mks. This book will show you some of these Update sets and how to use them.

Mark begins with an introduction describing the Churchill Tank itself and the many types and variants. There is then a short piece on the tools and materials he and others use on the models illustrated.

The first is a Canadian Mk III at Dieppe in 1942. Because it's a Mk VII converted back to a Mk III, Mark has used, among others, the Castoff Mk III conversion kit which includes the turret, hull front, square escape hatches and intakes. He's also scratch-built many items to make this a very accurate model.

Next comes the Churchill Crocodile, Germany 1945, built by Dinesh Ned. This time there's no major conversion work but Dinesh has used Friulmodelismo white metal tracks to replace the Tamiya rubber bands and again scratch-built many more items. A large effort has been made to show the painting and weathering for a rare British white-wash winter scheme.

After this comes a Churchill AVRE with Standard Box Girder bridge, by yet another modeller, Mark Cooper. The majority of the article is taken up with scrath-building the SBG from plastic card and base wood for the decking. Then, using the Resicast AVRE conversion and Accurate Armour resin tracks, Mark completes this very detailed model.

Last of the four main builds is a Churchill Mk V (CS) in Holland, 1945. This is a diorama by Mark Bannerman and Arthur Sekula. Mark describes the conversion of, again, the Tamiya Mk VII back to a Mk V and then his work on the various figures plus the other vehicle in the diorama, an Italeri Quad Tractor build more or less out of the box. He then details Arthur Sekula's equally excellent setting or stage as Mark calls it.

Each of these main builds has, at it's end, a composite image or photo montage of the model in a very realistic setting by Ulf Anderson, including track movement, smoke and fog giving the model an amazing look.

Next comes a Churchill Gallery of eight more Churchill variants with short descriptions by their builders, a section on Further reading and Research and a list of Kits and accessories available in all scales.

Finally, there's a short piece on Tips and Tricks, an Index and a Colour reference chart.

All in all, a very comprehensive book on the Churchill Tank with my only criticism being the lack of any involvement of the smaller scales.

Recommended to all including the Braille Scalers.

 

Modelling the Churchill Tank (Osprey Modelling 21) Author: Mark J. Bannerman US Price: $19.95 UK Price: £12.99 Publisher: Osprey Publishing Publish Date: September 10, 2005 Details: 80 pages; ISBN: 1-84176-869-3 Shop Buy it from Osprey Publishing

Review Copyright © 2005 by Glen Porter
Page Created 06 October, 2005
Last updated 06 October, 2005

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