1-100 Churchill AVRE Log Carpet

thingiverse

History The Churchill AVRE Log Carpet was another of the 79th Armoured Division's specialised vehicles designed to aid in the D-Day invasion. Like the better-known Bobbin types, Log Carpet was designed to lay down a surface, of logs rather than canvas, over which vehicles could drive over soft sand or mud. A simple steel frame held a string of pre-cut logs wired together by steel cables recessed into grooves cut into the ends of each log, held in place by wooden wedges, with 6" nails driven through wedge, cable & log. The overhanging front 8 logs were held in place by cables which could be cut by explosive bolts, dropping to the ground in front of the tank, which would then drive over them, dragging the other logs off the rack. The shape of the rack prevented all the logs rolling off at once. After deploying the carpet, the racks could be simply lifted out of the brackets and discarded or collected for reuse. According to my searches, 12 were built, 11 seeing action on D-Day. The model The obvious starting point for this is m-bergman's Churchill models. Log Carpet was built on Churchill IV AVREs, but with the AVRE hull side brackets removed. So use the Churchill IV AVRE turret (I've included one just for completeness). All of bergman's Churchills, however, include tow cables & spare track links, so you can't just use a Churchill IV hull. They would interfere with the rack, so had to be removed, a job that proved easier than I imagined! Fortunately, the Churchill IV models include one with no track guards, as used on Log Carpet, which the AVRE models don't! For me, with absolutely no CAD ability, the sticking point was the log rack - specifically the curved rail at the front. I can do straight bits on 3d Builder, but not curves... Luckily, in return for printing a part for some kitchen fittings repair, Scott Milne designed me a part from plans I found online. After a bit of adjustment, they work fine. I'm not sure if the original was made of round or square section, but as I print FDM at 1:100 scale, square was more likely to succeed. Likewise, I had the rails designed thicker than scale. They should sit out from the hull sides, attached only at the thickened brackets near the bottom. The logs I'm not happy with, they look too neat and regular, even though the originals would be cut & shaped for use. I'll go back to them later. My printer gave up printing so many little circles in close proximity, so I also include a simplified version of the logs. Remember, if you would depict the carpet deployed across the beach, that there would be a gap between the logs, allowing the carpet to roll up on the rack, flexing the cables joining the logs.