Alright either I’m a wizard, okay at measuring or I got super lucky. I’m going with option 3. The turret basket floor fits with zero interference. Only the oil can was a problem but I’ve read reviews of the ITA kit where it was too. I’m not convinced it was actually placed where the diagrams indicate there isn’t nearly enough clearance from the turret floor to hull floor to allow it.
Not sure I would want to crew one. It looks extremely cramped in that hull.
Yet another interesting party I’m unfashionably late for, apologies. This raid has always baffled me – not surprisingly Von Runstedt & staff (having recovered a copy of the Operation Jubilee plan kindly brought ashore by Brig. Southam on the day) found it “incomprehensible…not a plan but more a position paper.” If the idea was to test German coastal defence and learn lessons for how to launch a full-scale invasion, didn’t anyone in Allied High Command point out that the exercise would deliver exactly the same lessons to the Germans so they could upgrade their defences? Another reason for the raid was to “show support to Russia & commitment to opening a second front”. Stalin probably seriously considered surrendering when he saw his allies were only capable of mounting a farcical fiasco. A subsidiary mission was to capture a 4-rotor Enigma machine from German HQ in the port, but that failed too. Over 3,600 Canadian & British lives thrown away, plus the RAF losses which far exceeded the Luftwaffe’s.
The lessons learned were apparently: preliminary bombardment (didn’t they figure that out in WW1?), surprise (duh?), proper intelligence re fortifications (duh?), avoiding frontal attack on heavily defended port (duh?), proper re-embarkation craft (duh?) What’s interesting about that list is that it did NOT include Deception – if there was one element to Overlord that contributed more than any other to its success it was Operation Fortitude, and there were enough clever people to work that out without sending a dinghy over to Dieppe.
Anyhow we’re here because you’re making a deeply researched and excellent replica of Blossom & the interior’s impressive already. You mentioned the cramped space, somewhere I’ve read tank crew had to be under 5ft 8ins or thereabouts & that’s why. Looking forward to seeing how you depict this on a base, great work 
Yeah it’s probably one of the poorest planned raids that happened. For all the reasons you mention. Another thing that puzzles me, is that Dieppe was the first (as far as I know) offensive use of Churchill’s. The MkIII was also fairly new and had some important upgrades. Why send them on a raid where this new technology would surely be captured and thoroughly examined by the Germans. Not that the Churchill was some revolutionary design by I can’t understand why you’d throw new secret weapons at a operation with little plan of how to get them home.
Thanks for your comments on the build! I am really happy I decided to scratch the interior. It seemed very daunting at first but it’s gone fairly smoothly after the first few hiccups.
The size of crew would would make sense. Turret is exactly 5 feet 8 inches from roof to turret floor. The other crazy thing to me is how they packed things into literally every corner. The clearance between the machine gun ammo boxes at the back and on the side walls, and the turret floor is very tight.
Given the dire state of the war for the Allies in mid ’42 Dieppe must have been an act of desperation - which is why it should never have been actioned because of the propaganda bonanza to the Germans if failed, let alone the loss of life & equipment. Although I guess it could be argued it lulled the Germans into what turned out to be a false sense of security. As for the crews & the space, the only saving grace was you couldn’t be thrown more than a few inches inside before you hit something, so unless receiving a direct hit they only needed a bonsai first aid kit?
Yes interiors can take on a life of their own especially when you’re doing the hard scratch yards & it can become the most satisfying part of a build. I could never tolerate how little would be visible which is why I blew up the few tanks I did interiors for, so it could all be seen even though totally wrecked! But you’ve got the best possible prospect, every reason to have all hatches open. Best of luck, it’s looking terrific
I’ve often imagined the planning of Dieppe as sounding like a Monty Python sketch. Imagine John Cleese and Eric Idle in British officers uniforms:
“Alright, after Dunkirk the only troops in the country that still have rifles are the Canadians.”
“Right! Let’s throw them out on a German shore for no apparent reason then!”
Hahaha sounds about right. I can picture it in my head.
The thing that baffles me is the seeming lack of concern for how those poor fellows would get back off the beach. It wasn’t like the reinforcing Germans would kindly help them back on the boats
Alright teaser of my weekend work. This weekend was very unproductive. It was my first attempt at soldering since high school. All I had was my dads soldering gun I borrowed for the weekend. This is too large and bulky for more delicate model work. If I get more serious about scratch building and PE I’ll probably buy a proper solder iron.
The two things that required soldering were the second ammo rack, and the cover for the battery charger. The second ammo rack was much more difficult than the first, due to it having curved edges and a more unique shape requiring I work with brass and solder. To do this I made a frame from styrene to give me an idea of shape and size. I then made two brass pieces, one for the ammo rack back and sides, and one for the front. The curves were made by wrapping .005” brass sheet around a .1” (or closer to there) drill bit. The two halves were then soldered together. I’m really happy with how it turned out. It took a long time but oh well.
I also managed to finish all the components for the turret basket floor, and last night I epoxied the two brass supporting rods for the turret basket in place, shimmed the turret basket in the hull to the correct position, and let the epoxy cure so the the brass rods would dry with the correct angle. I’ll post pictures of that later. At this point I have 99% of the detail below the hull line done. Just a few detail pieces to add. I should have everything scratched up below the top of the hull by tonight. Then I may take a break and crack open my spitfire.
I am just aghast and agog. It would take me 20+ tries to get that finished product and you get it right on the first go. Absolutely incredible work for anybody, much more so that you have never done scratchbuilding before. Really outstanding, incredible work and I can’t believe (in a positive way) that you pulled this off on the first try. Congratulations man. I love it.
Thanks man! This little piece was easily the most challenging part. I don’t love working with brass, and the wrong tool for the job didn’t help. Im pretty happy with how it turned out though!
It seems that the British high command has no problems with assigning foolish attacks to the
dominion armies.
While this is a true statement, Dieppe is an even bigger tragedy because we literally begged to be involved.
Canada’s involvement in Dieppe was as much political as it was practical. We’d been in the war for 3 years at this point and excluding Hong Kong and a brief cross channel vacation leading up to Dunkirk, Canadian ground forces basically hadn’t fired a shot in anger.
The Imperial General Staff had been doing their best to husband Canadian forces until now initially as practically the only forces equipped to deal with an invasion of Britain had it happened, and then basically teeing them up to be the eventual sledgehammer for an invasion of the continent.
There were however massive pressures from the home front as well as senior force commanders to get Canada into the fight. Even once it was clear that Dynamo was probably going to be a shambles once the RAF and RN withdrew their already paltry support for the operation, we were going no matter what so we could put on a dog and pony show.
It’s the same mindset that lead to 1st Canadian Division being cleaved off and sent to participate in Husky despite objections from command that dividing Canadian assets would hamper the inevitable return to France as well as create a logistical nightmare.
No argument there, but the sad truth is that home-grown British troops were sacrificed by the same less competent (and/or plain unlucky) commanders in far greater numbers than dominion forces in every conflict where both participated. Lest we forget.
I just read a book about the battle for Malaya and what a sad story of incompetence and wishful thinking. Lots of Indian and Australian soldiers lost there.
Ok . Now your just showing off with some great skills… by all means keep showing off . Im lovin this .
Thanks Chris! I’m having a good time with it, it’s definitely a grind though!
As promised more pictures from the interior, mostly done below the top hull line. I have to scratch up some of the wiring still, the hellesen lamp, and the battery charger which I was finally able to get pictures of. Then I’m done the hull interior and turret bottom interior and it’s on to painting. Got the jack done today, it isn’t my best work but I tried to similar the screw texture
Beautiful work. You’ve really hit your stride. This is amazing for a first-timer!
Thanks man! I’m having a lot of fun with it. I know a lot of it will be hidden, but it’s good practice, and I think it’s going pretty well.
That I do not have, David fletchers book has a few line drawings that shows some of the wiring, but not a detailed wiring diagram
