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Not sure how I missed this one Nenad but I'm glad I found it. This is a lovely model. I particularly like your dust effects and the stowage finishes it off very nicely. Well done. Wayne

Very nice Ozzy, I shall look forward to seeing the tractor unit. Wayne

Another lovely build Stix, I'm always impressed by your skills with a paint brush. Wayne

Lovely model Andrew, All those little details you have added give some life to the model and are well worth the effort, I can see why you enjoyed the building of this one. Well done. Wayne

There's some excellent detailing work here Paul, looking forward to seeing how the rest of the build progresses. Wayne

That's the bit I haven't decided on yet. Most of the images I have found of theses vehicles in France show them covered in road dirt rather than thick mud and that's probably the look I shall go for. I have taken the construction phase as far as I can and I've temporarily fitted the tracks. I will probably park this one for a bit before I start on the weathering mostly because I need to think of a way of dulling down those brass fire extinguishers. Being as they are already brass painting them seems a little counter intuitive. There are ageing chemicals but I didn't really want splash out on a bottle just for them. Any ideas?

Thank you Peter, those are perfect reference photos. I have made an attempt to replicate the headlights and I'm reasonably happy with them although a few more lines through the glass would have improved things. I have also decided to remove the seam on top of the MG cover. No doubt some evidence of its existence will turn up now. I have also made my first attempt at blackening metal tracks. For this I went with VMS' Black Track Pro 2.0 I read somewhere that giving the tracks a bath in acetone helps with the process, so I thought why not, To make thigs a little more cost effective I worked on my Crusader Mk.I tracks at the same time. The tracks were rinsed off and once dried they were placed in the blackening fluid until the desired effect was achieved. I was quite impressed with the result. It gave the tracks a grey/ brown finish similar to that of the originals. The only issue I had is that the fluid couldn't work where I had applied super glue to the pins. Next time I will glue the pins if necessary after the blackening process. I now need to decide how I am going to tackle the weathering process. The end of this build is finally in sight. Wayne

Thanks Nigel. I have been deliberating that since the beginning of the build. I couldn't find a clear image taken from above the gun and it looks like Accurate Armour have deliberately included it. Most of the builds I could find have left it there including the one on their own website. It does appear like there is a weld seem there on Bovington's 'Demon' example all be it not as pronounced as the one in the kit. You can't always trust museum exhibits though. Maybe Peter @Das Abteilung could shed some light on it. The best contemporary photo I could find is inconclusive.

Now there's some information I could have done with a couple of months ago. Oh well, I would imagine they would make a pretty good job of it and there is an early and late version. Wayne

Looks like an interesting project Roger, I shall need to keep an eye on this one. Wayne

Lovely work Sergei, very nicely presented as well. I encountered similar problems with the molding of the rods and bars when I built their " Battle bus" a little while back. I still enjoyed the build though. ATB Wayne

Thanks guys. The reflective coating is Molotov liquid chrome. https://www.molotow.com/anwendungen/marker-anwendungen/liquid-chrometm It is excellent stuff but lacks a little bit on the durability side. I know some modellers have thinned it with lacquer thinners and dipped parts in it to great effect but I just use the pens. It may be possible to put a coat of Aqua gloss over it for protection although that may dull it's reflectivness. Wayne

Thanks Darryl. Now you know what their upcoming secret 1/35 release is.

That seems a bit on the pricey side to me. I know the Takom kits are getting a little harder to get but they can still be found for around the £50.00 mark. I can't imagine the Meng kit is going to be that much of an improvement. I would expect full interior for that kind of money.

Hi Steve I wondered why it's a little quite over on the AFV pages, I keep finding you all in the group builds. I feel I've been missing out on some excellent work. That's a very nice build and paint job. As mentioned above these French paint schemes make for an interesting subject and Silly Putty certainly makes our lives a little easier. I shall look forward to seeing how you tackle the weathering stages. ATB Wayne

Thanks Peter, That makes a lot of sense. Would that literally be black as it looks lighter in tone in the photos or would you think a browner colour more suitable.? Wayne

I couldn't find enough images of any particular vehicle to work out an accurate pattern for the disruptive camouflage pattern so I thought I would just make a representative model of the type. Using the few references I have and the Mike Starmer booklet I worked out a likely pattern and masked this off with Silly Putty. I then sprayed the disruptive colour with MRP-343 Dark Green G4. I was a little concerned that some of the small detail parts would be broken off or damaged when the putty was removed but luckily I got away with it this time. I used the kit decals for the markings to represent a tank from the 4th RTR. The white recognition squares were masked and spayed on. The model was then given a pin wash with thinned oil paint to help pick out some of the details before it received a flat clear coat of Mr. Color GX113 thinned with Mr.Color Rapid Thinner. The wheels were painted a rubber colour and detail painting on the tools etc was carried out with acrylics and oils. The yellow blob on the front is to represent gas warning paint, it would change from a yellow ochre colour to red in the presence of gas. In most of the period photos I have seen the headlights appear to have an opaque appearance as does the Bovington example. I haven't worked out yet if this was opaque glass or some kind of covering so I haven't put in any glass yet. The end is finally in sight for this one. I just need to finish off the tracks and start the weathering process so hopefully it won't be too long before the next update. Wayne

Thanks Bertie, The 'Matilda I' is quite an important part of the collection that I'm building so I couldn't really give up on it and now the end is in sight I am actually enjoying it. Wayne.

Excellent work again Vytautas, your attention to detail is really paying off. Wayne

Very impressive work. The burnt out areas look really good. Wayne

Looks like another interesting project John. I shall look forward to watching your progress. Wayne

I'm trying to capture the correct look of the headlights on my Accurate Armour build of the 'Matilda I'. During my research I have noticed that the head light glass often has an opaque appearance to it. It doesn't appear to be painted over so I wondered if there is some sort of other covering on them. The Bovington example seems to display this same opaqueness but the contemporary image of a factory fresh 'Demon' has clear glass so I assume this is a field modification. Wayne

Very nicely done! The snow in particular looks authentic. Wayne

Very impressive work. Wayne.

I feel your frustration John, although I don't recall that happening to to me with any completed models I do have quite a few limited run kits in the stash, mostly Blue Max and indeed Aeroclub, that have been superseded by the likes of Eduard and Special Hobby. Of course I have every intention of building them still, I just need to be able to carry on model making into my hundreds. Wayne.