Churchill Gun Carrier | Airfix & Scratch | 1/76

 Lately, I had been building models straight out of the box, and it started to feel a bit monotonous. I wanted to take on a more challenging project. With that goal in mind, I chose Airfix’s 1/76 Churchill Bridge Layer kit as the base for a full custom build of the Churchill Gun Carrier I had in mind.

I found technical drawings of the Churchill Gun Carrier online and used them to roughly determine the dimensions. I then cut the necessary materials from Evergreen plastic sheets based on those measurements.

Since the tank’s structure mainly consisted of flat surfaces, I thought this would be an easy task and started gluing the sheets. I began by estimating the position of the gun opening on the front and cutting a circular hole.

Afterward, I added the side and rear plates. There were some misalignments, but I didn’t worry too much since I planned to fix them later. The fixed turret of the tank had a forward slant, which I created by sanding the upper part.

I closed off the top of the turret as well, applying manual pressure to create the needed slant and making sure the top panel sat flush with the sides. Some areas had small gaps, which I filled with putty and later sanded smooth.

Once I completed the main turret structure, I added extra panels to the turret sides to replicate the proper protrusions. I also scratch-built or sourced various detail parts based on reference images and glued them into place.

I had overlooked the fact that the rotating turret socket was supposed to be circular. Since it was too late to modify, I covered the area with a canvas tarp made from Parafilm.

There were also rivet lines on the turret. These were supposed to be raised, but due to scale limitations, I lightly drilled indentations to simulate them instead.

I primed the tank in grey and initially painted it stone color, aiming to do a Malta camouflage. However, the brushwork didn't yield good results, so I switched to a three-tone desert camouflage.

For this, I used olive green and sky blue. At first the colors seemed too light, but after some adjustments (perhaps too dark), I’ve realized that I now prefer painting my tanks in lighter tones.

Once the main paint job was done, I began painting the smaller details. The towing hook on the side of the tank was almost flush with the surface, making it quite difficult to paint without errors. Aside from that, I painted the rest of the details without issue.

Finally, I corrected paint mistakes by hand and applied a coat of gloss varnish. After drying, I added decals from a Polish Army set and varnished the model again. 

To unify the tones—especially since the blue was too glossy and the other colors were more matte—I applied filters. First, I used white oil paint as a base filter. High-quality oil paints are essential in modeling; I use Winton, which is expensive but lasts a lifetime.

After the white filter, I applied a yellow filter to help blend the tones, and finally a burnt sienna filter to add a dusty appearance.

Next, I applied oil paint effects—a classic technique. I dotted different colors across the surfaces. On vertical areas, I streaked the paint downward with a brush. On flat surfaces, I blended it in circular motions.

I used white, blue, yellow, green, and burnt sienna oils. These helped break up color monotony and simulate grime and stains. I may have used too much white spirit, causing some areas to become overly diluted.

After the oil paints dried, I noticed inconsistencies in the wheel camouflage—some wheels had dual-tone transitions, which didn’t look intentional. I repainted each wheel in a single solid color, which looked more realistic.

I waited two days to let the oil paint fully cure. One of the main challenges with oil paints is their slow drying time. They may seem dry on the surface, but if you work over them too soon, they can smudge or lift. My trick is to apply oil paints before I’m on call duty, so the model has time to dry while I’m away.

Once dry, I moved to washes. The areas I had scratch-built were more prominent, so it was important to enhance them with washes and dry brushing. I used diluted black enamel wash by Humbrol, which gave great results without overly darkening the base colors.

Still, the scratch-built parts didn’t blend in perfectly due to lack of proper mounting surfaces. Glue had leaked out, and washes pooled unevenly. To fix this, I applied a tiny amount of black oil paint with a toothpick and gently spread it using a brush with some white spirit—faking a more natural wash. 

After finishing the wash, I sealed the model with matte varnish. The rough surface it creates helps pigments and effects grip better.

I started with sponge chipping using anthracite and Vallejo Chipping paints—careful not to overdo it. Excessive chipping can quickly look unrealistic.

I started with sponge chipping using anthracite and Vallejo Chipping paints—careful not to overdo it. Excessive chipping can quickly look unrealistic.

Then I applied dust effect liquids to the wheels, tracks, front, and rear areas. These days, I avoid heavy mud effects; dusty finishes look more realistic in this scale.

Light rust streaks were added to the side and front surfaces. Previously I used oils for this, but now I preferred subtle enamel streaks. I applied a general wash with a desert tone product, but doing it late in the process unfortunately erased some earlier effects.

Lastly, I added soot effects to the exhaust and gun barrel. I lightly weathered the rear with rust tones and added dry brushing and washes to the side tarps. Once everything was dry, I highlighted edges with a pencil to add subtle metallic sheens.

Overall, this was a fun and rewarding project. Despite a few mistakes in painting and weathering, I was pleased with the result. I placed the model in the display cabinet and moved on to the next one.