British Tanks? What British Tanks?

[Pinky]

We have our own production plans for 2016, mainly focused on customer demands and on various 28mm WW2 game systems.  The military modelling market is also important to us as well.  We had never considered other 28mm kit manufacturers (plastic and otherwise) as competitors, we are just one of the players... of course, we always wanted to be the best among all of them!

I just thought people would be interested.  Like it or not, thought, Rubicon are competing with Warlord/Italeri for sales in a fairly specialised market.  It's quite possible that Warlord are intending to upscale the PSC Churchill, like they did with their Panzer IV and Universal Carrier - in which case it's going to be greatly inferior to anything Rubicon could do.

[ultravanillasmurf]

If it is an upscaled PSC Churchill, then it will be a III or IV, leaving the later larger version without a model.

I had to fabricate the AVRE  fittings for my 15mm model, it only came with the demolition gun.

[sandsmodels]

just had an email from my italeri supplier, the warlord Churchill picture is a mk3 welded turret version, in gun tank, avre and na75 variants, not many mk3's were converted to na75's most were mk4's.
maybe rubicon should do a mk4 or 7.

[ripley]

IRC only one Mk III welded turret was converted to a NA 75 , and it was lost when the transport sank in the Med .

[sandsmodels]

yes I thought there were very few made.
thanks ripley

[ultravanillasmurf]

Warlord's artist evidently did not read the brief:
http://www.warlordgames.com/preview-plastic-churchillavre-artwork/
That definitely does not look like a mk3 turret.

I concur on the Mk vii, it has the option of a crocodile as well.

Edit: I have just had another look at the Italeri pdf, yes the picture is a low resolution photograph of a welded turret Churchill, but the text does say mk3/4.

[Pinky]

I'm guessing that the Italeri kit will actually include both the Mk III and Mk IV turret.  By moulding the bogies as part of the side skirts, they should have enough space on the sprues for two turrets.  Warlord's box art is weirdly inconsistent - sometimes it's very slick, and other times it's like a throwback to the old Airfix/Matchbox box art (e.g. their Tiger I).  Italeri have often used historical photos for their early promotional stuff, so the photo in the brochure is just a placeholder.

According to "Mr Churchill's Tank", 210 Mk IVs were converted into the 'NA75' version; there's no mention of any Mk IIIs being converted (in fact there's a lot of discussion of the problems of adapting the Sherman mantlet to the curved face of the Mk IV turret).  The conversion was done in Tunisia, and the tanks were shipped over to Italy.

If I were Rubicon, I'd pass on the Churchill for now...

[Rubicon Models]

If I were Rubicon, I'd pass on the Churchill for now...

We are in no hurry to rush a Churchill... have all the reference material on hand, but have not yet studied them in-depth.

We will probably wait until Italeri released theirs before doing anything.  If they are doing a Mk III/IV, we will do a Mk VI/VII instead.

[ultravanillasmurf]

We will probably wait until Italeri released theirs before doing anything.  If they are doing a Mk III/IV, we will do a Mk VI/VII instead.

I hope to have some photographs of the Southsea Crocodile shortly, including the connector.

[sandsmodels]

the Churchill artwork in the italeri catalogue is a mk3, the warlord artwork is a mk4 so maybe you get both turrets?

[Seret]

My vote is for the Cromwell. Yes, there's already a plastic kit available from Warlord but this only does the basic 75mm tank. Nobody does the CS variant with the 95mm howitzer (even in resin as far as I can tell) and then there's the Challenger if you can figure a way of stretching the hull. So you've got three variants right there, two of which are unique on the market.

[Pinky]

Ok, but the Warlord Cromwell is a perfectly good kit.  The CS version is just a weapon swap - you can use the 3-inch howitzer from the Rubicon Crusader (it's a bit smaller than the 95mm, but would look ok).  The Challenger would require an entirely different hull as well as the tracks and running gear.

Interesting fact - although it looked high and ungainly, the Challenger actually had a lower profile than the Firefly.

[ultravanillasmurf]

Well, there is always the matching Centaur, which I would guess has a different engine deck where the bus engine replaces the Meteor engine.

But as Pinky said, the Cromwell is a good kit, for North West Europe a Churchill variant is a better target.

[ripley]

IRC S & S Models have a couple of resin / white metal detail sets to change the Cromwell gun tank to a CS as well as a ARV kit . In fact , they sell the plastic kit with the detail sets as well .  I'm hoping for a Churchill VII / Crocodile kit . Make sure you save that useless Cullin Hedgerow Cutter from the Italeri Cromwell kit . I've got pictures of Crocodiles with cutters pushing through the hedge rows in France . It seems that the gun tank could push through , ok , but the Croc's trailer would get hung up and sometimes tip , hence adding the cutters to Crocs . And of course , being Canadian , I still would like a Ram OP tank / Sexton SPG kit . Would a Ram generate many sales , I don't know ,  but I still live in hope someone will make one in plastic

[ultravanillasmurf]

@Ripley - I would be interested in the Sexton SPG and the Ram Kangaroo, but I have no idea how well it would sell.