AFV Club Churchill MKIII Dieppe build log - interior scratch work complete below top of hull

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.

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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 .

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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

















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Beautiful work. You’ve really hit your stride. This is amazing for a first-timer!

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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.

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@Mead93 did you find a wiring diagram for the turret?

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

Finally have the scratch work done below the hull top. All that’s left is a cushion for the gunners seat, and wiring, both of which will be done after painting.

Since the last update I added the battery charging into, a hellesen lamp, the drivers controls, and narrowed the turret ring. The turret ring in the kit is .1” too large in diameter so I added .05” strip stock to make it back to scale.

















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This is looking great, very inspiring. Keep up the great work!! I will find my other churchill book and find the turret wiring layout as soon as I can.

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Thanks for your comments on the build!

A wiring diagram would be most appreciated! No rush though, I’m probably going to prime and spray the aluminum color for the interior, then build up my spitfire for a bit of break from cutting styrene

@mead I found the book and it only has a wiring diagram for a mk. VII and VIII turret, it may still be of some use though. Here they are:


Hope they help. I have more drawing references of the turret and guns etc if you need, but seems like you are all over it. Keep up the great work!

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These are great thanks! Some of the details don’t appear in the mkIII but the radio wiring looks like it will be very useful! Drawings of the gun would be great! The only drawings I have are from one angle and it doesn’t show the breach block very well.

I would also take the turret ones if you don’t mind. More references is always great!

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No worries, I will take some this morning and post what I have. It is a really good book. Leave it with me.

The book was originally published in 1944 as the technical manual, so may not relate directly to the mk. III, but still should hopefully of some assistance to you.

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Thanks a bunch!

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Mead, you are a madlad doing all that scratch build! Well done sir, looks amazing!

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Great scratch building.

Cheers,
Ralph

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