I meant to get round to paint the plastic Matilda II's by Warlord Games for a while now. In actual fact I built it a while ago already but didn't get round to paint it as I wasn't able to get my hands on the appropriate colours first. Help finally came in the guise of the AK Real Colour range. They're easy to use with the airbrush and allegedly give you the exact colours as used on the actual vehicles. Well, if the latter is true I actually don't know but it looks good enough in my opinion. Unfortunately the range doesn't yet include the Dark Green No. 4 as used from mid 1939. It was to be painted on top of the base colour of Khaki Green No. 3 which was used from February 1939 onwards.
So the colour I used probably was a little too dark but the contrast works rather well I think.
About the plastic kit itself I'm in two minds really. On the one hand it's nice to finally get some more Early War vehicles in plastic, especially not as Shitaleri kit, but unfortunately the instructions provided are a little ambiguous at some places. It didn't help I managed to glue on the wrong set of tracks for the theater in question. That said I prefer the look of the lowered suspension anyway, so all in all not too much of a tragedy. The decal set provided with the kit doesn't compare well with those provided by Rubicon Models. It has only a few options and you're not able to reproduce a specific tank. So for example the war department numbers don't fit with the tank names. Neither in style nor the numbers themselves actually. So the tank Griffin, the name I settled on for my tank in the end, should have the number T6753 but the only number which would fit at least style wise was the T6761 which was apparently not a number used for Matildas in France.
While this probably is bordering on button counting I find it still annoying as it would have been just a minor thing for Warlord to provide the accurate war department numbers.
Points wise I claim 23 points for a tank in 28mm with a half figure tank commander.
Gorgeous Matilda II! Brilliant paint job!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
That is gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteFantastic! You are right- the contrast between the greens looks excellent.
ReplyDeleteWOW!!! Great work Martin!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely lovely!
ReplyDeleteShe’ll go a waltzing no trouble!
ReplyDeleteNicely done.
That is magnificent.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely superb work you rivet-counter. :)
ReplyDeleteSuper job, love a Matilda
ReplyDeleteRegards KenR
Oh my gawd! Brilliant painting Nick.
ReplyDeleteThats amazing work! Great job!
ReplyDeleteAs usual Nick a fantastic job on this as you hit all tones perfectly! Oh and yes you are a bit of a button counter when it comes to your WWII material.:-)
ReplyDeleteChristopher
Never! I'm nothing more than a discerning customer...
DeleteOutstanding work it looks ready to drive off!
ReplyDeleteAmazing looking tank and commander. Shame about the decals, but most people aren't going to notice that once it's on the table.
ReplyDeleteThanks Stuart! In actual fact I very much doubt anyone would spot it except for the worst button counters.... oh wait
DeleteBrilliant work Nick! It looks awesome.
ReplyDeleteAs to the decals...well, if something only takes a little more effort to get correct, well, that is the definition of "too much" effort at Warlord...