Well, they're done. apart from adding commanders and stowage. But as they still need to be painted (after possibly doing head swaps on commanders to give them slouch hats) that is fine for now.
Matilda II Close Support
Mounting a 3" howitzer instead of a 2-pounder, this will be great for supporting infantry assaulting entrenched/bunkered Japanese forces.
Matilda II Frog
The "Frog" variant of the Matilda was a flamethrower tank, also useful for taking on Japanese troops in bunkers or caves.
Both have been painted up as 1st Armoured Regiment. "Ace" was an actual name used for one of the tanks in 1 Troop of A Squadron, but I don't know if it was ever a close-support variant. Although the various "specials" (flamethrowers, bridging, dozers, "hedgehogs") were mostly assigned to the 2/1st Armoured Brigade Reconnaissance Squadron, it seems that some "Frogs" were assigned to individual armoured regiments. As there was no evidence of them being assigned out to the squadrons, I've painted "Demon" with RHQ/HQ Squadron markings and made up the name and hull number.
Edit to update: Strewth, sport! Well, would you believe it - "Ace" was a CS variant (troop commander's tank). On the other hand, it does seem that the "Frog" tanks with 1st Armoured were attached to them from the 2/1st Armoured Brigade Reconnaissance Squadron, so I might have to go back and repaint the markings on that one....
You may have been wondering about the extra fuel barrel. That was for the original Matilda I painted a few weeks back. Here it is glued in place:
I'll need to do a bit of touching up on the paintjob to blend it in.
I've also been doing some work on the Panzer IIIs and IVs today. They've all been primed and I've airbrushed the base colours. I still need to do the camouflage on the ones for mid/late war, and then do all the detail painting. That should keep me busy for the next couple of days.
These turned out great, I especially like the weathering. One of my favorite tanks of the period.
ReplyDeletelooking good
ReplyDeleteSpot on.
ReplyDeleteGood painting work, the weathering is heavy but quite effective
ReplyDeleteExcellent work. I love the mud on the lower parts of the hulls.
ReplyDeleteSuberb, that desert sand effect is great.
ReplyDeleteI have always had a soft spot for Matildas, nicely done Tamsin!
ReplyDeleteHi Tamsin,
ReplyDeleteA bang up job - as always - on the two tanks. You mentioned a head swap to get one of the commanders wearing a slouch hat. The re is a problem with that. I Googled the Australian tank corps for pictures and not one shows a crew man wearing a slouch hat. There were figures in the jungle wearing berets and in the desert one or two wore steel helmets. You might just want to leave things as is.
However, you continue to amaze me with all of your nice work. Be well and I hope you enjoy playing with these.
Jerry
Nicely done!
ReplyDeleteThey painted up really well, nice one Tamsin.
ReplyDelete@ Dartfrog - thanks! They are great tanks :)
ReplyDelete@ Martin - cheers! :)
@ Norm - thanks! :)
@ Benito - cheers! In New Guinea the tanks (and infantry) did get caked as the tracks were muddy and wet due to the high rainfall, so the weathering on these is fairly accurate :)
@ Carole - thanks! I used Vallejo Dark Earth texture paste for the mud - it's about the right colour, so I didn't need to paint it :)
@ Skully - cheers! It's mud rather than sand :)
@ Herkybird - thanks! :)
@ Jerry - cheers! That's odd, as I've seen a few pics of Aussie tank commanders wearing slouch hats. Most photos do show the tank commanders either in berets or heads bare; I haven't come across any showing them wearing helmets, but I gather that they often did wear them inside the tanks.
I'll probably only do it for one figure, just because :)
@ Andy - thanks! :)
@ Ray - cheers, m'dear! :)