afvnut75 Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Hi all just starting a 1/35 model of a churchill crocadille and im wondering what happen to them and why arent there any on our military vehicle circuit did they all end up as range targets or cut up ! it remains one of my favorite ww2 british tanks, finding a comet or the crocadille would spur me on to sell everything i had in the way of post war vehicles just so i could restore one of these vehicles but im hoping there is a crocadille out there that will surface one day and another question what would a crocadille project cost out of interest ? and can you get the parts ? Any ideas anyone ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jchinuk Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Hi all just starting a 1/35 model of a churchill crocadille and im wondering what happen to them and why arent there any on our military vehicle circuit did they all end up as range targets or cut up ! it remains one of my favorite ww2 british tanks, finding a comet or the crocadille would spur me on to sell everything i had in the way of post war vehicles just so i could restore one of these vehicles but im hoping there is a crocadille out there that will surface one day and another question what would a crocadille project cost out of interest ? and can you get the parts ? Any ideas anyone ? There is at least one Churchill Crocodile preserved, albeit without the trailer, at the Muckleburgh Collection, the link to the trailer is still there. I suspect some others have been restored to gun tank configuration and preserved as such. I think the trailers were removed and scrapped, though I cannot understand why? jh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHillyard Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Lots of photos here if you are interested. Not sure where they are from http://www.primeportal.net/tanks/daryl_nightingale/churchill_crocodile/ and this one in Portsmouth http://johnsmilitaryhistory.com/armorbritcroc.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_shadock Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Hi all just starting a 1/35 model of a churchill crocadille and im wondering what happen to them and why arent there any on our military vehicle circuit did they all end up as range targets or cut up ! it remains one of my favorite ww2 british tanks, finding a comet or the crocadille would spur me on to sell everything i had in the way of post war vehicles just so i could restore one of these vehicles but im hoping there is a crocadille out there that will surface one day and another question what would a crocadille project cost out of interest ? and can you get the parts ? Any ideas anyone ? Detailed pictures of a Crocodile preserved in France : http://the.shadock.free.fr/Tanks_in_France/fort_montbarey/index.html Here you will find the list of all Churchill (including Crocodile) tanks that I know : http://the.shadock.free.fr/Surviving_Churchills.pdf there are at least 18 known Crocodile survivors, and only 6 surviving fuel trailers. P-O Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David I Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Hi Shaddock. I've just been looking at your Churchill list and amazed at whats still out there. one thing I noticed is the Lowick Home Guard MK11 and the Bovington MK11 are both listed. I think that this is actually the same tank. It was in the childrens play area at the now closed Museum of Army Transport at Beverley, and was loaned to Lowick Home Guard. Some time later, it was passed on to Bovington as far as I know. Perhaps someone could confirm this? Dave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 i think most of the crocodiles that you see around now came from pounds yard in portsmouth back in the eighties, if you want a crocodile then it's still possible to find them but only if you contact a museum and make an offer. with things being the way they are at the moment it would be a good time for a museum to release an assett or two to raise funds so you might be in with a chance as to value i would expect to pay £30k+ for a fairly complete but unrestored vehicle. failing that you could try the cadmans or nigel montgomery as they have probably got 15 between them. there is one other avenue open which is to recover a range wreck but i don't know how feasible that is with all the health and safety issues that seem to be in place at the moment but anything's possible if you keep at it. as it happens a friend of mine sold his mk7 churchill last month to another collector so you could have a shot at that although it's too late now but it does go to show that they do still come up now and again. as for my churchill i only paid £3.5k for it 2 years ago which basically equates to it's scrap value which is understandable if you've ever seen it :blush: but it's a start. good luck with hunt rick ps. the churchill is the daddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_shadock Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Hi Shaddock. I've just been looking at your Churchill list and amazed at whats still out there. one thing I noticed is the Lowick Home Guard MK11 and the Bovington MK11 are both listed. I think that this is actually the same tank. It was in the childrens play area at the now closed Museum of Army Transport at Beverley, and was loaned to Lowick Home Guard. Some time later, it was passed on to Bovington as far as I know. Perhaps someone could confirm this? Dave. that would explain why I was not able to find a recent photo of that one. Thanks for this information, I will update the PDF file this evening. Pierre-Olivier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supertrack Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 The Churchill is in the city of "Brest" "more" 20 years . When i was children it was here . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RattlesnakeBob Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 (edited) showing my complete ignorance of most things to do with the Churchill but.. ....regarding the Crocodile....was the main gun a 'proper functioning' completely normal gun that they just squirted/pumped the flamethrower liquid through when wanted or was it literally just a pipe ????? cheers and PS: .. ....think I have asked this before but got no answer...so try again... .about 20 years or so ago there was a plant company called Jeremy Walker Machinery up on the A40 Oxford road near Witney that had a very tatty Churchill on an equally tatty Mighty Antar tank transporter sat in their yard for many years .the apparant intention was to rebuild both but .....did it ever get done?...any ideas???? Edited February 21, 2012 by RattlesnakeBob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Barrell Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 The main gun on a Crocodile was a normal 75mm Mk V, the flame projector was fitted in the bow machine gun position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RattlesnakeBob Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 (edited) cheers .also.....on that photo list regarding the surviving Churchills there are a couple of photos that intrigue me.... ....one of a MK5 'Jackal' in the Netherlands and one of a MK8 Crocodile in Australia .....on both the gun barrel appears to be rather short and has a strange lump of iron about 12" long and 5" or 6" diameter on the end of the barrel... the bottom half of this lump is 'shaved off' horizontally level with the bottom of the barrel....... .they're not the ARVE models with the 'dustbin gun' and their main gun is very distinctive compared to the other tanks.......... ...it doesn't appear to be a muzzle brake in that it has no holes in it and does not protrude over the barrel at all....it almost looks like a crude 'strengthening' piece added on the end of the barrel as an afterthought..... ....so ....whats that all about? :undecided: Edited February 21, 2012 by RattlesnakeBob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Barrell Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Those are 95mm howitzers. The lump is a counterweight to balance the short barrel. The flat underneath is just to allow more depression of the weapon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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