"Churchills without Skirts" Topic

Hi:
I've got about a dozen Churchills done of various types, mostly Airfix conversions, and was curious if good British soldiers took the skirts off, how hard it would be to cut the skirts off and what they'd look like? I'm looking at III's and IV NA's for this conversion.

Do you mean the track covers above the tracks? The Churchill didn't have skirts in the conventional sense.

If so, they were designed to be easily removed for routine track maintenance and they were often left (either totally or partially). They also tended to get knocked off by banks, walls, trees, blast and debris carried up by the tracks at the rear.

Here's a factory-fresh Mk IV NA75 with all the panels intact:

Here's a Mk IV NA75 with some of the track cover-panels removed:

And here's a Mk IV NA75 with most of the track cover-panels removed:

There's also a nice shot of a Mk VII and a Mk IV AVRE here, showing partial removel of panels:

I often model Churchills with some of the track covers removed, although it makes riding on the back of the tank a tad dangerous for the PBI:)

Throws mud all over the commander too.

If I wanted to see someone without a skirt, Churchill would not be my first choice.

LOL, I wouldn't even want to see him IN a skirt!!

I read that the center section of the track guard was frequently removed because if damaged it could foul the turret traverse.

Excellent! I've got some work to do with a Dremel…

The Mk I & II didn't have the track covers. But I'm not sure they saw combat service.

link

Mk I & II did have track covers:

However, they were frequently photographed without them, so one can only assume that they were commonly removed.

Mk I & II, as well as Mk I CS, Mk II CS and Mk II Oke did see action at Dieppe and in North Africa. They also continued in service as command and CS tanks in Italy until late 1944.

Here's a Mk II Oke flamethrower tank at Dieppe (note flamethrower nozzle mounted on front-left 'horn'):

Here's another Mk II Oke at Dieppe:

Here's a Mk I at Dieppe (note 3-inch CS howitzer mounted in hull):

Here's a damaged Mk I CS in Italy (note two 3-inch CS howitzers and track covers):

Finally got the Churchill III done:

I'd forgotton how much of a PITA the suspension was. Many if not most of the pins didn't make it into the little holes. Fortunately a good coat of glue will hold it together. Also got a staple exposed on the other side. I tried to remove the cover from one of the horns, but accidently cut it off; there's not enough material under the cover to trim it back, and I'm not skilled enough to build a replacement. The turret is a donor from Blitzkrieg Miniatures (thanks very much). I still have to make a square door out of cardstock to cover up the round one, and for a hack like me a good coat of paint will hide all ills…

I read somewhere that the track covers near the turret were often removed as they had a tendency to foul the turret traverse if they got loose/were damaged, which as relatively thin metal they probably did a fair bit.

Yes they did. They also had a problem with rubbish being carried up by the tracks and doing the same thing – several tanks in the Reichswald were put out of action by pieces of wood being carried up and slowly levering off the turret.

Note the left-hand mudguard on the tank below – it's started to be damaged by wood carried up by the track:

Hi Murvihill,

Thank you for the kind words, turret looks great on the tank too.

kind regards

Paul
blitzkriegminiatures.com

Thats why I asked Paul at Blitzkriegminiatures to bring out Churchills with optional "Horns" (fenders) so the gamer can choose whether to add them or not.

His Churchills are excellent by the way.