Airfix 1/76 Infantry Tank MkII Matilda El Alamein, 1942....

Post by **wappynutter** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 2:55 pm

Okay so I keep mentioning my little Matilda build when commenting here and there,
and have also shown a couple of pictures on the Facebook page..

Thought I best start a WiP thread to show my attempt at this fantastic little tank..
I do love some of the quirkier looking tanks, the small ones and the double gunned, twin turreted types.
The Matilda is probably the more normal looking of my favorites.
This tank would have been the one my granddad and his buddies would have spent their time with at Tobruk.
My Granddad was a dispatch rider between camps, and carried his Shrapnel in his leg to the grave with him in early 1992.
He never spoke of his time in Tobruk or the fighting he had been involved in.
He only ever mentioned how British forces stayed a year after the war had ended to help the locals clean up and rebuild, and he had been part of that.
So that is why I find North African conflict of more interest to me.

The only picture I have of him, on the back is written... Hilla, Oct 1946, Iraq.

Back to the Matilda then!!

I will include some sprue pictures..

So yeah, a little flashy but workable.. Rubber tracks to staple/hot melt.

Now as these tracks are mostly hidden and sealed/trapped inside the side skirts and arches I have decided to staple them and to paint up some parts on the sprue before building, leaving a little touch up after fitting.

I am using Revell's Ochre 88 for the desert yellow of the allied forces, wrong I know, but we ain't rivet counting and at this scale it should still look about right.
If I attempt the Caunter scheme I will use Revell's Light Olive 45 and Light Green 55 which are cross matched from Humbrols suggested colours on the Airfix box.
I drove myself insane trying to follow peoples suggested colours for Caunter, some got quite nasty about it on "other" forums I was reading up on!!

Cutting and fitting time...

Started on the turret too.....
Glued on and using the point of my knife, the smoke dischargers got bored out...

These did actually need a little bit of clean up as the flash joined them together and made them look all wrong..

Aerial base attached, an aerial will be drilled and fitted soon....

The guns too were badly moulded, but I think its just a "thing" with tiny armour and moulding a long thin barrel...

The lids are on and glued and I may have messed up as I followed the images of "Golden Miller" from Bovington with the commanders hatch opening to the sides but every open hatch I have seen in battle has the hatch opened facing front.( I suppose this meant they were not likely of catching a bullet as they looked out?).... unless the top hatch could turn 360 degrees like a periscope for viewing the surrounding areas before opening up.. Armour professionals could you advise please??

Mine are like this......

Others are like this...

Here's mine.....

See???

Okay so I will post up more real soon guys, I am a fair way into this build ( Glued up/base colour on!) so don't want to overload you with the first post!!..
Thanks for taking a look and as always Stay safe and Happy modelling..

Post by **Nige201980** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 2:59 pm

Great start Andy looking for to the updates that's for sure.

Post by **chief5437** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 5:54 pm

Great start mate. I love the Matilda too, 'queen of the desert'! I built the Tamiya 1/35 kit (the new one). Lovely kit, they also do one in 1/48 which I'd like to try. I know what you mean about the arguments over the colour, some people can be obsessed! Lol!

Keep the updates coming!

Post by **Vilkas** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 6:39 pm

That is tiny!!! Looking great so far, any extra detailing in this scale is just amazing. I don't think I would dare to venture in to this scale...it unforgiving I think.

http://m.youtube.com/user/MrBobsBuilds · Post by **Rob** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 11:20 pm

Nicely done Andy.

http://www.youtube.com/user/longlance67 · Post by **longlance67** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 11:48 pm

nice start mate,

one thing you may want to watch out for are the tracks they can be tricky

shane

Post by **wappynutter** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 12:43 pm

Thanks Nige, Rob.... have a little diorama idea floating around at the moment....

We'll see....

Chief, I would love a go at the 1/35 kit.... unfortunately I can neither afford it, nor trust myself with larger kits yet!!

A little more practice and we will see!

Vilius, teeny tiny kits are all I trust myself with at the moment, I am fairly new to kit building so am attempting to better my skills on small stuff.. The scratchbuilding side is a doddle now as I see everything around me is potentially useful in a build!

Shane, thanks for the heads up but unfortunately I am a fair ways in on the build so overcome the "tight" rubber band tracks a week or so ago!
I stapled then sprayed them Matt black, then dry brushed a steel over the slight detail in the rubber. After they had dried I stretched them around the sprocket and got them about right before gluing the upper and lower hull shut..
You'll see in the next couple of build updates over the next week or so!..
Thanks again guys for taking the time to comment, means a lot to me....cheers..

More soon!!

Post by **chief5437** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 1:23 pm

Yeah, those tamiya kits can be expensive, overly so if you ask me! I reckon when you get round to doing bigger scales they'll be a doddle. I find the smaller it is, the harder it is! (No funny jokes please Paul!!)

Post by **HWGuderian23** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 2:34 pm

Very nice subject Andy

!
And as I can see ... any more who also used the Revell Aqua Colors

!
Looking forward to your progress on this one mate ...

Post by **wappynutter** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 3:03 pm

Thanks Chief!!

.....and yeah Markus I like the Revell pots, they dry out real quick but are fine for hand painting, though I have thinned them 50/50 to try spraying them... Well I have the Ochre base colour..
Undecided over the caunter scheme and the method I will use to paint it if I do!!!
This is the part of the build I am at to date......
Decisions decisions........ Hmmm...

Thanks again for taking a look mate..

Post by **HWGuderian23** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 8:57 pm

I also use the Aqua Colors to spray them with the airbrush! Therefore I mainly thin them down very highly with a mixing ratio of 1 : 2 (color : thinner) and it always work very well.

Post by **JayCub** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 9:04 pm

Very nice Andy and a scale i wish i could work with, great photographs thank you for sharing them, the Matilda may have been slow, but it had great armor at the time, and a few mechanical faults, either way this will be a superb build.

Tom

Post by **wappynutter** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 7:58 pm

Thanks for the mix ratio Markus, I tried 1:1 but still struggled at 25psi size 0.3 needle in my rubbish £20 airbrush and small compressor..

Yeah Jaycub, the Matilda had some excellent front armour but alas still never stood a chance against the Tigers Gun!!

So back to my tiny "Tilda"....
Now as this is an Airfix kit it doesn't come with any figures or any of the Diorama extras the Revell equivalent does so any display will have to be scratched or thought out carefully....

So lets give this Tank a Driver!!
Taking a 1/72 Military Police figure and doctoring him to fit looking out the drivers hatch....

...And Chop..........

Helmet sliced and shaped as best as I can....Quick splash of paint and...
Ta-Da!!!

Back to the turret and after building up the gun and mantle, I fix it in place..

Upper hull coming together, figure glued to his support, turret tried on for effect....

Stapled tracks!!

Headlights glued in place.... teeny little fragile bits that they are!!

Starting on the lower hull!

Fuel tank added to the rear...

Ready to prime upper and lower hulls..

Cheap £1 shop grey primer applied...

and matt black to the rubber tracks..

Once dry I applied a quick drybrush of Humbrol Steel...

Hopefully I haven't bored you with the lack of interesting pictures, small scale can be rather boring!!

If you made it to the end, thank you for having a look, hopefully it will get better as we get into it..
More soon, thanks again, and as always stay safe and Happy Modelling..

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 8:39 pm

Looks like she is coming together nicely and will be waltzing in no time.

Post by **HWGuderian23** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 10:49 pm

Very nice progress on your tank Andy! Great paint and scratch work on the figure

! I'm also really impressed how nicely detailed this kit is (especially turret and upper hull are looking very well)

!
As I can see you've used car paint on this one. I know that many modellers use such paints to prime their models but have never used them myself... what is your experience with such paints? Thanks in advance Andy

!

Post by **wappynutter** » Wed Jan 15, 2014 11:07 am

Thanks Markus, I often use the primers as they are cheap, easily available and less hassle and more convenient when trying to get some primer down.
I don't have to drag out the airbrush things and mix up paint, then spend time cleaning up my airbrush afterwards.
Every time I use my setup I have to do a complete strip down and clean because it gets clogged due to my inexperience and rubbish setup.
My only advise is, (as I have learnt from experience) is to do very light passes with the auto paints as they are rather thick and come out at a high velocity. Any small detail can easily be lost in floods of paint as you have little control of pressure or consistency.
Light passes, from 8-10" has given me the finish on small stuff I need.
Again this may be down to the cheapness of the auto paint I use, more costly named/branded paint may be better.
Hope this helps mate...
Thanks again..

Post by **HWGuderian23** » Wed Jan 15, 2014 2:17 pm

Many thanks for sharing your experience dude and also thanks for the basic notes on the use of those car paints for scale modelling

!
Maybe I'll give them a shot once upon a time cos I think that they are a lot cheaper alternative to customary model primers. But basically handling paints from a spray can isn't that easy so I would be a little bit scared to wreck my models when using those paints (for the reasons you stated already). Anyways ... thanks again Andy

!

Post by **AchtungPanzer** » Wed Jan 15, 2014 11:01 pm

Good and acuratte Work to this moment Andy. I love this scale

, but trucks in this model are poor (not your foult - Airfix foult not plastic only rubber )... Model is OK and good progress with . Well done Buddy

.

http://m.youtube.com/user/MrBobsBuilds · Post by **Rob** » Wed Jan 15, 2014 11:08 pm

It's looking really good. Did you staple the tracks?

Post by **ludicrusmaximus** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 7:08 am

Great post!

Post by **Radzy** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 7:13 am

Hi Andy,

that is cracking job! Love the idea with the tank driver figure. Matilda looks great so far and I can't wait to see your diorama idea -
After I saw your Italian plane diorama with hanger ... I'm hungry for more

Cheers,
Radek

Post by **rm6239** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 8:32 am

Andy

All looking good mate, looking forward to seeing more. Also seeing your work on the figure, if there is ever an opening for sword wielding maniacs, you've got my vote

I just won't stand to close.

cheers

Rossco

Post by **wappynutter** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 11:18 am

Thanks guys for taking the time to have a look...
The tracks are the worse part of the kit your right Eryk, but on a plus I managed to make them look not too bad.
Rob, yes mate I have stapled them, then a coat of matt black followed by some steel drybrushing sorted them out. I did post a couple of pictures in the last update showing the staple then paint up... I think they look okay, let me know what you think mate..

Thanks Ludicrous, much appreciated mate.
Radek, I think my dio idea may just work but I have some extra building to do before I can finish it....
At the moment I am daring myself to paint the Caunter paint scheme, in 1/76 ..and I have masked up ready to airbrush!!!

Wish me luck...

Thanks Rossco, the driver didn't stand....

....get it...... A chance as I swung the stanley blade at him!!
He has had some paint and a gloss coat to protect him and is busy sat in his hatch covered in tape waiting for the camo paint up to be done!!
Thanks again guys..
More soon...

Post by **Radzy** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 1:08 pm

wappynutter wrote: Radek, I think my dio idea may just work but I have some extra building to do before I can finish it....
At the moment I am daring myself to paint the Caunter paint scheme, in 1/76 ..and I have masked up ready to airbrush!!!
Wish me luck...

Fingers crossed, my friend

Post by **Nige201980** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 8:37 pm

It really coming along nicely mate great work mate.

http://m.youtube.com/user/MrBobsBuilds · Post by **Rob** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 8:49 pm

Thanks Andy, the tracks look great. I really like the look of the model and the figure is a super conversion.

Post by **wappynutter** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 9:26 pm

Okay so this is probably going to be a BIG update....

I am going to attempt a Caunter scheme from off the Airfix box...
All blue and green and sand yellow...

Lets make a start with the yellow then!!

Compressor and gun time....

Wow Sand yellow....

Front fenders with spare track links..

Turret with aerial glued in place...

So once all the sand colour has dried I start thinking about attaching the driver in his hatch.
I am going to drill a hole in the hull and feed the support wire through, pack with bluetac then CA glue everything in place and snip off the protruding piece of wire...................like so......

Exhaust paint and weather time.... mixing Vallejo rust with some fine sand and bicarbonate of soda to give a rough rusty texture I paint up the pieces....

A little rough but it'll do, support brackets painted too..

Time to button up the hull and give the driver his position..

Front pieces on too!!

Dry fitted then glued up the exhaust parts, going to leave it off until the camo is done then CA glue it in place now I have got the positioning correct..

.....and so we come to the bit I have been dreading........ taping up and Caunter camo time!!!

Here goes....... did I mention this is 1/76 scale??

....And................Blue time......

Ta-Da!!!!!!!!

So just a couple of bits to clean and touch up but all in all i'm pleased with the blue..
Next post I will mask off the turret, add a little blue then hit the green camo bits and hull green work....and maybe details paint up!....
If your still here, Thanks for looking...
All comments welcome..
As always take care and Happy Modelling!!

Post by **AchtungPanzer** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 9:41 pm

Hmm > Nice , Well done Buddy .

http://m.youtube.com/user/MrBobsBuilds · Post by **Rob** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 10:28 pm

Great progress. Green here we come!

Post by **chief5437** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 10:34 pm

Good masking job, turned out great! Don't know what you were scared of!? Lol!!

Good luck with the next round mate

Post by **Daishi12** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 11:42 pm

Looking good mate

Post by **wappynutter** » Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:32 pm

Thanks Eryk, Rob, Chief and Nick....
In real time I have just applied the gloss coat prior to decalling so in the next day or so I will bring the build up to speed...
The camo wasn't as difficult as I imagined, mainly all sharp hard lines and crazy colours...

Working on other parts of the planned diorama at the minute, figures, base etc....
Hopefully this will come out okay when complete..
Thanks again for having a look...

Post by **chief5437** » Mon Jan 20, 2014 10:11 pm

looking forward to seeing more mate!

Post by **HWGuderian23** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 4:33 am

Good job on the camo Andy

... well done!

Post by **wappynutter** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 9:41 am

Thanks again Chief, thanks Markus, wait till you see the green on too!!
Busy decalling at the moment, then apart from some weathering the tank itself will be done!!

Post by **Nige201980** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 3:07 pm

WOW Andy that looks sharp buddy really great job on the camo mate

Post by **wappynutter** » Wed Jan 22, 2014 10:20 pm

Thanks Nige mate, means a lot you dropping by and leaving a comment..... wait till you see the next bit!!

So on with the Camo scheme, but first, here's a reminder of the blue bits.....

Best tape up and add some green bits...

....and green spray time.....

All dry and put together...

Okay so there is a little bleed, nothing serious so I will do some touch up and once that's dry will glue and fix the Exhaust system I kept off while camo painting.....

Exhaust in place and a spot of CA glue keeps it there...

So time for detail painting, including the spare tracks on the front guards, headlights and tools...

Right gonna stop flooding you with loads of pictures and end this post here...

Next time I will show you the gloss, decal, screw up decal, repair decal and gloss with maybe some weathering and flat coat to finish....

...and yes I did say screw up then repair... damn tiny decal work..

Till next time, Thanks for taking a look and as always, take care and Happy Modelling..
Cheers guys, comments welcome...

Post by **AchtungPanzer** » Wed Jan 22, 2014 10:38 pm

Now only decals , wash + weathering and will be finished . Its not easy (painting etc) in this scale - I know that very good

Well done Buddy !

Post by **wappynutter** » Wed Jan 22, 2014 10:47 pm

AchtungPanzer wrote: Now only decals , wash + weathering and will be finished . Its not easy (painting etc) in this scale - I know that very good Well done Buddy !

Thanks Eryk, i'm trying to do good....
You are the master at these scale tanks....

More soon my friend...

Post by **AchtungPanzer** » Wed Jan 22, 2014 11:03 pm

haha Thanx for the rank but I am only medium master

P.S. I look and i think : You must not to big pitch point (photos) doing and gieve match stick by model

.On Your photos this Model (on my laptop monitor) is "about half meter" long but in real i think is 6-7cm? Its no good efect with "bigs" photos - That is not 1:35 scale remember Andy

.

Post by **wappynutter** » Wed Jan 22, 2014 11:09 pm

Hahaha...... True Eryk......
I will find a matchstick and take a photo to show the real size for the people viewing...
You are right.... 1/76 not 1/35 scale as it looks in some of the images..

Thanks again my friend...

Post by **wappynutter** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 10:06 am

Okay I am going to break tradition and show some images before showing the process to get to that stage.....
....with matchsticks for scale just for Eryk...

Everyone else close your eyes!

There you go mate. Hope you like these, decals are on, gloss coat is on but no weathering etc...
Right everyone else can look again now......
Thanks again!

Post by **Paul** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 10:56 am

I love finding threads like this I haven't seen before or missed updates on. Great build andy, loving that Camo scheme mate, brilliant

Post by **JayCub** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 11:20 am

looks great Andy and like Eryk, mentioned working in this scale is not easy and you can really see the scale when the matchstick is placed beside the Matilda, i bet your well chuffed with this one as the camo is superb.

Tom

Post by **HWGuderian23** » Thu Jan 23, 2014 3:42 pm

Looking great Andy

... I like the camo scheme you've applied on this tank

! Very well done

!

Post by **RobertA** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 6:23 pm

That's a sweet little tank, Sir..

Post by **wappynutter** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:35 pm

Okay...... thanks again guys for taking a look at my shiny little "Tilda".....
My last post was for Eryk to show the build alongside a matchstick or two...
Now its decal, gloss and weather/flatcoat time!

Now I didn't take any photo's of me adding the decals, good job really as while applying the last red and white striped flag decal to the left of the tank if sitting in the drivers hatch, I screwed up big time and ended up having to scrap the original and using a piece of red car pinstripe, taped up and gloss sprayed white to create the red/white flag effect, made a replacement.
The replacement looks about right, but I was swearing like mad at myself for nearly killing the tank before it was even finished!

Right on with the pictures then...

Look..... self made replacement flag decal..........

...and a quick picture showing 1941 Oct., North Africa, Captain, 3rd King”s Own Hussars stood looking over the Matilda...

More about my little Captain another day..

So, I have added some chips and scratches with a toothpick and some aluminium paint followed by an oil wash, pastel wash and pastel dusting... to Scruffy and dirty it up a little, make it look just a little bit used.... then blew a coat of Vallejo matt varnish over to see how it looked...

And matt varnish applied....

...And finally some nice pictures, including some matchsticks for scale, to finish this build off.....For now..

...and that's her all finished..

Hope you enjoyed the build, and hope I didn't kill you with all the pictures...Sorry !!
I will be returning to this little build in the very near future, I got some ideas for a diorama...

Hopefully some of you will drop by my new build here... http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=4718

Thanks again for having a look and as always comments welcome.
Take care, till next time...... Happy Modelling.

Post by **alextheblue** » Tue Jan 28, 2014 10:31 am

Andy.........WOW!!!!

Love it - the cam scheme, weathering, chipping and a great save with the decal!!

Very well done!

Post by **RobertA** » Tue Jan 28, 2014 11:22 am

Love the camo..the tank looks really good all weathered down..

Post by **Coen** » Tue Jan 28, 2014 11:32 am

Two things!
Bloody gorgeous!!!!
You are now an armour builder Andy.
Tread heads unite!!!