British Matilda mkIII/IV

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British Matilda mkIII/IV
Tweet Topic Started: Jul 14 2010, 02:32 PM (6,644 Views)
f4sooty	Jul 14 2010, 02:32 PM Post #1
Advanced Member Posts: 1,146 Group: Members Member #31 Joined: September 22, 2009	This is hopefully going to be a quick build and will keep going on till the end of the month when I will be starting work on my Airfix 1/24 Mossie. This is the milestone 300th release by Tamiya. I will be building a Matilda tank from the 42nd Royal Tank regiment, North Africa, 1941. First the box shots and contents. I started construction on the wheels, first up are the road wheels, here are the before and after pictures Next came the Jockey wheels, the finished one is on the right Then I made up the idler wheels Finally was the drive sprockets which were beautifully cast Once the wheels were done I moved on to the tracks. you can either use the rubber band style tracks or the injection moulded link and length tracks. I opted for the rubber band tracks because the link and length tracks were absolutley covered in dreaded circular sink marks. there were on avaerage three per link and it would take an eternity to fill nd sand them all and to be honest the detail is the same on both sets of track. Here is one of the track that has had a base coat of Tamiya XF-1 black The road wheels were then added to the suspension. Again the before and after pictures That it for now, more to follow shortly



phantomdriver	Jul 14 2010, 07:53 PM Post #2
Fox Mulder's soul brother..... Posts: 2,074 Group: IPMS Member Member #29 Joined: September 22, 2009	oh gawd, he's off again.



MemberOne	Jul 15 2010, 02:43 AM Post #3
Newbie Posts: 0 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: July 6, 2009	Go for it Steve



f4sooty	Jul 18 2010, 01:22 PM Post #4
Advanced Member Posts: 1,146 Group: Members Member #31 Joined: September 22, 2009	I will now bring you up to date on my Matilda build. I have continued work on the running gear. As the Matilda has armoured sides I had to paint the wheels etc. and attach them in place before the side panels go on. The road wheels and suspension were first painted with Tamiya XF-59 Desert yellow, in fact all the running gear was. next I added some wear and paint chipping to the suspension. first i took a small piece of sponge and dipped it in some Citadel Gun metal paint, dabbed off the excess on some kitchen roll before gently applying the paint to the suspension. This method is great for simulating paint chipping Next i dipped a small piece of sponge in Vallejo Panzer aces dark rust and using the same method I applied it over the gunmetal paint. This gives the effect of old tarnished/rust effected metal and newly chipped paintwork. I used this method on the rest of the suspension and wheels. The sprocket also got this treatment Before I could add the running gear to the hull I had to attach a few parts The running gear was then added, fit was perfect. The parts of the hull around the running gear were also painted with XF-59 The suspension cover went on next Next up were the tracks. the tracks had previously been given a base coat of Tamiya Flat black. On top of this went a coat of Citadel Boltgun metal. Then using my favourite sponge method I applied some Dark rust. the tracks will need a coat of flat varnish as wells some weathering, this will be done at a later date. The tracks were glued together using tamiya extra thin, though this worked succesfully, the glue does react quite aggressively with the vinyl. The tracks were then added to the hull. More later..........



phantomdriver	Jul 18 2010, 03:11 PM Post #5
Fox Mulder's soul brother..... Posts: 2,074 Group: IPMS Member Member #29 Joined: September 22, 2009



Eric2020	Jul 19 2010, 12:20 AM Post #6
Advanced Member Posts: 533 Group: Members Member #145 Joined: January 13, 2010	Great work on the Mathilda Sooty!! I like the way you treated the tracks and wheels. Keep going I'm wanting to see more!!!!



MemberOne	Jul 19 2010, 09:37 AM Post #7
Newbie Posts: 0 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: July 6, 2009	Very cool Steve



f4sooty	Jul 20 2010, 01:22 PM Post #8
Advanced Member Posts: 1,146 Group: Members Member #31 Joined: September 22, 2009	My attention now turned to the upper hull. Before it was attached to the lower hull quite a few parts had to be added. Here are a couple of pics showing the upper hull with some of those parts added. I then attached the upper hull to the lower. Next was the exhaust system. This was made up of several parts. Here are the before and after pics This was then attached to the rear of the Matilda and a couple of exhaust pipes added. To attach the exhaust to the engine, two long pipes go along the topside of the hull. The pipes are covered in a heat resistant tape. here are the wto pipes prioir to be adde. and the pipes fixed in place..... next on to the rear is the external feul tank With all the parts added to the upper hull all that was left to do on the hull was to attach the side panels. I sprayed the inside of the panels with Desert yellow prioir to them being attached. The final task on the lower hull was to apply some Mr surfacer 500 to an area on the upper hull which was smooth instead of having an uneven surface due to the casting process. All i did was to dip a panitbrush into the Mr surfacer500 and apply it using a stippling effect. Next I will start on the turret



MemberOne	Jul 21 2010, 02:20 AM Post #9
Newbie Posts: 0 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: July 6, 2009	Bleeding lovely Steve



f4sooty	Jul 22 2010, 01:11 PM Post #10
Advanced Member Posts: 1,146 Group: Members Member #31 Joined: September 22, 2009	The turret assembly was next. I started by doing the gun manlet. This was made up of several pieces including poly caps. Fit was perfect. The mantlet was then fixed on to the turret Next I attached all the parts to the turret, this included the hatches. I also used a clear lense from "little-lenses" on the light. These lenses are superb and come in various sizes and are available from Little-cars.co.uk. After fixing the turret onto the hull, the construction phase was now over. The Matilda was then given a coat of tamiya XF-19 Sky grey and then a small amount of preshading was done using Tamiya XF-1. more laterr when i start to mask up the Caunter scheme camo pattern



MemberOne	Jul 24 2010, 01:13 PM Post #11
Newbie Posts: 0 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: July 6, 2009	Good stuff Steve looking forward to the paint job



f4sooty	Jul 24 2010, 01:47 PM Post #12
Advanced Member Posts: 1,146 Group: Members Member #31 Joined: September 22, 2009	I have now managed to get some paint on the Matilda. Due to me choosing The Caunter scheme camo it took alot of masking. The camo is in three colours. The first one I applied was Tamiya XF-59 desert yellow. I then applied the next two colours, XF-23 light blue and then the final colour which was a combination of one part XF1 flat black and five parts of XF-26 Deep green. After I gave the Matilda a coat of Klear which I left to dry for 24hrs, I then added the decals. I used both Micro-set and sol to bed the decals down. I must say the decals were very nice. The decals were sealed in with another coat of Klear and left over night to dry. the final task to do before the weathering was to do some of the detail painting. I started at the rear of the tank by painting the exhaust with Panzer aces Dark Rust, this will then be weathered in due course. I also painted the heat sheild tape that is wrapped around the exhaust with ome light grey before applying some Mig productions Neutarl wash to bring out the ddetail. here are some more of the details i picked out, the tools and the stowage on the turret, Next update I will start the weathering



Phreak	Jul 24 2010, 09:39 PM Post #13
Advanced Member Posts: 12,419 Group: IPMS Member Member #11 Joined: August 25, 2009	Phantom!!! I'm very impressed with this build, particulatly as you've taken the time to illustrate it so well - top job!



beany	Jul 25 2010, 09:36 AM Post #14
Advanced Member Posts: 385 Group: IPMS Member Member #30 Joined: September 22, 2009	This is an absolute bloody master-class Steve, and I say that as someone who just doesn't even bother looking at AFV threads normally. I would seriously consider buying this kit just to copy your techniques here and try and improve my skill levels. Loving it mate - keep it coming! cheers Al.



MemberOne	Jul 25 2010, 10:44 AM Post #15
Newbie Posts: 0 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: July 6, 2009	Brilliant work Steve



les	Jul 27 2010, 10:16 PM Post #16
Advanced Member Posts: 1,692 Group: IPMS Member Member #18 Joined: September 5, 2009	Nice do like this tank



smuts	Oct 31 2010, 01:21 PM Post #17
Advanced Member Posts: 89 Group: IPMS Member Member #275 Joined: October 30, 2010	Hi, that looks great nice job Andy.


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