Churchill Mrk III. Construction Begins.

Progress has been quite slow. I have already mentioned how I did not deliberate at length (at all) when it came to buying my first model and now I'm paying the cost. My Churchill tank is a 1:72 scale model which, as it turns out, is very small. There were about 80 pieces in total the majority of whihc were very small. The smallest pieces being 20 very small sections of track which are incredibly fiddly to work with.


Tiny pieces of track, superglue and my hands are not a nice combination. I think I may need to get a better glue made specifically for models as the super glue is rather annoying and it also hardens when it dries, affecting the look of the model. The tracks themselves were a bit irritating to make. So I haven't really completed them yet, I've done most of one as shown and haven't started the other. From the pictures of the Churchill on the box it looks to me as if the top of the track will be invisible anyway so I may leave it out. I did, however, move on to construct the tank driver who doesn't look to great to be honest; the tank body and the tank turret.

One other problem I came upon was cutting the pieces out of the rack. I only had a clumpy pair of normal everyday scissors so I had to be careful when cutting out small pieces: firstly to make sure I didn't cut them and secondly to make sure they didn't fly away across the room. All my pieces so far have been cut out safely, save one, when I was cutting out the Churchill's six-pounder it snapped in half. I managed to glue it back together and hopefully the break will not show up after painting.

Filing was also a problem especially as I didn't have a file. The pieces all had little bits of extra plastic on them from where they had been cut from the rack and also from manufacturing. Ideally these should have been filied down but as a makeshift file I used an instrument many experts in the field my cringe at. I used a disposable razor to shave away any excess plastic and it was, to some extent, rather effective.



You can sort of see the line where the gun broke. Also notice all the superglue residue and the white stain it left. Hopefully most of this won't be too noticable on the final painted piece










This picture really highlights the amateur nature of the project. Look at all the crappy white stains from the superglue and you can also srt of see how the tank man's right arm is not very neatly attached. The small machine guns were really difficult to work with when using superglue and I think I may need to purchase a pair of scissors if I'm to get things done properly (that's open for a crude joke, as is the white stains comment. This really needs to be read in context)



You can see the line running down the side of the man's head an shoulder. It should be filed away but I didnay have a file. It was also not smooth enough to use the old razot technique on so I had to leave it be. The guy isn't glued on so if I still don't like him after painting I may just get rid if him. More annoying superglue stains. That little aerial on the back was really fiddly to glue on and my bottle of superglue didn't lend itself well to delicate situations. Instead it blurted out big, awkward drops. I do quite like the look of the bag on the side thogh. The top flat to the turret didn't really fit neatly into the sides you may notice. I need a file.