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Whilst my prototype Centurion build is going through the painting stages I thought I would make a start on my next project which is Accurate Armour's Charioteer, a conversion kit for the Tamiya Cromwell. Actually this will be three builds in one as I shall simultaneously build the Airfix Cromwell making use of the left over Tamiya turret and the Tamiya Centaur. The main focus here will be on the Charioteer though as John @Bullbasket is making an excellent job of the Airfix Cromwell in his WIP HERE and the Centaur has probably been covered enough on this forum and elsewhere. A brief history of the Charioteer As WW2 ended and the Cold war began it soon became apparent that a more powerful gun would be needed to counter the threat of the heavier Soviet tanks such as the T-44 and so the Ordinance QF 20pdr gun was introduced in 1948. It had been developed for use in the Centurion Mk.3 however Centurion production was slow and there was a surplus of the 20pdr's. Cromwell tanks had been retained in service but it's 75mm armament lacked the punch to deal with the newer Soviet tanks so as an interim measure it was decided to up-gun the Cromwell. To do this a new two man turret was developed to accommodate the gun. The resulting vehicle was originally named FV4101 Cromwell Heavy AT Gun but renamed 'Charioteer' before entering service. There was an expected production run of 630 vehicles but this was soon cut to around 440 and only a small number entered service with the Royal Armoured Corps units of the British Territorial Army the surplus being sold to Austria, Finland, Jordan and Lebanon. The Accurate Armour conversion kit is designed for the Tamiya Cromwell but the Airfix kit could probably be used as well. It includes resin parts for a new turret, gun, tracks and drive wheels. There are also a replacement engine deck, rear hull plate, drivers hatch and front plate to convert the hull from the Tamiya 'C' to an 'F' along with a few other smaller items and some photo etched parts. I also added an AFV Club barrel as I'm not sure about resin ones. I have made a start so I should be able to post some progress soon. Wayne

A11, Infantry Tank Mark.I 'Matilda 1' 4th RTR. British Expeditionary Force, September 1939. Although the A11 Matilda 1 was only produced in small numbers ( 140 between 1938-39 ) I feel that it is quite an important vehicle to add to a collection of British armour models, if only to highlight how short sighted British tank design was preceding WW2. Although planning work began in 1935 those who designed the tank were influenced by the mistaken belief that combat in a new war would be the same as in World War I, in which tanks were utilised for breaking through strong, static defensive positions. The General Staff specification required a cheap tank to be built with as many as possible already available commercial components. The result was a small, slow ( 8mph ), but heavily armoured vehicle. Armed with either a Vickers .303 or .50 machine gun and with a crew of two it was essentially a mobile machine gun post. Matilda I saw combat when the 4th RTR deployed to France with the British Expeditionary Force in September 1939 and the 7th RTR in May 1940. Despite some success it soon became clear that the Matilda1 tank was not suited for its intended role. Although it's heavy armour afforded the crew protection against anything other than the heaviest antitank weapons the vulnerability of the tracks and rollers proved to be a major issue. It's lack of armament meant it couldn't engage enemy armour or strongholds and the cramped interior and small turret didn't help the commander, who had to duck down to use the wireless, and direct the driver at the same time. Most of the vehicles in France were destroyed or abandoned and the few remaining units helped to cover the evacuation at Dunkirk before being blown up to prevent capture. The remaining UK stock was soon relegated to home defence and training duties. At the time of building this the only available kit of the Matilda 1 was this Accurate Armour resin one, now that I have finished it there will no doubt be a plethora of injection moulded kits from mainstream manufacturers. FC Model Trend have just released a 3D printed one which looks interesting. HERE I would say this kit was typical of most resin kits that I have built. They take a little more effort in clean up and some of the details may not be as detailed and crisp as an injection moulded kit but with a little perseverance the end result can be quite rewarding. My work in progress can be seen below. The kit provided resin tracks weren't great so I replaced them with Friulmodel T-26 tracks which are close match to the originals. As far as I recall the only other additions were the brass Aber fire extinguishers. The model has been painted using MRP paints in Khaki Green No.3 with Dark Green No.4 as a disruptive colour and the weathering was applied with various Mig Ammo pigments. I decided to go with a heavier coating of mud to help hide the weakest part of this kit which is the running gear. Annoyingly I have just noticed in the above photo that the Chinese eye on this side seems to have escaped the weathering. I'll put it down to the crew giving it a clean.🙄 For comparison I thought I would include a few shots with her alongside her big sister the Matilda 2. Overall I'm pretty satisfied with the end result but as always there are things I think I could probably have done better, mostly concerning the running gear but really I'm just glad I got to the end. Wayne

I have given up hope of an injection moulded kit of the 'Matilda I' being released by any of the mainstream kit manufactures and decided to take the plunge with Accurate Armours resin release from 1995. Although the A11 Matilda 1 was only produced in small numbers ( 140 between 1938-39 ) I feel that it is quite an important vehicle to add to a collection of British armour models, if only to highlight how short sighted British tank design was preceding WW2. Although planning work began in 1935 those who designed the tank were influenced by the mistaken belief that combat in a new war would be the same as in World War I, in which tanks were utilised for breaking through strong, static defensive positions. The General Staff specification required a cheap tank to be built with as many as possible already available commercial components. The result was a small, slow ( 8mph ), but heavily armoured vehicle. Armed with either a Vickers .303 or .50 machine gun and with a crew of two it was essentially a mobile machine gun post. Matilda I saw combat when the 4th RTR deployed to France with the British Expeditionary Force in September 1939 and the 7th RTR in May 1940. Despite some success it soon became clear that the Matilda1 tank was not suited for its intended role. Although it's heavy armour afforded the crew protection against anything other than the heaviest antitank weapons the vulnerability of the tracks and rollers proved to be a major issue. It's lack of armament meant it couldn't engage enemy armour or strongholds and the cramped interior and small turret didn't help the commander, who had to duck down to use the wireless, and direct the driver at the same time. Most of the vehicles in France were destroyed or abandoned and the few remaining units helped to cover the evacuation at Dunkirk before being blown up to prevent capture. The remaining UK stock was soon relegated to home defence and training duties. The kit comes in a relatively small but sturdy box and the parts are packaged into five plastic bags. There are a couple of broken parts in my kit but they should be simple enough to repair. There is also a small photo etch sheet, a length of wire some brass rod and a decal sheet with five options, all from the 4th RTR. I added a set of Friulmodel T-26 tracks to replace the resin offerings supplied by Accurate Armour. As the tracks are so exposed on this tank I felt that the weight of the metal tracks would add to the look of the finished model. The instruction sheet is 12 pages long with a list of parts, general instructions relating to the construction of a resin kit and working with etched brass, a written assembly sequence and photos of a model under construction. there is also a brief description of the history of Matilda 1. At first glance assembly of the kit seems straight forward enough. I have been looking forward to getting this project underway for sometime now, I hope that it doesn't disappoint. Wayne

Quite a few of these on the go I see. I started these two in four tank parallel build as I needed a break from another couple of projects as they were doing my nut in. Both used the Trumpeter kits for the hulls. Everything else was binned. InAccuate Armour upgrades have been extensively used and the tracks are from HobbyBoss. Figures are Valkyrie and MiniArt with Hornet Heads. Both sets of figures are a huge disappointment as they are incorrectly dressed and will need to be corrected. The Berlin Chally is current from the Ajax Squadron who have been experimenting with urban cam schemes. The NATO Chally is circa 2002 and is still carrying Clansman kit and the old wheels, which were replaced in late 2002 around the time Bowman came in. Both Chally's are ready for gloss varnish then weathering, which I will post progress on in this thread. Here goes! Yes I know the viewing ports need completing.... NATO Chally 2 Not done armour for years, so weathering should be interesting! GPMG and viewing ports need sorting yet also.