Waltzing Matilda

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Awwww,,,,  come on!  It was the obvious title!   

 

The Matilda tank made a name for itself in the Western Desert in 1941 where it was basically invulnerable to the guns deployed by German and Italian forces.  However, that situation changed in early 1942 and the Matilda was gradually phased out to be replaced by Churchills and Grants.

 

Later versions of the Matilda were provided to the Australian army commencing in 1942.  They were used to great effect in the New Guinea campaign.  Australian Matildas once again enjoyed virtual invulnerability to the Japanese guns deployed against them.  However, there were a number of issues regarding contact with enemy infantry which had to be resolved.

 

Tamiya provide an excellent Matilda kit in 1/35.  The original boxing was the version used in the Western Desert which isn't really suitable for the Australian Matildas.  However, Tamiya provided a later version representing those vehicles supplied to the Red Army which is far more suited to this conversion.

 

 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

The original Tamiya kit provides the type of tracks used in the Western Desert together with return rollers.  Later versions of the Matilda had different plate tracks and the return rollers were replace by skids.  This is the configuration presented in this kit.

 

There are still some other differences with australian vehicles, including armour around the turret ring, stowage boxes on the turret, infantry phone installation and a different nose to the hull.  These parts are provided in an excellent resin conversion set from Tiger Model Designs.  https://tigermodeldesigns.com/

 

So let's look at the sprues.  The first few are identical to those provided in the desert version.

 

 

 

 

The differences come with the suspension parts.  The desert version has vinyl tracks.  The "Red Army" version has moulded tracks which need to be built up from seperate links.  I'm hoping that Tamiya has made these easier to assemble than some of the AFV kits I have dealt with recently.  

 

 

another new sprues provides the hull sides with the return skids and a couple of nice Soviet crew figures.  I'm thinking that they will look good in a future KV-1 project.

 

 

 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Here are the resin parts from Tiger Model Designs.

 

 

The white resin parts are actually made redundant because of my choice of kit.  They represent the return skids and hull sides. 

 

Decals will be from Star Decals

 

 

The cre figures are from Firestorm Models.  

 

 

Tiger Model Designs are based in the US.  Firestorm are based in Australia.   I am in the UK.   I ordered from both companies a couple of months ago thinking that I would give myself plenty of time for them to arrive.  I needn't have worried.  

 

Both companies are based on the other side of the planet from me.  Yet I received both items within three weeks!     

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Making a start.

 

Lower hull sides cemented to the hull bottom.

 

 

As a late-build Matilda, this vehcile would have had a later cast hull front, which is provided by Tiger Model Designs.  Matildas had numerous different designs of front stowage boxes, all of which are provided as resin parts by TMD.   In the absence of any specific information, I simply chose one.

 

 

Added into place.  The lip at the front of the lower hull needs to be modified slightly to allow them to fit.  Not exactly a difficult job....  it's just a case of cutting two slots.

 

I have also added some ballast to the hull.  The is not absolutely necessary.  I just feel that tank model should have a bit of heft.

 

 

Upper hull clipped into place to see how it looks.

 

 

 

[Ted]

Looks like the resin fits nicely. Looking forward to this build.

[Mancunian airman]

Made a good start there  Enzo  . . .

[John Masters]

Looks excellent.

[tonyot]

Great subject Enzo and an excellent start,.... I built an Aussie Matilda a few years ago before the Red Army kit was released and it would have saved me a lot of work! Good luck,

Cheers

           Tony

 

[Ray_W]

On 1/25/2021 at 4:33 AM, Enzo Matrix said:

I have also added some ballast to the hull.  The is not absolutely necessary.  I just feel that tank model should have a bit of heft.

 

Hi Enzo,

I will follow with interest. Hope one day to do the same conversion. I always think the ballast in the hull is a nice touch. 

Ray

[JOCKNEY]

Great stuff Enzo

I was really tempted to build a Matilda in the MTO III GB but decided after 40+ years of not building anything without wings to go for the Valentine instead. 

Best of luck with the Matilda, look forward to seeing how it turns out.

Cheers Pat 

[John]

Hi Enzo, does the resin set have the infantry telephone box? I'll need to fabricate one for my Valentine and I've no idea what it looked like.

 

Thanks,

 

John

[Enzo the Magnificent]

5 hours ago, John said:

Hi Enzo, does the resin set have the infantry telephone box?

 

Indeed it does.  This is what it looks like.

 

https://tigermodeldesigns.com/ols/products/xn-matilda-australian-grunt-box-field-phone-8m40arf4b

 

[John]

Perfect, thanks. 

 

John 

Edited to say that there's a photo of the rear of a Valentine in Plowman's book. According to the caption the telephone storage box was adapted from an ammunition box, which should make life a bit easier 🙂

John 

[JOCKNEY]

Hi Enzo

Hows your Matilda coming along ?

Cheers Pat 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

23 hours ago, JOCKNEY said:

Hows your Matilda coming along ?

 

 

Let's see...

 

The next step was to build the running gear.  It's important to check the instructions as you work through but once again there were no problems.   I have also added my usual ballast weights.

 

 

Then on to the turret.  The kit provides two different barrels for the 2pdr gun and a seperate barrel for a 2 inch howitzer.  I used the latter.

 

 

And then it was time to add the resin.  As a later model Matilda, this one has bolted on armour to protect the turrent ring.  I have also added the box for the grunt phone and some additional ammo boxes on the turret.