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Hi everyone As a new forum member please forgive me if I get anything wrong as I find me feet. After 35 years I’m returning to a hobby I loved as a teenager and I am after some help or pointers in the right direction. Second ask for forgiveness, I’m not a historian! I’m after help with two questions, one modelling related and one more about British military history. My late grandfather drove tank transporters in the British army in WW2. I have some mementos he passed down to me and I am keen to create a memory to him in the form of some models. The pictures attached are a picture of him loading a Sherman, my best guess somewhere in Holland.. The other is a picture of the order of service from the thanksgiving service held at the end of the campaign. First the easiest question. Is someone able to help me identify the variant of Sherman being loaded, and which 1/35 scale kit (+ detailing if necessary) would be best to replicate it please? I am not worried about interior detail. I know from other pics that drove the soft cab version of the M19 transporter. I have the applicable I love Kit model, although I am planning to relearn my skills on a few less complex kits before I take that one on! Second the history question. I don’t know what regiment he served with, but obviously it would have been one listed in the British second army order of service. When he was alive my grandad proudly told me his unit drove the first tank transporters over the bridge at Nimejan. Would tank transporter units have been their own regiment or would they have been attached within one of the tank or armoured formations? And would I be able to find out which tank transporter units came through Nimejan first? Any other useful info people can offer is gratefully received and thanks in advance if you can help. Finally, sorry again if I have got anything wrong or broken any protocols in this, my first post! here are the pics https://drive.google.com/file/d/102aOfkHFJYou2ynuAMTrwVthKmdGodqz/view?usp=drivesdk https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bBiK2sizGnfo2AiklTaWxMJ6h1MykkDc/view?usp=drivesdk

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