Crocodile (Churchill - Flame Thrower Tank) - Tamiya 1/48

Yes, it’s true, I have been seduced again by the temptation of the Tamiya range of 48th scale armour kits. Whilst I have always considered myself a 35th scale armour modeller, it blows my mind just how many 48th scale kits I have in the display cabinet. I won’t go into numbers, but safe to say there is a lot.

 The main reason I love them is they are so easy to build and the scale is just small enough to not have to go over the top with additional detailing, but large enough to be able to execute some tried and true painting techniques to help bring the model to life. The ease of construction also means after only a few hours of build time you are generally ready to start painting, and for me that is where the most joy in the hobby comes from.

 I have had this Crocodile, half built, sitting on the shelf of doom for a while now. If the truth be told, I ran out of motivation due to the thought of trying to make a mono-tone British tank look interesting in this scale. It’s a funny thing isn’t it? You would think the German tri-tone and other multi-colour paint jobs would present the biggest challenge to the modeller, but sometimes the most simple of paint schemes can actually be the hardest to pull off in scale.  The depth of the British green is particularly difficult to bring to life and still maintain the correct tone inthe finish. I have never found that to be the case with Olive Drab or the 4BO the Russian vehicles wore, but the Dark Green is a beast unto itself.

 I’d seem some really fantastic examples online of pigment work on Churchills and made the decision that this build was going to be a test bed to try out some new techniques and bring my Crocodile to life through the use of pigments and oils. So, with that in mind I began the journey.

Hello, World!

A knocked out Crocodile from the Assault on Boulogne, are from the 3rd Canadian Division