Tamiya 1/35 Matilda Mk.III/IV

Firstly , sorry to folks looking for the build photos. I didn't start taking photos until I was built and painting. I forgot and just got carried away with the fun of this build.

Build : The tracks were the vinyl type but usable and painted pretty well with acrylic spray paints with a few rusty colours and a light deck tan which I mixed.
The cable was made from the string that is provided with the kit and looks pretty good once you have stiffened it with paint and varnish.
The exhaust goes together very well and depicts the bandaged type of tubing very well.
I added the flag pole in the thickness I saw in refs. from wire and the flags were painted paper cut and shaped using the varnish to add thickness and stability to them.

Painting Tank (All acrylic) : I opted for a single colour (Desert Pink ZI) depiction of this tank just out of preference over the 'Caunter' camo design.
I sprayed the whole tank (not tracks) with a mix of Panzer Grey and German Red Brown surface primers (Vallejo) to get an old metal feel to the underpainting. I then mixed my own desert colour going by refs. from the internet on the British WW2 desert colour. I didn't use any hairspray or varnish at this point but decided to experiment on using a stiff brush with water to see what I could scrub away to reveal the dark red colour underneath while the paint was still curing. This worked very well as long as I stopped once the dark colour was seen. I then mixed a varnish glaze/filter of burnt sienna and yellow with raw umber and cobalt blue to make an orange/brown which was applied over the entire tank (not tracks) as a filter.
Details of exposed metal were painted on using my own mix of raw umber,cobalt blue and a tad of white to make a dark grey. I then used a little graphite to key in highlighted exposed metal features.
Exhaust box was painted with my own mixes with a lot of burnt sienna, white (small amounts), yellows and purples seperately with varnish. I kept overpainting until I got the desired effect.
I added some dark raw umber with cobalt blue in a very thin wash in the crevaces to depit shadow and grime in a similar way to panel line effects.

Decals : As usual this is not a depiction of a specific tank so the decal selection will be from different tanks offered in this kit. Decals are good and I distressed them slighly with some desert tan colour to tie in with the rest.

Varnish : Acrylic matt varnish apart from flesh on the crews which I experimented with a satin to portray heated skin. I'd usually varnish skin with a matt.

Conclusion : Really good and recommended kit went together really easily and the crew were pretty good as far as detail and position so usable crew in this kit. Very relaxing modelling to be had here as all parts go together well and is an enjoyable kit to make. I was really happy with the crew as an extra you don't always get and which are as detailed as you get with non-after market resin parts.
Highly recommended kit from me.


Music : Beethoven: Symphony No. 4, 2nd movement