Back to the Western Desert: 1/48 Matilda and Perry Afrika Korps

Back to the Western Desert indeed! In preparation for an El Alamein game I recently hosted, I built and painted this 1/48 Tamiya Matilda (yes I know Matildas weren't really a big deal in '42) and some really nice Perry Miniatures Germans. On with the show! 

The model was pretty straightforward to assemble, as are most Tamiya 1/48 kits. But nowadays rather than having a metal lower hull, the newer Tamiya kits are all plastic - albeit with some solid metal tubes to insert inside the hull to add some nice weight to the model.

I painted the model in a weathered Caunter camo pattern. And if you've ever read anything about Caunter camo, you know it's controversial! Some say blue, some say grey, some green... who knows. But I think this ended up looking OK. The base tan is AK Deck Tan, the blue is Thunderhawk Blue, and the slate grey is Vallejo German Uniform. 

For Christmas I got a box of AK Interactive paints and washes - "Rust and Staining" edition. Pretty good stuff and has come in handy, I used the Dark and Light Rust on the exhaust mufflers.

There was a bottle of German Camo Black-Brown in that box as well and I love that stuff, especially for sponge chipping. I used to mix craft black paint and GW Rhinox Hide but I love the pre-mixed GCBB for this work.

I used some of the kit decals on the kit but not all of the ones that were provided for "Defiance". This was because there was already stowage and junk stuck on the turret where the decals were supposed to go. Anyway it's a nice model and I think it turned out OK. 

And here's some models from Perry Miniatures - the German Zug/Platoon Command pack. Really nice models just as you'd expect from the twins. They're painted just like the other Perry Germans I've done thus far. If you're interested you can have a look at some here.
 

You get an MG-34 gunner and assistant...

An officer in some rather casual clothing and a runner...

And an anti-tank rifleman enjoying a drink with an NCO. I made the sign for our recent game, it's from a 1/35 Italeri kit. I used a 0.1mm technical pen for the lettering and skull and crossbones. I love stuff like this as it adds so much to the gaming battlefield.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed looking, back to the brushes!