Thursday 5 June 2014

PSC Churchill AVsRE

Mk. III AVsRE (Armoured Vehicles, Royal Engineers) Churchills. Models by the Plastic Soldier Company, from the new-ish Churchill box; the commander is a spare BF plastic from the Open Fire Sherman kit.


Lovely kits, great options to build different variants, etc. I don't think I will be buying any other Churchills again: save for the Mk VII/Crocodiles and the Mk I & I CS, PSC has the main variants covered exceedingly well in just a single box. Hopefully they do a Mk VIII & Crocodile box in the future, I'd buy 'em in a second.





The level of detail and crispness on these modles is superb, and without the massive weight that comes with metal and/or resin miniatures, and without the casting issues as well. I am a huge fan. Being plastic, a bit of cutting serves to remove unwanted sections of the mudguards and track guards, and there are several pieces of extra track available for use in the North-West European campaign.


Magnetised turrets FTW
I cut down the turret stubs and used a pair of rare earth magnets on each for the turrets; I just prefer magnetised turrets these days. One magnet was glued to the cut-down turret stub, the other was built into the hull with two pieces of plastic card. A bit of work, but a much better option than the normal build in my opinion. I'll detail the process later when I do the rest of the models.

The decals are markings for 9th RTR on the hull, not one of the Assault Brigades/79th Armoured Div. By using the Mk III turrets for the AVsRE, I can model a 6-pounder, 75mm or 95mm on the other turret supplied (the rounded cast-turret for the MK IV). Since the AVsRE won't be used too often, I can simply pop off the Petard turrets and replace them with another type, thus saving the need for another model.


A few quick comparison shots with a BF Churchill below.








I have eight more vehicles to do, probably in the famous "tiger stripe" camo on Mk III Churchills used by the 145th Royal Armoured Corp in Tunisia. A quite attractive scheme and one I've always wanted to paint. The more standard overall SCC2 Brown used by other units is also a contender.

Then there is also King Force at El Alamein; more Churchills with a unique scheme. And then there's the Canadians at Dieppe. And more Churchills in Italy. And Normandy/North-West Europe. So many options, I may need several more boxes...

CdlT

9 comments:

  1. Fantastic painting as always...

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  2. I've also just put together some PSC AVRE tanks. Can't wait to get them painted up. Yours look amazing.

    Would love to see your take on some Kingforce Churchills and your version of the canvas screen dodgers they used (until they realised that removing the front fenders was far more effective.).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Dai. I think the I'll have to do the Tunisia "tiger stripe" first, but Kingforce is definitely on the to-do list.

      CdlT

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  3. I really like the colour and painting.

    Well done.

    Tony

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  4. I just got these as well along with the PSC LW Infantry. Beautiful work on Beautiful models!

    Troy

    ReplyDelete

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