1/35 Tamiya Matilda MK II.

[plasmahal]

1/35 Tamiya Matilda MK II.

Background:

The Infantry Tank Mark II, best known as the Matilda, was a British infantry tank of the Second World War.

The design began as the A12 specification in 1936, as a gun-armed counterpart to the first British infantry tank, the machine gun armed, two-man A11 Infantry Tank Mark I. The Mark I was also known as Matilda, and the larger A12 was initially known as the Matilda II, Matilda senior or Waltzing Matilda. The Mark I was abandoned in 1940, and from then on the A12 was almost always known simply as "the Matilda".

With its heavy armour, the Matilda II was an excellent infantry support tank but with somewhat limited speed and armament. It was the only British tank to serve from the start of the war to its end, although it is particularly associated with the North Africa Campaign. It was replaced in front-line service by the lighter and less costly Infantry Tank Mk III Valentine beginning in late 1941.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matilda_II

Box and Sprue Shots:

[plasmahal]

I will be attempting the Caunter camo scheme on my build.

This seems to be a much debated subject like other colour schemes, mainly because certain museum examples have had a blue colour used during restoration.

After some searching and discussions, I will be using Mike Starmers Tamiya acrylic mixes for the required colours.

BS 61 Light Stone, Tamiya mix


So first success is BS 61 Light Stone as used from 1940 till 1943.
Mix: - 7 pts XF2 + 2 pts XF59 + 2 pts XF3.
The result may shock some modellers but it is just slighlty lighter than my 1930 sample, certainly near enough. Watch this space, more to come, I hope.


Tamiya mix : BS.28 Silver Grey

There is going to be at least one happy bunny out there now. This is the official colour used as one of the disrupters with Slate in the 'Caunter' scheme. In use on all types of AFVs and other vehicles in Egypt from mid to late 1940 till cancelled in December 1941.
Mix: 7pts XF21 + 1pt XF19 +1pt XF4. Be careful with XF4 as even a little too much will throw this colour far too green. Err on the light side.

Tamiya mix : BS.34 Slate

At last the final colour for Caunter. After a lot of failed attempts it has turned out to be an easy mix. This colour was specified as the darkest colour to be used on vehicles painted with the Caunter scheme. Came into use in 1940 and apparently retained as one of the alternative colours to be used with the 1942 patterns.
Mix: 1prt XF24 + 1 prt XF4. This is a fraction dark compared to the standard but a touch of white or light grey will tone it down.

Source: http://www.network54.com/Forum/47208/thread/1252022924/The+complete+Mike+Starmer+Acrylic+Paint+Mix+Database

[plasmahal]

Update One

Assembly has gone together pretty quickly.

I concentrated on getting the lower hull completed first.

Then the turret and upper hull were completed. I opted to leave off the tolls and other fiddly bits until later on.

Then the lower and upper hulls were married up and then the tracks and side plates were added.

[FrancisGL]

Nice Project, another classic...

[stevej60]

Great to see this one, a tank I would love to model in the future,these things gave the Germans quite a shock during the BEF campaign in 1940

for a change their AT rounds bounced off the armour sadly not enough of them were in theatre.Crackin start look forward to the rest.

[Crayons]

Great to see this one, a tank I would love to model in the future,these things gave the Germans quite a shock during the BEF campaign in 1940

for a change their AT rounds bounced off the armour sadly not enough of them were in theatre.Crackin start look forward to the rest.

Until the Germans figured out the Flak 36 could open it up with no effort.

[The_Lancaster]

Considering you've got the carpet crawler kit and not Tamiya's newer one the work so far is brilliant progress!

[Silver Fox]

I've just finished one in 1/48th scale in the Caunter scheme so I am looking forward to seeing her big sister. Great work so far.

[plasmahal]

UPDATE TWO

With assembly complete, the Matilda was primed and pre-shaded.





Then it was lots of masking to get the caunter scheme down.





Then all the masking was removed and few touch ups carried out.




 

Edited September 17, 2016 by plasmahal

[FrancisGL]

Very well done counter scheme camo.... , cheers mate

[stevej60]

Excellent progress!

[celt]

The Matilda is my favourite tank,great work. :popcorn:

[Gremlin56]

Nice to see the old Tamiya Matilda being built. The Caunter scheme looks great, I used the Lifecolor set for my build and the colors seem to match your mixed ones reasonably well.

[plasmahal]

p

Edited September 12, 2016 by plasmahal

[plasmahal]

UPDATE THREE

The Matilda II was gloss coated and decals applied.  I added some chipping and wear and tear to the decals as I am heavily weathering this tank.  I also added some scratch built straps and some leftover PE to the tarps on the side of the turret.






Then it was some very intense chipping with a brush and sponge.
I also used a MIG grey filter to fade and blend the paint.





Each stage was sealed with Vallejo matt varnish.

On the side i have been working on a dessert base for the Matilda II.
Nothing fancy but I did use up the leftover paint I mixed up for the caunter scheme to do a similar camo scheme on the sides of the base.


 

[plasmahal]

UPDATE FOUR

Next stage of the heavy weathering involved using AK's streaking grime and rust streaks.

[celt]

Thats well tidy mun.

[plasmahal]

UPDATE FIVE

Well, had a bit of a setback when I went to start on the pigment weathering.

It seems the old tamiya plastic has reacted to some product I have used.

I suspect it to be the enamel based filter I used.

Some repairs needed and leave it overnight and check integrity tomorrow.

 

[celt]

I hope she can be saved.

Edited September 22, 2016 by celt
Did not see above picture

[06/24]

That's a damn shame. You're probably right about the culprit, some of the enamel based products are a bit "hot" solvent wise.

[plasmahal]

4 hours ago, 06/24 said:

That's a damn shame. You're probably right about the culprit, some of the enamel based products are a bit "hot" solvent wise.

 

Heaving used the same products on other newer kits, I'm guessing the age of the plastic in this old kit didn't help the situation.

 

That said, I know some people have had issues using enamel based products on the new Bandai star wars kits when they weather them.

 

The Matilda has been glued back together, just need to check the strength of the bonds later.

 

As long as the tank holds together at the end, all will be good.

[FrancisGL]

It's a shame, it was running fine ...

[beefy66]

Hope the repairs go alright this was looking great love the camo.

 

Beefy

[Badder]

On ‎17‎/‎09‎/‎2016 at 4:23 PM, plasmahal said:

On the side i have been working on a dessert base for the Matilda II

May I recommend either a biscuit crumb base as used for cheesecakes, or a nice stiff chocolate sponge base?

 

Rearguards

Badder

[plasmahal]

25 minutes ago, Badder said:

May I recommend either a biscuit crumb base as used for cheesecakes, or a nice stiff chocolate sponge base?

 

Rearguards

Badder

 

Oh, I think the biscuit base would be more realistic.....