Historical Background
In 1935, the British General Staff issued a requirement for an infantry tank. Designated A11 and built by Vickers-Armstrong, it was specified to be a low-cost tank, using commercially available parts such as Ford V8 engine, Fordson gearbox, a steering mechanism from the Vickers Light Tank and a suspension system adapted from the Mark IV Dragon artillery tractor. Armament was the Vickers machine gun. either in 0.303in or 0.5in caliber. While the turret and hull were well-protected against contemporary anti-tank weapons, the tracks and running gears were totally exposed. Furthermore the weapon was completely useless against tanks, severely limiting its utility. The commander also had to duck into the hull in order to use the radio, as it was located there. Designated Tank, Infantry, Mark I, it was allegedly nicknamed 'Matilda' by General Hugh Elles, the Master-General of Ordnance due to 'the vehicles diminutive size and duck-like shape and gait'. A total of 140 A11s were built.
In 1936, a decision was made to build a larger infantry tank and specification A12 was drawn up. Designated Tank, Infantry, Mark II, it was designed by the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich.The Infantry Tank Mark II weighed 27 tons and was armed with an Ordnance QF 2-pounder gun. The tank was heavily armoured, with 78mm for the hull front and 75mm for the turret. The contemporary Panzers III and IV had only 30 to 50mm of armour in its hull front. This made the tank impervious against the German 37mm and 50mm and the Italian 47mm anti-tank guns - only the 75mm Pak 40 and the 88mm gun can penetrate its armour. The heavy armour came at a price however. The Matilda II (as it was named following the withdrawal of the Matilda I) had an average off-road speed of just 9.7km/h. This was not thought as a major problem as the tank was designed to accompany infantry attacks with high priority over armour and trench-crossing ability. Another problem, not realised until the tanks went into combat, was the lack of HE rounds. This was a real handicap against anti-tank gun emplacements and the crew only had the co-axial machine-gun to use against unarmoured targets.
The Matilda II entered production in 1937, but only two were in service in September 1939. Both versions of the Matildas were used in combat by the 7th Royal Tank Regiment in France where the Germans were forced to use their 88mm Flak gun against the them. During the Allied counter-attack at Arras, the Matildas played a central role in briefly halting the German advance. All surviving tanks however were abandoned following the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk. In the North African theatre, the Matilda were highly effective against the Italian and German tanks. During Operation Compass, the Matildas wreaked havoc among the Italian L33 tankettes and M11/39 medium tanks while the anti-tank gunners found their shots bounced against the Matildas' armour. However the rapid maneuvering warfare practiced in the North African desert proved to be the Matilda's undoing. The 88 was also used in the theatre as an antitank gun, causing the loss of 64 Matildas, among others, during Operation Battleaxe. The Matildas were however instrumental in the Allied breakout from Tobruk and the capture of the Axis fortress of Bardia during Operation Crusader.
With the introduction of more powerful guns on German tanks such as the 50mm L/42 and L/60 and the towed 75mm Pak 40 anti-tank gun, the Matilda became less effective at normal combat ranges. The small turret ring meant that it cannot be equipped with a larger gun. The Matilda was finally replaced by the Infantry Tank Mk III Valentine in the autumn of 1941. The Matilda II was also used by the Soviets, who compared it with their own KV-1 tanks. The Matilda was roughly similar in speed and protection the KV-1 but were nowhere near in terms of firepower.The Matilda was also used by the Australians, where it reigned supreme as the Japanese lack heavy anti-tank weapons. The Australian Matildas were used in the Wewak, Bougainville and Borneo campaigns, remaining in action until the end of the hostilities, making it the only British tank to remain in service throughout the war.
The Kit
It was 2009 and Tamiya's Military Miniatures series was nearing kit #300. Speculations were quite rife then concerning the milestone kit. It eventually turned out to be the Matilda II, a kit Tamiya released back in the 1970s. Some wondered why did Tamiya basically released a kit that is already in their catalogue? For one, kit #024 is already a 30-something kit, moulded using 1970s technology. It also suffered from having many inaccuracies, chiefly being oversized (many of Tamiya's early kits suffer from this problem, which stemmed from the desire to include motorisation, powered by a C-sized battery). Secondly, while the Panzers and Shermans were done to the death by plastic manufacturers, Tamiya's was the only Matilda in 1/35 scale. So the new release with more accurate dimensions and better details is most welcome. As for the title of the kit, it denotes Matildas armed with 7.92mm Besa co-axial MG and the asterisk denotes Leyland, instead of AEC engine.
The kit was moulded in sand coloured plastic and the parts are spread among six sprues, a single piece upper hull, two flexible tracks, a length of string, some polycaps, a decal sheet and 16-page instruction sheet. A small photographic reference sheet was also included. As befits a modern kit, all the parts have very good detail (as far as the injection moulding technique allows) and generally correcting the omissions and mistakes of the earlier release. Apart from the flexible track, Tamiya also included link-and-length tracks. Both type of tracks however have solid guide horns (the ends were indented however) although the spare tracks have hollow guide horns! While kit #024 had two gun mantlets (one with shroud over the co-axial MG), this kit has only one. There are however three types of gun barrels - a smooth and a stepped 2-pounder barrels and a 3" howitzer for CS version while the co-axial Besa machine gun has hollowed barrel. There are also three crew figures (the driver figure is more of a bust). Decals are provided for three tanks:
1. 'Phantom', 42nd RTR, 1st Army Tank Brigade, North Africa 1941 (Caunter scheme)
2. 'Defiance', 4th RTR, 32nd Army Tank Brigade, Libya 1941 (Caunter scheme)
3. 'Filibuster', 49th RTR, 35th Army Tank Brigade, UK 1942 (two-tone brown)
Construction
As usual, construction started at the lower hull. Instead of the usual tub, Tamiya had the lower hull in four pieces - bottom (incorporating the rear), sides and the front. Some sub-assembly is required at the front before mating it to the rest of the hull. and then came the most tedious part of the built-assembling the road wheels, all 20 of them. Good thing they have no tyres, as it would mean painting 40 small strips of plastic to represent them! This was followed by assembling the suspension and some attention was needed to avoid mixing up the parts.The completed suspension was then cemented onto the hull and was followed by attaching the suspension cover cum mud chutes. At this point, I decided to paint the lower hull sides, before installing the tracks. As mentioned before, Tamiya provided both one-piece vinyl and link-and-length tracks. I originally wanted to use the latter option, due to better details. I however opted to use the vinyl track as it was an easier option and the the detail is pretty good plus most of it will be hidden. I sprayed the track TS-1 Red Brown, let it dry and joined it using regular Tamiya cement. Moving on to the next step, various holes for a number of fittings and tools need to be drilled before work commences on the upper hull. I however added certain parts only at this stage, such as the headlights, light housings and engine deck parts; the rest would be added after painting. The upper hull was then mated to its lower half - the front part was cemented while the rear was secured using a polycap. Afterwards the exhaust pipings were added and Tamiya has nicely captured the surface detail of asbestos-wrapped exhaust pipes. Gluing the lower exhaust parts (D77 and D78) to the muffler were a bit awkward however because of the location. The work on the hull was finished (for the time being) by fitting the side skirts, which also incorporated the outer half of the return rollers. At this time I also decided not to fit the external fuel tank, so the recesses were puttied over.
Next, the turret. The cast pattern was nicely moulded, replacing the smooth moulding of the original release. As with the upper hull, there were a number holes that needed to be drilled plus three other holes if one is building the C option of the markings. The gun mantlet was then assembled and as mentioned before, Tamiya provided three types of barrels although the instructions only have you use part D13. A pair of polycaps secured the mantlet and allow movement of the gun. The main turret parts were then cemented together. As I intended to place the crew figures, the turret hatches were cemented in the open position. All the other turret parts which would not interfere with masking and painting were also cemented onto the turret at this time. Of a particular note is the turret smoke dischargers. On the real thing, it was made of cut-down Lee-Enfield No.1 Mk.III rifles mated to smoke grenade launchers. On the original Tamiya kit, the rifle part were just lumps but on this kit, there is good detail so that you may recognize the cut-down Lee-Enfields.
Painting and Decaling
I actually had the older Tamiya Matilda and still have the spare decals. I originally thought of building a plain desert yellow tank but I thought the better of it and decided to finish the model in the markings of 'Defiance'. Both it and 'Phantom' were finished in the Caunter (named after it's supposed inventor, a Colonel Caunter) scheme. Tamiya's instructions have you painted the scheme in XF-59 Desert Yellow, XF-23 Light Blue and a mix of XF-1 Flat Black and XF-26 Deep Green. Apparently Tamiya based their paint mixes on museum vehicles. However, modern research led by Mark Starmer showed different colour. The base colour is either Portland Stone or Middle Stone, The light blue is actually a colour called silver grey and the darker colour is Slate Grey. He also gave suggestions for the appropriate mix of Tamiya colours. I chose Portland Stone for the base colour and mixed XF-2 Flat White, XF-3 Flat Yellow and XF-57 Buff in a 6:1:1 ratio as per his instructions. The Silver Grey was a mix of XF-21 Sky, XF-19 Sky Grey and XF-4 Yellow Green in a 7:1:1 ratio while Slate Grey is XF-65 Field Grey. all were added with 20% flat white for scale effect. The decals were then applied with no problems. One note though, decals 9 and 10 (the number '4') were basically not interchangeable as the starboard 4 was in two pieces, to take into account the gun cleaning rod over its position. The figures are also painted at this time with the uniform painted XF-49 Khaki. The skin was painted XF-15 Flat Flesh with a bit more washes of red brown than usual to simulate tan (sort of). Afterwards, it was time to finish the model.
Finishing
All the remaining parts were cemented onto the model. As mentioned before, I did not intend to use the external fuel tank. Instead I crafted a stowage rack using Evergreen rods and strips as many Matildas did not carry the external tank up until the timeline of Operation Crusader. The rack was painted the same Portland Stone colour as the tank. To fill the rack, I put four 2-gallon 'flimsies' cans from the Academy Tank Supplies Set. The flimsies were painted silver, though I originally wanted to paint them white. Afterwards it was time for some weathering. First I applied a red brown/flat black wash all over the model. Next I applied some chipped paint on certain parts on the model using Tamiya XF-62 Olive Drab and also flicks from a 2B pencil. The mud chutes were weathered using Mig Productions' African Earth pigment while the whole of the lower hull were dabbed with Gulf War Sand pigments, applied 'wet' with enamel thinner. Once dry the excess was removed using a stiff brush. Diluted Tamiya X-19 Smoke was then applied at a few places on the lower hull to simulate leaked lubricants. Once they were dry, another slurry mix of Gulf War sand pigment and enamel thinner was applied and once again the excess was removed. Mig Productions' Pigment Fixer was then applied. I then reapplied X-19 to simulate newer leaks. The weathering was then touched up a bit with Tamiya's Weathering Master Sand. Finally, a length of brass wire was cut to represent the radio aerial and painted black. The crew figures were then cemented into their places, finishing the build.
Conclusion
When Tamiya came up with the Fieseler Fi 156 Storch for their 100th 1/48 aircraft series, the modeling community was quite abuzz with complaints that they have came up with a plane that nobody really wanted to be kitted (apparently, many modelers expected a British heavy bomber or something similar) and that the release was more of a tie-in with their 1/48 Military Miniature series. There were less complaints however with the 300th 1/35 Military Miniatures kit, perhaps because the original suffer from so many inaccuracies, especially being oversized. The newer kit offers all the modern mould-making can offer, coupled with Tamiya's unsurpassed kit engineering. Yes, there were a number of drawbacks, such as solid guide horns, detail-less turret interior and suspect painting instructions but it did not detract from the fact that it was a fine kit. A highly recommended kit to all.
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