The quote is from my long suffering wife.
A Warlord Games Bolt Action soft resin Matilda II. This was the best British tank of the early war, causing havoc at Arras in France in 1940, and against the Italians in Africa. Drawbacks were the small two-man turret and very slow speed. Advantages included a decent 2pdr AT gun capable of defeating all opposing armour in 1940 and heavy (for the time) armour that was effective against anything but an 88mm Flak gun. The Matilda was shipped to Russia as lend lease in '41.
A great kit that comes with a metal commander. I painted it in two tone green north European camo with Citadel wash to dirt it up and Tamiya mud paste around the tracks.
For those who care about such things, the photo was taken with a Nikon D60 using a standard 18-55 DX telephoto lens equipped with VR antishake.
We are in the north European winter so took the pick indoors using a camera-mounted TTL flash equipped with a disperser. The gun was aimed up at a white matt ceiling which spreads the light avoiding harsh shadows.
Background is an A4 manilla envelope. the matt brown surface is nicely neutral allowing me to use auto-settings, which cannot be done with a white background.
The photo was shrunk and the light balance tweaked using Paint Shop Pro. PSP always wants to increase the focussing, which I find should be avoided as it does strange things to the colour blending on a model.
My wife uses similar language. But saltier.
ReplyDeleteLOL!
DeleteAnd John, we can note, still likes to use technical speak, despite his semi retirement.
ReplyDeleteOnce a geek.....
DeleteFunny, I don't see any blood on the tank...
ReplyDeleteIt's on the tracks.
DeleteMine just says "What crap have you wasted your money on now?"
ReplyDeleteIt was a great tank - at the time. Shame it got superceded so quickly. Imagine trying to take on a PzIV with a 2 pounder!
And the turret ring was too small for an upgrade.
DeleteJohn, the Matilda had a 3 man turret, they were shoehorned in but it had a gunner, loader and commander.
ReplyDeleteThat's really interesting, Tom. I didn't realise the British Army was using 3 man turrets so early.
DeleteThe Early German tanks had only 30mm of armor the 2 pdr could handle that. It was the slow speed and lack of a useful HE against anti tank guns that was the real issue. John you were right about the small size that killed any chance to up grade like the PZIII and VI.
ReplyDeleteDear Tom
ReplyDeleteI suspect the problem with no HE for the 2pdr was compounded by the way the tanks operated OK independently of other arms. Woeful in wester armies even in 44.