Global Scale Modeller

Hi chaps, it has been a while since I last entered a group build (last one was the night fighter sig). Now when it comes to non wingy things I am a bit clueless so yesterday I visited my local hobby shop to see what they had of the 6 wheel variety. Thinking that crappy little Airfix kits were massively underrepresented in this SIG I came away with the 1/76 RAF refuelling set that contains the Bedford QL Tanker and more importantly the AEC Matador Tanker 6x6.

After doing a bit of research I have come to find that the Matador is a bit of an icon, who knew? Not me, but then everything from the Second World War has a following if you start looking.

The History

The AEC Matador was an artillery tractor built by the Associated Equipment Company for British and Commonwealth forces during the Second World War. The Matador name was given to the 4x4 truck and the larger 6x6 was officially named the ‘Marshall’ but the name Matador stuck. About 9,000 Matadors were built, some going to the RAF.

The RAF used Matadors in the flat bed form for load carrying. The 6-wheeler Matador was used as a refuelling tanker, capable of carrying 2,500 gallons of fuel and also for towing ashore Short Sunderland flying boats at their stations.



For the British Army it fulfilled a role between field artillery tractors. It was commonly used to tow the 5.5 inch medium gun and the QF 3.75 inch AA gun. The Matador was found to be a generally useful vehicle and was adapted for other roles including carrying a 25 pdr gun.



Post war the Matador was found in civilian use as a recovery truck, a showmans vehicle, and general contractor use. It was also useful for forestry work because of its good off-road performance.

This is the photo that I will be basing my build on, I like the tidy pristine look of the RAF blue Matadors but I have decided to go with the dusty, oil streaked work horse look.



Some detail of the inner workings of the pump as I intend on displaying the model with the back doors open as it will eventually be part of a diorama with my Mosquito.



Please be gentle this is only my second armour build (I know not really armour but it doesn't have wings so what else can it be?)

The Kit



One model, four simple steps



Decals shouldn't take too long



One big bag filled with plastic... love the smell of a new kit.



More plastic than I was expecting and it looks good too, the odd bit of flash but nothing to cause alarm and some nice details.





One major thing the kit is missing is clear parts. no windows or lights. time to get the hammer out

Update #1

Made a start on the chassis and 6 wheels. The cab is also partially assembled ready for a primer and base paint before detail painting and glazing. Everything went together quite easily, some of the drive shaft, axel and leaf spring relationships were a little tricky. I also cut and angled the front axel ends to add a bit of interest.





Thanks for looking

That's gonna be nice lots of dirty weathering! Good luck mate

Its tiny but i love it look foward to seeing more

Great choice mate.

I just recently built the Airfix Matador (the one that comes with the 5.5" gun) loved every minute of it.

Nice kit, its coming along pretty well.

update #2

hi guys, it has been a bit of a slow start to this build. I actually got a paying modelling job repaint some cranes in company colours, not a big job but still distracting from the Matador.

I started to paint the truck base colour in Tamiya dark yellow trying to match the photo I was working from, but I wasn't feeling it. so I decided to do a bit more research and decided I would go back to my original idea of RAF blue but still do a faded, fuel streaked workhorse. at the moment I have just got the base colours airbrushed on, a cream colour for the interior of the cab, nato black on the chassis and RAF blue on the tank.

how it started off before the change of heart


the new photo for inspiration


how its looking now


Dry fit


Next on the Matador is the detail painting in the cab and chassis, then I can assemble the cab and make some windows.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope to have more progress to show this week if I can finish the cranes.

Looking good mate.

Thanks Deacon

Update #3

i have managed a bit of progress with el Matador this week, after deciding on the colour scheme (which is often the bit i worry about most) i thought it was about time to tackle the cab. The detail in here was pretty basic, a wheel and seats and not much else but as it is very small it not much will be seen. i used a citadel cream and weathered with burnt umber oil paint. then i masked the inside of the windows with good old Tamiya tape and white tacked the roof on. i also filled the unsightly seam on the front corners with Tamiya putty.









while the cab was drying i made a start on the detail painting on the chassis and the wheels had a dusting of humbrol weathering powder



once the cab was painted and gloss coated along with the tanker i could put on the decals... big job 7 in total



and yet another dry fit and its starting to look like Matador now



Thanks for looking, see you in update 4 where i will be adding the windows and weathering.

Update #4

well there was not much time between update 3 and this one the cab was done mid week and I had good progress this weekend. first I got the basic weathering done with white weathering powder used to fade the paint and then add spilled fuel streaking with black and burnt umber oil paints which was then painted over with gloss clear to give a wet look. the chassis and wheel arches were also heavily weathered with a mixture of oil paints, Tamiya weathering master and humbrol weathering powders. then I added the windows, I used clear acetate sheet cut to size then glued in place with kristal klear. a fiddly job but well worth the effort.







finally this evening i have done the last of the weathering and touch ups and i am calling it done. i have been surprised while making this model, not only is it a lovely little kit from airfix but i have been surprised by how much i have enjoyed making a model without wings. i have done about 20 kits since staring the hobby last year and all but one was has been a 1/72 aircraft. the only other was a 1/76 airfix ww1 tank that i was given as a gift last xmas, it stalled and ended up on the shelf of doom. i did finish it and was going to enter the shelf of doom GB but i had no love for the kit so decided not to. so when i saw this GB come up and it is the last one for the year i thought why the hell not. but now a funny thing has happened, when i go to my local hobby shop i go over to the dark side... i mean the military vehicle side of the shop before i look at the aircraft and now i have not one but two tanks in the stash... what is happening to me??

anyway here is a sneak peak of the finished Matador. many more photos in the reveal section. thanks for looking and following the build.

Great job on the paintwork mate

That really is a wonderful build mate.

Well done.

superb colour looks really worn and used

thanks for the comments and kind words.

after enjoying this build so much I am looking forward to an armour packed 2015.

I really should take more time to comment on your builds that I look at so much for inspiration and to learn new skills. the work on the forum is truly inspirational.