Lightweight Warrior

Historical Background

At the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War in June 1941, the Red Army possessed large numbers of light tanks even though events up to that time pointed to the general weakness of the type. Wartime experience eventually cause the final decline of the light tank, but until 1943, it remained a significant part of the Red Army's inventory. This was caused by a number of reasons: firstly, to make up for the catastrophic losses in 1941 and 1942, as any tank is better than no tank, or as Stalin put it : "Quantity has its own quality". Secondly, it was cheap and easy to produce, and finally, because of its inherent simplicity, it can be built at less specialised factories especially at the time the major tank manufacturing plants were being relocated to the East, disrupting the production of the more capable T-34 and KV series. Once the factories have been re-established, the more powerful and battle-worthy tanks were preferred. This, coupled with the increased protection and firepower of the German panzers caused the role of the light tanks to steadily decline and production of the last type, the T-80, was ended in autumn 1943.

Before 1941, the Red Army was equipped with a number of models of light tanks, from the reasonably armed T-26 to machine gun-only armed T-37 family. In 1941, after facing the disastrous losses at the hands of the Panzertruppen during Operation Barbarossa, Zavod No.37 under the guidance of its head designer, Nikolai Astrov, produced the T-60 light tank. While better in many respects than the earlier T-40, it was still armed with a 20 mm cannon, a weapon totally inadequate against the Germans' Panzers III and IV, especially when used as a combat tank. It was so bad that it was nicknamed 'A Brother's Grave For Two'. In an attempt to remedy some of the shortcomings of the T-60, Nikolai Astrov designed a new light tank with a more powerful armament, a more robust armour and greater mobility than the T-60. The new tank, designated T-70 was put into production in March 1942. The first batch was built with a GAZ-202 engine on each side of the hull , each powering one track. This was seen to be a serious defect and was quickly redesigned as T-70M with the engines in-line on the right side of the tank. The turret was redesigned so that the armour plates can be easily welded together and was moved to the left side of the hull. The T-70 was built at Zavod No.37 and No.38 at Kirov and GAZ at Gorky.  While the ZiS-19BM 45 mm gun and 45 mm of frontal armour were improvements over the T-60, the better armament of German tanks such as L/60 50 mm gun of the Panzer III and L/43 75 mm gun on the Panzer IV negated them. Furthermore, the T-70 was still equipped with a one-man turret, overburdening the tank commander, who also has to act as the loader and the gunner.

The T-70 participated in numerous battles but none bigger than the Battle of Kursk. On 12 July 1943, at a front 32km wide in front of the village of Prokhorovka, 429 panzers of the II SS Panzer Corps and III Panzer Corps clashed with 870 tanks, including 261 T-70s, of the Soviet Fifth Guards Tank Army. A report by the 5th Guards Tank Army on 16 July 1943 listed 89 T-70s as total losses with another 56 still under repair. Following the battle, the T-70 were gradually withdrawn from combat and were relegated to secondary duties. The T-70 was further developed into the T-80 but interest in light tanks had waned and only 120 were built. The T-70 also formed the basis of the SU-76 self-propelled gun and the prototype-only T-90 anti-aircraft tank. In all, 8,226 T-70s were built.  

The Kit

MiniArt, from Ukraine, has come out with a number T-70 kits : T-70 Early production (with figures), T-70M Late production with figures, T-70M with ZiS-3 76.2mm gun (with crew) and PzKpfW T-70 743(r) with ZiS-3 (with crew). The 'Special Edition' is the latest of the T-70M gun tank kit, it came without any crew figures but have a PE fret not available with the other boxings. Also both early and late versions of the T-70 can be build from this kit. The kit consists of 356 parts in light grey and clear plastic and also PE. 176 of those parts are the separate link tracks - they look nice but have ejector pin marks on either side of the inner face. The rest of the parts are well moulded and have no flash.

For those uncomfortable with PE, there are original plastic parts to use but, of course they have less detail and look less realistic. The decal sheet was printed by Begemot and feature markings for nine tanks, mainly from that most famous of military formation in scale modeling : 'Unknown Unit' (Haha!). My previous experience with Begemot decals was very positive and I have no doubt these would work well too. The instruction sheet was printed on gloss paper and the drawings somewhat reminded me of Bronco kits. Apart from the usual construction steps, the instruction sheet is also needed for locating parts numbers as none were moulded on the sprues.

Construction

As with many AFV kits, the MiniArt T-70 is also conventional in its build approach. As usual, the hull received the first attention although MiniArt deviated slightly by having you build the upper portion of the hull first. Me, being a traditionalist, started with the one-piece lower hull. Once all the suspension arms were in place, I have to set the lower hull flat on the modeling table to ensure that all of them were in alignment. Moving on to the upper hull, I first cut a hole in the engine compartment, in order to use the PE parts. The resulting hole was then cleaned up and I installed the PE vent flaps (or whatever it was called). They were then painted steel, along with the compartment on the right-hand side. Then the PE grilles were superglued onto their places. Having already decided beforehand to build a late production vehicle, I used the indicated parts to assemble the driver's hatch. Afterwards, the rest of the hull parts were cemented, save for the spare wheel, exhausts parts, track guards and all the on-vehicle equipments.

The turret assembly were next. MiniArt provided no interior detailing save for the gun breech, co-axial machine gun, gunsight and periscope. Like the driver's hatch, there were different mantlet covers and periscope hatches for early- and late-build vehicles. The co-axial MG barrel was delicate and care was needed in handling it. The turret's interior was painted XF-71 IJN Cockpit Green. Then it was assembled and set aside. As the kit included PE parts, the partially assembled model was sprayed with Tamiya Grey Surface Primer.

I intended to build a vehicle in winter and to ease the weathering process, I decided to weather the hull before attaching the tracks. To create mud, I used modeling paste mixed with water, Mig Productions' African Earth pigment, Tamiya XF-64 Red Brown, along with fibre from a broom (I'm a cheapskate, plus the fibre resemble static grass) and dabbed them all over the lower hull. When dry the 'mud' went lighter so I haphazardly add some more Tamiya XF-64 over it. The wheels were mounted onto their places with some difficulty as the fit was quite tight. Then it was time to assemble the tracks. The tracks are well-moulded with good detail and, as stated before, with ejector pin marks on the inside surface. The tracks were sprayed Tamiya TS-1 Red Brown, cut off their sprues, cleaned and placed inside a plastic container prior to assembly. It should also be noted that the track links are quite fragile and I broke several of them, necessitating repairs as there were only 7 spare tracks (there were 84 links per run with a total of 168, MiniArt supplied only 176 links). Although non-workable, the tracks assemble easily using Tamiya Extra Thin Cement. Looking at photographs, some show that the tracks sag on the upper run while others showed them to be rigid. I decided to go mid-way, by only having a slight sag.

Before adding the track guards, I decided to weather the upper run of the tracks first, as there is only a little room between the track and the guard. Once done, the track guards were cemented into place. The left hand guard was slightly bent so I used superglue at the particular area. The track guards have reinforcing bars, four per side. Like the tracks, the bars are quite fragile and I broke three on the left side before deciding to cut the off the sprue using my hobby knife instead of the cutter. Finally, the storage boxes on the left track guard were glued. MiniArt provided delicate yet well detailed PE hinges and clasps...but I chickened out and left the boxes as they were. 

It should also be noted that the instructions mislabelled some parts and a few other parts were not called for in the instructions. Parts D15 were labelled as D14 while Part D2 was simply illustrated as being on the back of the turret without any instructions to put it there.

Painting and Decaling

For kit markings, I chose #8, a late production T-70M, Eastern Front, Kharkov, Winter 1943. The tank was painted white overall save for two patches on the turret sides and the lower hull. For the base colour, I used Tamiya XF-67 NATO Green, painted without taking into account scale effect. Although originally thinking of applying the 'hairspray method', I decided to simulate an early winter white camo - not yet washed out but having chipped at the edges. The hairspray method can of course be used for this course of action but I decided to micro-paint the exposed inner layer. After masking, the model was sprayed Tamiya TS-1 Matt White. Once dry, the masking was removed and and using the smallest brush I have, I repainted the NATO Green in irregular dots and dashes on the edges. Once dry, the decal was applied - just two of them, the fastest in my hobby so far!

Finishing

The remaining parts are now cemented onto the model. The pioneer tools were first painted XF-59 Desert Yellow for its wooden parts and Flat Black for the metal parts. The metal parts were then 'metalized' using graphite. The same treatment was done to the co-axial machinegun. The exhausts were painted burnt iron and later were coated with Tamiya Weathering Master Rust. The spare wheel was affixed to its place. Even though the instructions seem to suggest that two wheels were to be placed, it seem that only one was needed, based on the rest of the instruction diagram. Once all the parts were in place, the model was subjected to the washing process. This time however instead of black-brown, I used a blue-black mix.

Once dry, I applied Tamiya Weathering Master Snow randomly and haphazardly, suggesting an uneven wear of the whitewash paint. I then mixed a bit more of the mud mixture and dabbed them on the wheels and the lower front and rear hull and used Tamiya Weathering Master Mud to blend the colours. Next, for snow, I mixed baking powder with water and white glue and dabbed them on the tracks and parts of the hull. The excess was removed from the more obvious places such as track joints. No figure was included in this built as there were none provided in the kit and those in my stash were more appropriate for warmer months of the year. However I may include one in the future, so the turret hatch was cemented just enough for it to stay in place but can be easily pried open when needed, And that concludes the built.

Conclusion

This was my first MiniArt kit and I can say that I'm very pleased with it. Yes, there were some problem such as the fit of the wheels, the fragility of the track links and missing labels and pointers in the instructions but the experience was generally a positive one. The inclusion of the PE parts gave better details for this particular release, although I negated it somewhat by not using a number of them. It should also be noted that some modelers mentioned that the track is wrong for a T-70M (or for that matter, the SU-76 and T-80), so MiniArt has come up with a track-link set to correct this. I am however satisfied with what came inside the box and am thinking of buying their Valentine tank and AEC armoured car kits. On a more sombre note, MiniArt is located at Simferopol, Crimea, smack in the conflict zone between Russia and Ukraine and there is a possibility that production might be interrupted by the crisis.

Matilda, Queen Of The Desert

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.