A11, Infantry Tank Mark.I 'Matilda I'

[diablo rsv]

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

 

 

 

[Steben]

Great! Lovely vehicle!

Please don't do the Bovington christmas green disruptive over grass green.

[Geo1966]

What an interesting subject and kit. Looking forward to seeing how you get alone with this, but I am sure you will make a fantastic job of it as usual with your builds.

George

[Bullbasket]

Wow! You certainly don't like an easy modelling project. Good luck Wayne. I'll be popping in now and again to see how you're getting on with it.

 

John.

[Hamden]

 

Looking forward to seeing what you do with this one.

For your information when I built AA's CRARRV I found the resin to be very brittle with some of the smaller parts difficult to cut from casting blocks and clean up, hopefully your kit will be better!

 

   Stay safe           Roger 

[fittedkitchens]

Resin kits have always seemed a bit daunting, but I'd love to build the Matilda Mark I, so I'll be watching this one with interest... 

[diablo rsv]

On 01/05/2021 at 20:03, Steben said:

Please don't do the Bovington christmas green disruptive over grass green.

 

I haven't looked at that one yet but I rarely trust museum exhibits when it comes to paint schemes. I will do a little more research when I get there but I imagine they would have been painted Khaki Green No.3  with Dark Green No.4 as a disruptive colour. AA suggest Mid Bronze Green with Deep Bronze Green. 

Wayne

[diablo rsv]

On 01/05/2021 at 23:18, Geo1966 said:

What an interesting subject and kit. Looking forward to seeing how you get alone with this, but I am sure you will make a fantastic job of it as usual with your builds.

George

 

On 02/05/2021 at 07:31, Bullbasket said:

Wow! You certainly don't like an easy modelling project. Good luck Wayne. I'll be popping in now and again to see how you're getting on with it.

 

John.

 

On 02/05/2021 at 08:04, Hamden said:

 

Looking forward to seeing what you do with this one.

For your information when I built AA's CRARRV I found the resin to be very brittle with some of the smaller parts difficult to cut from casting blocks and clean up, hopefully your kit will be better!

 

   Stay safe           Roger 

 

On 02/05/2021 at 18:17, fittedkitchens said:

Resin kits have always seemed a bit daunting, but I'd love to build the Matilda Mark I, so I'll be watching this one with interest... 

 

Thanks for your interest gentlemen, 

I have only had a quick look at the kit but from what I have seen it shouldn't be too difficult, but you are right Roger the resin is quite brittle.

 

Wayne

[APA]

As you say it's a real shame that no one has done a regular kit of this. It is an iconic tank. While I'm at its a criminal shame that no one has done Little Willey which is the father of them all. But I digress. I'm looking forward to this one. Not a cheap kit either so don't go cocking it up ok? 😎

 

Crack on........ 👍🏻😁

 

Andrew

[Steben]

2 hours ago, diablo rsv said:

 

I haven't looked at that one yet but I rarely trust museum exhibits when it comes to paint schemes. I will do a little more research when I get there but I imagine they would have been painted Khaki Green No.3  with Dark Green No.4 as a disruptive colour. AA suggest Mid Bronze Green with Deep Bronze Green. 

Wayne

Do not follow the suggestion but your imagination.

[Kingsman]

I had one of these kits but couldn't face it and sold it on.  An earlier release with white metal parts.  The banana resin tracks will be a pain.  RPM do - or at least did - a set of plastic individual link tracks for the Vickers E which are almost identical: RPM35901.  I bought a set for mine but sold them with the kit.  They seem to be very hard to find now.  I'm not sure there are any other alternatives.

 

Green G4 over Khaki Green 3 is certainly the most likely colour scheme.  The AA suggestion of 2-tone Bronze Green would be early vehicles pre-war, if it existed.  However the many brands offering these colours vary considerably and the AK Real Colours are both way off.  I've only done 1 vehicle in that scheme so far and ended up using Vallejo Model Air's KG3 and Hataka's G4.  Which came out like this.  I think I will use that combination again.

 

 

[Steben]

3 hours ago, Das Abteilung said:

I had one of these kits but couldn't face it and sold it on.  An earlier release with white metal parts.  The banana resin tracks will be a pain.  RPM do - or at least did - a set of plastic individual link tracks for the Vickers E which are almost identical: RPM35901.  I bought a set for mine but sold them with the kit.  They seem to be very hard to find now.  I'm not sure there are any other alternatives.

 

Green G4 over Khaki Green 3 is certainly the most likely colour scheme.  The AA suggestion of 2-tone Bronze Green would be early vehicles pre-war, if it existed.  However the many brands offering these colours vary considerably and the AK Real Colours are both way off.  I've only done 1 vehicle in that scheme so far and ended up using Vallejo Model Air's KG3 and Hataka's G4.  Which came out like this.  I think I will use that combination again.

 

 

They are difficult colours it seems if you want them out of the bottle. But Mike's mixes for KG3 arent easy either. The easiest one is good old xf62 and xf59. I have a ral mix but that isn't useful here. Vallejo 71.264 brown violet is acceptable but a slightly light variant. Dark green 4 is a tad of black added to olive green.

Edited May 4, 2021 by Steben
Grammar

[Hamden]

12 hours ago, APA said:

While I'm at its a criminal shame that no one has done Little Willey which is the father of them all.

 

AA list a resin kit of "Little Willey" but it is IMHO rather expensive for what it is!

 

   Stay safe           Roger

[Kingsman]

10 hours ago, Steben said:

The easiest one is good old xf62 and xf59

I'm afraid I don't get on with Tamiya acrylic paints.  Paint of last resort for me.  Out of just less than 1,900 paints I only have 77 Tamiya acrylics: in fact I'm surprised I have that many.  Not tried their lacquers yet.

 

And I'm not a fan of the lack of consistent repeatability and inherent possibility of inaccuracy in self-mixing.  We aim for accuracy then build in the possibility - even probability - of inaccuracy.  I would rather look at alternative brands to find one I like OOB.  Which may be why I have almost 1,900 paints........  As I said, I think I've found my go-to KG3/G4 combination to my ageing eyes.  Hataka gets the SCC15 vote for me.

 

Picking the "right" colour when we then apply various filters and washes over it, hoping we'd taken the scale colour effect into account, will always be fraught with the risk of getting it wrong and a subject of differential opinion and debate. 

 

And then we are partly arguing about differences in our own colour perception (mine used to be airfield driving standard but has probably slipped), the differences in brands of monitors, different connection standards, the differences in personal monitor or graphics card settings etc.  I have 2 identical HD monitors at home bought together and set to the same settings.  But one is connected by HDMI and one by DVI, and they display differently.  I have exactly the same situation with 2 apparently-identical monitors at work similarly connected.  And then we get to the lighting and camera settings with which the image was taken and the format in which it is saved.  Like your indoor-outdoor IDF Sinai Grey pictures elsewhere.  And if modern paint is variable - which we know it is - then vintage paint was certainly variable.

 

Bottom line?  We can argue all we like but we ain't never goin' to agree.  And finding guaranteed original paint in areas of any size to compare is getting harder and harder, and it's been weathered for 80-ish years if we're talking WW2.  But at least full-size restorers are getting round to the idea of carefully removing old paint layers and working with specailists to analyse those layers.

Edited May 4, 2021 by Das Abteilung
Bad spelling!

[Steben]

1 hour ago, Das Abteilung said:

I'm afraid I don't get on with Tamiya acrylic paints.  Paint of last resort for me.  Out of just less than 1,900 paints I only have 77 Tamiya acrylics: in fact I'm surprised I have that many.  Not tried their lacquers yet.

 

And I'm not a fan of the lack of consistent repeatability and inherent possibility of inaccuracy in self-mixing.  We aim for accuracy then build in the possibility - even probability - of inaccuracy.  I would rather look at alternative brands to find one I like OOB.  Which may be why I have almost 1,900 paints........  As I said, I think I've found my go-to KG3/G4 combination to my ageing eyes.  Hataka gets the SCC15 vote for me.

 

Picking the "right" colour when we then apply various filters and washes over it, hoping we'd taken the scale colour effect into account, will always be fraught with the risk of getting it wrong and a subject of differential opinion and debate. 

 

And then we are partly arguing about differences in our own colour perception (mine used to be airfield driving standard but has probably slipped), the differences in brands of monitors, different connection standards, the differences in personal monitor or graphics card settings etc.  I have 2 identical HD monitors at home bought together and set to the same settings.  But one is connected by HDMI and one by DVI, and they display differently.  I have exactly the same situation with 2 apparently-identical monitors at work similarly connected.  And then we get to the lighting and camera settings with which the image was taken and the format in which it is saved.  Like your indoor-outdoor IDF Sinai Grey pictures elsewhere.  And if modern paint is variable - which we know it is - then vintage paint was certainly variable.

 

Bottom line?  We can argue all we like but we ain't never goin' to agree.  And finding guaranteed original paint in areas of any size to compare is getting harder and harder, and it's been weathered for 80-ish years if we're talking WW2.  But at least full-size restorers are getting round to the idea of carefully removing old paint layers and working with specailists to analyse those layers.

 

Yes. But ...
I've mixed paints based on research, different ambient checks and work by others (notably Mike Starmer).
I sent a RAL mix code for SCC15 some time ago to a Dutch guy who I never met for his bike which I never saw before. Not knowing he had original parts.
He sent me pictures of new sprayed parts and old original parts.


And all this is even without the slightest idea of contesting your statement which are true as well.
It is astonishing that - even today while there are several automative paint shops selling accurate ww2 colours - the modelling paints are so diverse.
Of course the fact modellers are prone to personal taste is is no help. The modulation hype. Pre-lightened in a bottle idea. Etc Etc.
I am stuck to the idea a modeller should be allowed to use interpretation and skill with the real accurate colour as much as possible as a base. But.... I have my bias.
AK uses the word REAL, but even they took a stroll and loops where they thought it was needed.
Don't ask Mike about AK.

Edited May 4, 2021 by Steben

[Kingsman]

2 hours ago, Steben said:

even today while there are several automative paint shops selling accurate ww2 colours

Don't bet on it.  Several cans of BS61 Light Stone: all very different. Several cans of Dunkelgelb RAL7028: all different.  Several cans of DAK RAL8000 Grunbraun: all different.  Several cans of OD: all different. All theoretically authentically matched from reputable suppliers.  There are variations from batch to batch and brand to brand.  1:1 seems to be just as much of a lottery as 1/35.

 

But we have well any truly hijacked this thread about BUILDING an AA A11.  I suggest that any further discussion of the general vagaries of colour lives elsewhere.  But I'm sure that suggestions for KG3 and G4 paint would be welcome.  I've made my pitch.

 

I am aware of your last point.

[Steben]

Ain't that a11 built yet? 😁 Yes time to quit. Ild go for the vallejo brown violet and combine it with a bronze green not too dark. The contrast in lightness must be as low as possible. This will render a pleasant result.

[Kingsman]

As for the comments above about the colours of the Bovington tanks, the only surviving A11s, I believe that the one in the WW2 hall (T8106 / PMX466) may possibly be original paint but shows a probably-experimental later 3-colour scheme of dark green(G4?), mid brown (SCC2?) and black. Not BEF-appropriate.

 

The running one (T3447 / HMH802) - presumably the one descibed above as "grass green" - might be intended to replicate the 2-tone Bronze Green scheme mentioned above.  The lighter green is certainly way off for Khaki Green.

 

The recently-repainted running Matilda II is probably not a bad representation of how Khaki Green 3 looked on a full-size vehicle, noting that this picture is in full sun.  A brownish green, as it is usually described.  The colour was chosen to be KG3.

 

[Steben]

1 hour ago, Das Abteilung said:

As for the comments above about the colours of the Bovington tanks, the only surviving A11s, I believe that the one in the WW2 hall (T8106 / PMX466) may possibly be original paint but shows a probably-experimental later 3-colour scheme of dark green(G4?), mid brown (SCC2?) and black. Not BEF-appropriate.

 

The running one (T3447 / HMH802) - presumably the one descibed above as "grass green" - might be intended to replicate the 2-tone Bronze Green scheme mentioned above.  The lighter green is certainly way off for Khaki Green.

 

The recently-repainted running Matilda II is probably not a bad representation of how Khaki Green 3 looked on a full-size vehicle, noting that this picture is in full sun.  A brownish green, as it is usually described.  The colour was chosen to be KG3.

 

Yes indeed. They did well with the new coat. Although the g4 disruptive would have made things complete of course.

 

the a11 in Bovington just might be the base for the paint suggestion rather than the other way around. I'm very cautious. I'll look up some more Starmer this evening.

[diablo rsv]

On 04/05/2021 at 03:01, Das Abteilung said:

I had one of these kits but couldn't face it and sold it on.  An earlier release with white metal parts.  The banana resin tracks will be a pain.  RPM do - or at least did - a set of plastic individual link tracks for the Vickers E which are almost identical: RPM35901.  I bought a set for mine but sold them with the kit.  They seem to be very hard to find now.  I'm not sure there are any other alternatives.

 

Green G4 over Khaki Green 3 is certainly the most likely colour scheme.  The AA suggestion of 2-tone Bronze Green would be early vehicles pre-war, if it existed.  However the many brands offering these colours vary considerably and the AK Real Colours are both way off.  I've only done 1 vehicle in that scheme so far and ended up using Vallejo Model Air's KG3 and Hataka's G4.  Which came out like this.  I think I will use that combination again.

 

 

 

On 04/05/2021 at 06:41, Steben said:

They are difficult colours it seems if you want them out of the bottle. But Mike's mixes for KG3 arent easy either. The easiest one is good old xf62 and xf59. I have a ral mix but that isn't useful here. Vallejo 71.264 brown violet is acceptable but a slightly light variant. Dark green 4 is a tad of black added to olive green.

 

It's always an interesting debate when it comes to correct colours for models. I use MRP paints for my British vehicle colours and have been very impressed by them. I have pretty much used all of them now and each one has been a very good match for Mike Starmer's colour chips, which is good enough for me. The only one I haven't checked is the Dark Green No.4 but I am confident it will be a good match. If you are happy with spraying lacquer paints I can thoroughly recommend them. Their Khaki Green No.3

is what I used on my Valentine Mk.I below.

As regards to the kit Peter, I have the more recent casting with the resin wheels. From what I have seen of the older ones this release seems to be better cast as well with less bubbles. As for the tracks, I binned them and got a set of Friuls for the T-26. As the T-26 was basically a Vickers 6-Ton and the A11 shared many common parts I think they should be a pretty good match.

 

 

Wayne

[diablo rsv]

On 03/05/2021 at 21:15, APA said:

As you say it's a real shame that no one has done a regular kit of this. It is an iconic tank. While I'm at its a criminal shame that no one has done Little Willey which is the father of them all. But I digress. I'm looking forward to this one. Not a cheap kit either so don't go cocking it up ok? 😎

 

Crack on........ 👍🏻😁

 

Andrew

 

On 04/05/2021 at 10:15, Hamden said:

 

AA list a resin kit of "Little Willey" but it is IMHO rather expensive for what it is!

 

   Stay safe           Roger

 

Unfortunately as no collection of British AFV's would be complete without it I fear I may have to bite the bullet, I have toyed with the idea of scratch building combined with some appropriate kit parts but by the time I had done that the £74 AA wants may not look so bad.

 

Wayne 

[Kingsman]

17 minutes ago, diablo rsv said:

As for the tracks, I binned them and got a set of Friuls for the T-26. As the T-26 was basically a Vickers 6-Ton and the A11 shared many common parts I think they should be a pretty good match

I've looked at the A11, T26 and Vickers E tracks at Bovington.  They aren't the same but in 1/35 you can't really tell.  The A11 tracks appear to be a unique design.

[diablo rsv]

I have finally got round to making a start on this little project.

The first task was to start cleaning up the main hull. This comes in one piece with a reasonable amount of detail cast into it, unfortunately some of this detail, mostly along the bottom edge, was lost in the clean up process. It will be a fairly simple task to reinstate it though as it was mostly rivets. I have added the suspension mounts to the hull. 

 

 

The hull is an impressive piece of casting with a nice weight to it and my example doesn't have too many air bubbles in it. AA have even moulded in a seat in the drivers compartment should you wish to display the model with the hatches open. However I think you would have to add a lot of additional detail so I will keep mine closed up.

 

 

 

The worst part of the hull casting is at the rear where there are some air bubbles to attend to and there will be some awkward tidying up to do where the casting blocks were attached. There are a number of parts to fit on the back panel so a lot of it will be covered up.

 

 

The running gear is the first and probably the most time consuming part of the build. For a resin cast model I thought the detail wasn't bad.

 

 

 

Assembling the bogies is where the downside of limited run kits began to show, the engineering and fit made it quite difficult to get everything to line up as well as I would have liked. Seen from the side they don't look too bad but from above it's not so good. I toyed with the idea of replacing the axles with brass rod and I may still do so but for now I shall put them to one side and get on with something else. 

 

 

 

Looking at the photos again I think I will have to replace the axles.

I have started to attach some of the detail parts to the hull. Most of this is straight forward enough but having reference photos is a must to get the correct positioning. 

 

 

The drivers hatches were a poor fit. There was some warping to the hatch itself and the front plate has some missing detail that will need to be replaced. The sides of the hull had to be squeezed together to close the gap around the hatch and there will be some filling required where the front plate meets the hull sides.

 

 

I was never expecting this to be a straight forward build due to the nature of limited run resin kits, there are a number of places where I feel I need to replace details and make repairs to poorly cast parts and I'm just struggling to keep motivated with this one at the moment. I don't want to park it as I know it can be difficult to pick it up again but I am tempted to build something straight forward to restore my mojo.

 

Wayne

 

 

 

[APA]

That thing looks riddled with issues, some of them are pretty fundamental. I don't envy you one bit. 

Swimming up stream and running up the down escalator spring to mind! 

 

Good luck! 

 

Andrew 

[Hamden]

 

You are doing a great job on this one. when I did their CRARRV conversion I felt that the quality control could have been better. 

Looking forward to watching you beat this into submission which I know you will!

 

   Stay safe              Roger