Churchill AVRE with SBG Bridge Diorama BIG REVEAL

[DRUMS01]

Thanks to everyone who followed the individual builds of the Churchill AVRE / Bridge and the one for the diorama. You remarks were helpful in both motivation, and for critique and suggestions. I guess Jarrod and I are saying that these results would not have been achieved without all of you. It's been a long time coming, but now... the results are in, we present our finished product:

SUBJECT: British Churchill AVRE Vehicle with SBG Bridge
MODEL: AFV Club Churchill AVRE with SBG Bridge
SCALE: 1/35
BUILD DATES: Oct 17, 2023 - SEP 15, 2025

OTHER ITEMS:
- Minicraft British WW2 Tank Crew
- Masterbox British WW2 Paratroopers
- Resicast Churchill Stowage
- Tamiya German MG Troops and Accessories
- Tamiya Jerry Cans
- Master Box British infantry Weapons
- Minicraft French Concrete Road Signs
- Minicraft Farm Cart and Accessories
- Minicraft Wood Barrels and Accessories
- Dragon MG42 Team and Accessories
- Alli-Express 3d printed German Figures
- Alli-Express 3d printed British Soldiers at Rest
- Alli-Express 3d printed Standing British Infantry
- 1/35 Various Resin Nuts and Bolts
- 1/35 Brass Ammo Cartridges
- Peddinghaus British WW2 Uniform Insignia
- Tamiya German WW2 Uniform Insignia
- Eduard brassin BREN Mk1 Machine Gun
- Eduard Brassin MG Barrel on Churchill Tank
- 14" x 18" Frame for Diorama Base
- 1/4" Foam Board
- 1 1/2 Insulation Foam
- Milliput Putty (Terrain and Sand Bags)
- Various dimension Bass wood Strips (Bridge)
- SLON by Beadsmith Nylon Bead Rope
- Scratch built metal T-Buckle on Bridge Hoist
- Aluminum Tube to Reinforce Cable Couplings
- Various Landscape Products by Various Manufacturers
- Organic Material for diorama foliage and Trees
- Various Scale Simulated Resin Multi-colored Tree Leaves
- Various Glues: Tamiya, CA Cements, Landscape Glue and Spray
- Vallejo Diorama FX Brown and Dark Earth
- Tamiya, Model Master, Vallejo, and Watercolor Paints
- Tamiya and Hobby Lobby Pastels
- Coremake Resin Colored Water Paste (River/Lake)
- JTT Clear and Blue Resin Water
- And Other Stuff I Can't Remember...

MODIFICATIONS:
- Added scratchbuilt poly caps to replace those missing in the kit
- Replaced tow cable stowage trough above access doors on panniers with spare PE
- Modified front suspension to simulate load weight of bridge
- Scratchbuilt small spring for mortar barrel to replace part missing from kit
- Scratchbuilt metal t-buckle and added metal tube over plastic to reinforce cable couplings
- Replaced kit cloth thread with SLON nylon bead rope to simulate steel cables
- Replaced kit intake brace rods with metal, kit parts damaged in shipment
- Replaced kit tow cable with SLON nylon rope
- Replaced kit MG on front of tank chassis with Eduard brass version
- Added pioneer tools and fire extinguishers to tank chassis (not in instructions)
- Added driving and tactical lights (not in instructions)
- Added exhaust bracing (not in instructions)
- Added Minicraft tank crew (some slightly modified)
- Added various Resicast resin stowage items to chassis and turret
- Added steel guitar string cut to length for antennas
- Sealed 14x18 base with acrylic over white glue
- Designed from scratch foam levels of terrain
- Designed from scratch wood bridge with bass wood strips
- Added Mulliput to smooth contours of terrain
- Added foam insulation pieces to simulate rocks
- Created sandbags and defensive positions from Milliput
- Created grenade craters through baseboard of diorama
- Created all foliage, and trees with organic and purchased "stuff"
- Built, Modified, and added Farmer Cart, and Cement Sign
- Created tree roots using Milliput
- Added Five Layers of Paint, Grass, and Foliage to Base
- Created all straps, slings, chin straps, etc. with lead foil
- Built up and added all figures
- Built up and added all resin stowage and tarps, supplies

REFERENCES:
Wikipedia, British Churchill AVRE Tank with SBG Bridge
Churchill Tank 41-56 Haynes Manual
Churchill Tank 41-45, David Doyle
The Story of British Military Bridging, J. H. Joiner


Churchill AVRE and SBG Bridge Build String: viewtopic.php?t=31025

Diorama Build String: viewtopic.php?f=29&t=31290


CHURCHILL, THE BEGINNING:












DIORAMA, THE BEGINNING:


PROGRESS PHOTOS:








LET THERE BE TREES:








FIGURING IT OUT:




SLINGS AND THINGS:


STUFF:


Wehrmacht Detonator, or Gluhzundapparat 37; another "official" name used by WW2 Allied doctrine is a German Type 37 Field Exploder.:


FULL DISPLAY, FINAL REVEAL:

(To Be Posted soon! Developing photos as I type this).......

[digger303]

Until presented with the list of materials used I didn't think about it until now. Thats a lot.

[Stokesy44]

Amazing to bring all that stuff together. I cant believe its been 2 years either. What a tour de force in modelling brilliance.

[Quax]

a tour de force of a dio, definitely one of the best there's ever been on here!

Paul

[bfrd]

Astounding results! Such attention to detail.

[DRUMS01]

I agree digger... I knew I bought a lot of stuff, but as I was purchasing it, there didn't seem to be the quaitity of items as shown on the list.

And to be honest Stokesy, I took a couple small detours along the way, for example, the little BMW motorcycle with rider. But even then, this took way longer than I originally anticipated. As for a tour de force, I don't think so, as I can still find several things to do, but eventually you have to say enough is enough.

Thanks Quax and bfrd, as I already said, it is really not all that, as I see things still to do. Perhaps some day I will go back and do those things to, but as of today... it is D-O-N-E.

After some time, I've finally cleaned up and cropped the reveal photos, enjoy!









































As always, thanks for following along, for the support, and the feedback.

Now it's time for something new!

v/r,

Ben and Jarrod

[bfrd]

Holy cow! The natural sunlight really add to it.

[digger303]

Marvellously well done. It might not seem much after it's done, but getting the cables all tight like there is some weight in the bridge is critical and you nailed it. Not to mention the myraid of other details from the tree's to the packs, it's all done very well.

[Quax]

Paul

[RangerNeil]

Thats an amazing build - congratulations!! You and Jarrod have pulled a blinder with this one, going to be hard for you to top it. But I look forwards to seeing what comes next.

[DRUMS01]

Thanks BFRD, I have to agree that the natural sunlight helps show most of the colors and variations much better then manufactured lighting.

Hey digger, you are right when it comes to modeling the cabling. To be honest, the very, very small parts were not fun either as a lot of them could've been molded with the other parts to reduce the part count of the kit. I think I brought up the various concerns during the Churchill and SBG Bridge build string (missing parts, poor instruction details, missing instruction call outs, omission of other parts from the build, etc.) Still, Jarrod and I really enjoyed the construction of the kit anyway. Often, the challenges of the kit and build make it more satisfying when they are overcome and the kit finished. I think, in hindsight, the amount of scratch building of the diorama, especially the bridge and trees, were some of the most challenging phases of the diorama.

Thank you QUAX, keeping up with your prolific building gives me something to work towards. I'm feeling a large scale aircraft build coming on, or perhaps not.... (smile).

All right Neil, while part of us say "thanks", another part wonders if the rest of your statement should be considered a challenge? I think I heard that same kind of statement after the Arizona build, the 1/16 Kubelwagen build, the 1/16 SAS Jeep build, etc. We hope that our modeling skills will grow and improve with each new build. If not, and this is my swan song, then I guess i could've done far worse. Seriously, thanks.....

[DRUMS01]

OK, OK.... the small voice in my head said I need to fix the color of the water as it is too blue. As it was mixed and applied, it looked more green/blue.

We also noticed two other areas needing attention. The first was that we needed to integrate the tracks in contact with the ground to look more "on and in the ground" and not so clean and indifferent above it.

Second, we did not add the electronic cable from the TC hatch to the decoupler situated up near the a frame connection.

Considering we added small items to the extent we did, it would not be right to leave those fixes off the diorama as they are too big to ignore. Then we will call it done!

[cor]

Wow. This is the level of work I aspire to. The entire scene is loaded with precision crafted detail. Congratulations to you and Jarrod.

[Stokesy44]

Stunning work. The outdoor light and backing really finishes it off.

[Tomcat64]

That is just an absolute masterpiece

The attention to detail and execution is simply unreal and as mentioned earlier the natural lighting just sets it off beautifully

Stunning work, simply stunning.

[DRUMS01]

Thanks COR, Stokesy44, and Tomcat64; Jarrod and I value all of your opinions and appreciate the guidance and support along the way. There was more than a couple of times that we nearly set it aside to start something else. Thanks to everyone in our forum, you all kept us motivated enough to see it through. Funny thing was that we didn't have all of this in our head. A large amount of this came from numerous photos during the war and input my some of you. Fortunately, all the little bits and bobs from various images, we managed to fit it all together within the diorama. Our goal was to not only draw people into it, but also make them come back and look again to find something new.

The few things we noticed in the final photos concerning the tank siting above the road (not on or in it), the decoupling cable missing, and the water color needing to be toned down from the brilliant blue have been fixed. Here are a couple new pictures with those updates:

Decoupler cable added, along with the tracks and contact patch improved:







Here is the water with less blue Mediterranean and more disturbed river look:





One last time, thanks everyone for your motivation and assistance, and above all.... keep on modeling!

Ben and Jarrod

[digger303]

Marvellous attention to detail and execution.