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Airfix OO/HO or 1/76 or 1/72 AEC Matador


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With a bit of 'encouragement' from @JOCKNEY I'm coming in as a very late starter with my £2.50 Charity Shop bargain. After a bit of stash mining I've found the Scammell Tank Transporter to donate proper truck type wheels to this old warrior. I won't be bothering with the gun because life is too short.....

 

Here's the starting picture, still bagged with decent decals and a flying hour 😮

 

tumblr_pfim9607SC1t8blhlo1_1280.jpg

 

I'm going to give it a little love but in keeping with the GB ethos I'm not going insane with it. Had a minor meltdown when Scalemates put the release at 2008 but that was a fib. My boxing is 2005 and the original release was 1966 😮 I'd just started school!!!! Time to get started.

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5 hours ago, JOCKNEY said:

Good man SS

 

Seems a shame the Scammel got robbed, does that mean that ones never going to grace the gallery in a future GB ?

 

cheers Pat

I'm part French, part Lancashire and part Suffolk. None of those are known for wasting money (or much else) so the Scammell will be appearing but not in Tank Transporter guise.

 

The main issue is that I can't remember which wheels from the Scammell need to go on the Matador......

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5 hours ago, Ventora3300 said:

Well done, SleeperService - another welcome addition to the ranks of military hardware being built for this GB. Good luck with your build. Mike.

Thank You most kind Sir. Bit late to the party but I've got the chassis assembled this evening which is firmly jigged up to make sure all the wheels touch the ground. Out of the box they didn't. 

 

Just as a thought I went back to 1969 or thereabouts as soon as i started this. Football results on the radio and fish and chips for tea. In the background the faint smell of tube glue. After tea I had to walk the dog and the table was allocated to my sisters. Sunday morning was a year away... Anybody else get these flashbacks as well? Obviously not of my house and family :D

 

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On 9/24/2018 at 1:44 AM, SleeperService said:

 Just as a thought I went back to 1969 or thereabouts as soon as i started this. Football results on the radio and fish and chips for tea. In the background the faint smell of tube glue. After tea I had to walk the dog and the table was allocated to my sisters. Sunday morning was a year away... Anybody else get these flashbacks as well? Obviously not of my house and family :D

 

 

Yes, SleeperService, I get these flashbacks, but they go a long way further back!

 

I recall building this when it was still nice and crispy and new, in a very hot country far, far away.

 

Cheers, Ray

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Hi Peeps

 

That was fun. Here's the result of Construction Day One. No accidents :) No near misses :) No Injuries :)

tumblr_pfnp22RdeA1t8blhlo1_1280.jpg

 

The trailer wheels from the Scammell Tank Transporter (I remembered!) are much better than the tiny kit items. There is still a bow in the chassis but all four wheels are on the ground and it's nice and solid. Next step involves clamps a lump of plate and hot water. In front the cab floor with one of the rather hefty mudguards removed, the tab will locate the cab rear. All guards to be replaced so the wheels aren't rubbing. I'll be using 10 thou card and thick foil to give the distinctive ridge along the edges. Thanks to Ian Sadler fellow MAFVA member for the Top Tip.

 

Keep safe construction sites aren't playgrounds!

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Hi Nostalgia Buffs!

 

Managed to get another session in on this little beast yesterday. As proof...

 

tumblr_pfyklmkY2U1t8blhlo1_1280.jpg

 

Cab hip ring looked horrible so replaced with a bit of strip after making the hole circular. Lower fuel tank half fits perfectly when reversed but not so good the right way round, but it's all good fun. I've decided to have the canvas sides rolled up so scribed the inside of the sides :) but for got to do the floor :oops: I'm currently deciding what to do about that. After much thought I went out and brought some muffins which I've eaten to give me clear plastic for the windows. Rather than cut lots of tiny pieces I've thinned the rear surface so will paint the frames then use a grand total of three pieces. Much easier! Final thing was doing wheel number 5 as the spare to go in the back.

 

Next step is a bit of cab detailing especially the framing on the rear and the benches for the gun crew in 2nd Class.

 

Some details that may help others;

 

  • The cab roof is too short, align the back and add a strip to the front to bring flush with the angled windscreen. There should be a second skin over the drivers side spaced off by the bars moulded in and a flange above the door. Thick tin foil or thin aluminum from a drinks can is your friend. The cab sides go outside the cab rear.
  • The winch cable was 250 feet long and fed to the rear. It could then run forward along the nearside. Adding the rollers and pulleys is quite straightforward and makes a big difference. The cable was oiled weekly so should be steel coloured, it ended in an eye loop. The cable would be stowed very carefully on the drum  with no twisting or crossing so be neat.
  • Frames on tailgate stowed the hawsers used with the towing chocks (Parts 26 and 27).
  • Ignore the Olive Drab paint instruction these vehicles were still SCC.2 Brown until replaced by overhauled vehicles. Gazala was in Normandy in July 1944 well before green tractors appeared. Several Gunner Veterans have stated that they only started to see green vehicles in 1945 and until then they were brown. The top surfaces would be dark brown. The rear of the back differential was always painted white and cleaned often. A small light underneath lit it up at night.
  • The kit has two reflectors on the tailgate moulded in. Remove for a WW2 vehicle as they didn't come into use until Post War. 
  • Remove the two bumps representing the sidelights on the front either side of the radiator. Another Post War modification. In WW2 the lights were tiny motorcycle-like affairs bottom mounted on a bracket. While at the front remove the triangle at the top centre of the radiator representing the AEC badge Gazala was a later vehicle that had a smooth surface in this area.
  • Chassis and undersides were black, this includes the engine as built. After rebuild engines could be light grey, light green, or dark red for certain and possibly other colours too.

I hope this helps somebody out there ;)

 

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4 hours ago, SleeperService said:

Some details that may help others;

  • The cab roof is too short, align the back and add a strip to the front to bring flush with the angled windscreen. There should be a second skin over the drivers side spaced off by the bars moulded in and a flange above the door. Thick tin foil or thin aluminum from a drinks can is your friend. The cab sides go outside the cab rear.
  • The winch cable was 250 feet long and fed to the rear. It could then run forward along the nearside. Adding the rollers and pulleys is quite straightforward and makes a big difference. The cable was oiled weekly so should be steel coloured, it ended in an eye loop. The cable would be stowed very carefully on the drum  with no twisting or crossing so be neat.
  • Frames on tailgate stowed the hawsers used with the towing chocks (Parts 26 and 27).
  • Ignore the Olive Drab paint instruction these vehicles were still SCC.2 Brown until replaced by overhauled vehicles. Gazala was in Normandy in July 1944 well before green tractors appeared. Several Gunner Veterans have stated that they only started to see green vehicles in 1945 and until then they were brown. The top surfaces would be dark brown. The rear of the back differential was always painted white and cleaned often. A small light underneath lit it up at night.
  • The kit has two reflectors on the tailgate moulded in. Remove for a WW2 vehicle as they didn't come into use until Post War. 
  • Remove the two bumps representing the sidelights on the front either side of the radiator. Another Post War modification. In WW2 the lights were tiny motorcycle-like affairs bottom mounted on a bracket. While at the front remove the triangle at the top centre of the radiator representing the AEC badge Gazala was a later vehicle that had a smooth surface in this area.
  • Chassis and undersides were black, this includes the engine as built. After rebuild engines could be light grey, light green, or dark red for certain and possibly other colours too.

I hope this helps somebody out there ;)

 

 

This has been invaluable - I was looking for precisely this kind of info so I could repaint the mini Matador that appeared in one of my threads hereabouts. The one thing I'm still struggling with is markings. Although the guns it towed weren't divisional level pieces, my reading says they were used by Polish units so I have no idea what to put on (I'm trying to model as many vehicles as possible from 1st Polish Armoured Division).

 

Andy

Grateful.  

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1 hour ago, Foxbat said:

 

This has been invaluable - I was looking for precisely this kind of info so I could repaint the mini Matador that appeared in one of my threads hereabouts. The one thing I'm still struggling with is markings. Although the guns it towed weren't divisional level pieces, my reading says they were used by Polish units so I have no idea what to put on (I'm trying to model as many vehicles as possible from 1st Polish Armoured Division).

 

Andy

Grateful.  

Hi Andy

 

Glad it's of help. 1st Polish Armoured Div was attached to the 1st Canadian Army which used Four Wheel Drive Cab Over Engine FWD-COE petrol engined tractors in the Medium artillery regiments, These were the main Matador user units in the British Army. The Matador usually had a diesel engine (it's designation was O853 for oil not zero as often written). If you can find out what units had Matadors in 1st Polish AD then I can certainly help with markings. 

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Jumping from link to link starting on the Wikipedia Matador page suggests Polish II Corps in Italy used the 5.5 inch gun and so would have had its own Matadors.

 

1st Armoured, as part of II Canadian Corps, 1st Canadian Army would have artillery support from 3rd, 4th and 7th Medium Regiments and 2nd Heavy AA Regiment belonging to 2 Army Group, Royal Canadian Artillery.

 

Think I'll just leave my Matador as a generic one and source a Morris as issued by Airfix with the Bofors as my 1PAD model.

 

Andy

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If you're up for a bit of scratchbuilding and conversion work the FWD-COE can be built from the Matador. There was an article in Military Modelling magazine in the late 70s(?) covering it. I have a friend with every copy so I think I'll nip round and see him ;)

 

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A place holder here. Had a series of distractions recently but normality returns, well normal for me at any rate.

 

I have a problem though the muffin box is no good as glazing material as it's very 'pebbly'. I have no suitable material so need to get some. I will however carry on regardless as I can get a fair bit done before I add the glazing. 

 

What really annoys me is that I was in a model shop on Saturday to get the paint for this and could have picked up some clear at the same time.....I don't make things easy for myself.

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