A Folding Funny .... * * * Finished * * *

[JohnRatzenberger]

This "project" started sometime in the first half of 2012, when I got interested in the Churchill AVRE, specifically the bridgelayers. My interest shifted into high gear with BlitzBau XI (Aug 2012) when I decide to do the Matchbox AVRE SBG. You can see that build here. You will find some better close-ups of the kit parts, etc.

In the process of all this, I collected a number of references and started digging into the 79th Armoured Division, "Hobart's Funnies", something I had paid little attention to until now. Here are some of interest, at least to me.


The funnies: A history of the 79th Armoured Division and its specialized equipment, Geoffrey W. Futter, Model & Allied Publications, 1974, ISBN 0852424051.

Perhaps the best known, and most valuable, reference for modelers is this one. Drawings are in 1:76 scale, lots of photographs, good descriptions, enough background and history to do. If you are going to model "Funnies", you must have this book.






The Story of the 79 Armoured Division, by the Staff of the 79 Armoured Division, printed in Hamburg, July 1945.

As close to a primary reference as you're likely to get, it's an unexpectedly readable book with lots of photos and maps considering it was "thrown together" from staff notes in rather a hurry at the end of WW2 just before the formation was disbanded. Highly recommended if you have any interest at all… Not much specifically for the modeler unless you want some diorama ideas. Highly recommended anyway.




79th Armoured Division Final Report 1945, the Staff of the 79 Armoured Division, reprinted by Partizan Press (http://www.caliverbooks.com;).

Again a primary reference, this is a different end-of-war report by the staff, not so much a history as an after-action with details of employment, lessons learned, and suggestions for the future. Of specific interest to the modeler are the text descriptions of the 79th equipment and various drawings of same. As you can see, I have a current day re-print, not an original. If you are going to model "Funnies", you would do well to have this book also. My one negative is that the photographs are not well-reproduced.






Churchill's Secret Weapons, The Story of Hobart's Funnies, Patrick Delaforce, Pen & Sword Military, 2006, ISBN 1844154645.

I confess to not having read this one, yet -- it sits next in line after a book on flying boats. It does appear to be a recent history of operations, perhaps benefitting from more hindsight than the 1954 books by the staff. I'm not sure it's a modeler's book because it doesn't cover the equipment in detail. It is not nearly as well illustrated as the original "Story of" but it doesn't seem overly duplicative either. Not particularly a must-have but may be less expensive than "Story of", depending on what you find where ….




You are probably asking yourself if there is an actual model involved.

[JohnRatzenberger]

On to the Churchill AVRE SBG. The SBG is the Small Box Girder Bridge. The original had the bridge carried full length off the front of the AVRE, something which made for excessive height, slow movement, and excess strain on the running gear. There were two variations -- the Folded SBG and the Towed SBG -- designed to address these problems. Developed and tested late in the war, I cannot say either was used operationally. I have not found a picture yet of either in use, even in the references I listed.


So, at the end of the Blitzbau, I was over-all happy with my completed model, but there were a few alignment problems with the bridge on the carrier and I got the tracks backward. I thought about doing another one, using my lessons learned from the Blitzbau, and hopefully doing a better job as I could take a bit more time.

David's "Small Scale Armour GB" seemed like the ideal opportunity, then I got to thinking that I'd like to do all 3 SBGs, maybe even a fascine carrier. So I collected a number of the Matchbox/Revell kits and kept poking around for references.

As the GB got closer, things changed and I decided to reduce the scope of my project. I also somehow got confused and thought this was a 6-weeker, not just 4-weeks. Trying to build 3 (or more) probably wasn't a good idea after all.

So, my official GB entry will be the Matchbox 1/76 Churchill IV AVRE SBG, modified to a Folding SBG.

Now, I still want to work on the others, so you might see more than one kit on the bench.

Other than the fact that the Folding SBG is the more interesting, I want to use this as a prototype -- I have a 1/35 Churchill AVRE and a resin SBG that I really would like to get done early spring for the AMPS International Show in mid-April. I'm so far behind now, however, that may be a bridge too far, (pun only slightly intended).



Here is the Matchbox box art, front and back, and a Revell re-boxing of same.



Here's the unmistakable Matchbox plastic. The Revell plastic is the same except all one color and it was apparently "Made in E(blob)D" ….




And that's it, all set. I will be using mostly Revell plastic, but the Matchbox instructions. I had a pretty good build plan for the Blitzbau and I want to follow it again, given the volume.

The first step will be, as in the Blitzbau, to hose down all the plastic with WEM ARB19 SCC15A Olive -- that solves the problem of getting paint into the innards of the bridge, etc. I have two tinlets poured into bottles and thinned. I have the air tank all charged. It will take me several sessions over the next day or so to get all this done and then dryed.

There is an ulterior motive -- I should have enough SCC15A ready that I can start to hose down the 1/35 pieces also -- if not right away, but soon ….

I should caveat all this by saying that if a shipment from Milicast arrives in the next couple days, I could toss it all over for another project, but as I don't think that will happen, we won't talk about it ….

[Ian]

Open, closed or somewhere in-between, John?

[Clashcityrocker]

Open, closed or somewhere in-between, John?

His mind, or the bridge?

Nigel

[JohnRatzenberger]

Good question (and follow-on ) ...

Actually I intend to make it "work" .... Now if I can just get 76th scale blowplates

[Ian]

John, I think you need your head examining! Either that or you are still drunk from your New Year celebrations!

[JohnRatzenberger]

The SBG "worked" on my Blitzbau kit. It would have worked better if my cable was just a bit thinner, as it is, it will go up and down but the cable must be nursed through the blocks.

Anyway, as "promised" I spent a chunk of the day painting everything. I had almost ofrgotten that I like to cut the WEM SCC15A with a litttle Slate just to lighten it up, but I remembered in time. The tracks got a coat of Tamiya rattle-can Light Gun Metal; I'll let them sit several days before I start with the black & rust washes.

So, now I can spend a day or so, designing the folding part ....

[JamesPerrin]

I think I'm going to wait till you build all the options then I can copy the one I like best with my kit

[JohnRatzenberger]

Hmmm, I see I forgot a post, should have gone up on the 2nd, so here it is ....

I have 3x3=9 sprues all painted with SCC15A and the paint is dry. I decided to start on the SBGs but then decided that I wanted to paint the trestles wood rather than Olive as I had during the Blitzbau. So, I did that using HU186, Matt Brown, applied thinly. I have to go back and touch up the metal parts of the platforms with SCC15A, then I'll put on some washes -- wood and black.

All that occupies time while I study how exactly to make the folding SBG. And here is why it is handy to have two different refs, for although Futter gives a nice profile drawing and a "how-it-works" diagram there are some unanswered questions.



The Staff Report fills in the blanks, and more, with a far more detailed description of the construction and operation. The plan view sorts out exactly how the secondary cable runs, for example.



I also find out there are 4 hinges and a support bar between the far ramp hornbeams.

So, while fixing up paint, I can start making hinges and the cable frames, etc …. Might even start on the AVRE itself.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Now that I'm "all caught up", I can move on to where we are today .... which is not as far as I wanted to be, I've been working in fits and starts.

The 6 decking halves are made. These are not easy for a couple reasons. The beams are glued to the underside of the decks against a couple locating tabs, but if there is any sort of warpage in the beams, it's hard to get them aligned. The biggest issue is that, on the near (meaning closest to the AVRE) deck, the two outer beams (parts 53 & 61) are slightly taller than the inner beams (64, 65) and if you don't sand them a bit to match, your assembled beams will lean and not match up to the far section. I learned this in the Blitzbau but forgot it until I started assembling. These things need to be glued well and let dry.

Also, the instructions will later have you run the cable from the arm down and attach it to nubs on the far bankseat. Do yourself a favor and cut off the nub and drill a proper hole to run the cable through -- you'll be a lot happier.



Anyway, now we have two deployed bridges ready, except for some paint touch-up and washes. I then started on the folding bridge, shown in progress here.



My references do not give me clear detail on the hinges so I am using BMJ to fashion them from scrap. I have started on the far platform by making 8 endplate pieces and 4 spacers for 4 hinges. Two are mounted with a brass rod run through to keep them all in line and the other parts will be glued. The hinges on the near side will be just a single piece between each pair on the far side. That's what it looks like to me anyway. It should be clearer when done.

The drawings and text also mention a channel between the beams of the far side, but do not show where. I picked a place that seemed appropriate and also made one for the near side -- because they help hold the beams at the proper distances so it'll look right and the hinges won't bind … I hope ….

More work on the hinges, touch-up paint, etc …. got to move on to the carriers real soon ….

[ntrocket88]

Very impressive work so far!

[JohnRatzenberger]

Here we are with much of a working SBG. It’s actually the 2nd attempt as the first time I made all the parts, put them on, sat back happy and realized I had put them on the wrong bridge halves so I had to neatly slice them off and reverse them.

This is not necessarily scale - for starters, I do not have exact scale drawings of the hinges or their position on the bridge. So I made them. So I just made something hingey looking, a bit oversize for strength, and then cut and sanded and tweaked until they worked smoothly.



Another view, after a "channel" has been placed between the horn beams. Actually this isn't scale either -- again, I have no scale drawings for the channel size or location. I actually used an I-beam, oversize, as I needed a somestrength between the beams and I bent the "channel" part. Also I think there may have only been a channel on the outer half, not both -- but these two parts are tactically positioned to take some strain off the hinges.



The brass rod through them all is for construction -- it ensures alignment of everything. It'll be replaced by 4 small pins when I'm finally done.



And here we are with the bridge "working" …. so to speak ….







Next up is to make the cable channels that go on the far platform, and the bridge will be done. I needed to get the bridge hinged and functional so I could make the cable channels fit within that and not cause a conflict; I'm working somewhat blindly here, despite the drawings ....

I have made a small start on the Churchills also ….

[Dirkpitt289]

WOW.... That is some great detail you're doing John. Fantastic stuff.

[lancfan]

Superb job John.

David.

[JamesPerrin]

The folding bridge is very cool. This looks like it is going to become the one stop shop for building these vehicles. Way to go John.