BEF Matilda II 1940

[Fitz]

Last night I played an early-war game of Battlegroup with my friend Steve, and realised that I had neglected my 15mm infantry tanks tragically. Therefore, I resolved to print some more Matildas, in this case the 1940 version with the trench-crossing tail installed, and the armoured Vickers gun in the turret.

I modified the model slightly, both to ease printing and to allow for the addition of magnets under the turret. I also chopped off the 2 pounder and left a socket there, for later installation of a new gun turned from a bit of brazing rod. I got some very visible layer lines on the sloping panels of the hull; I'm printing another one up on its end, which should ameliorate that issue a bit. I'll never get rid of them entirely (unless I get a much more expensive resin printer) but if I can mitigate them as far as possible, I will.








Here it is alongside a Battlefront Matilda II I assembled and painted quite a few years ago.

[Etranger]

Very nice. Yours are probably the only ones I've seen in model form with the lowered suspension.

[Fitz]

I forgot to mention in the original post — the model is not mine, but was designed by m_bergman (Thingiverse).

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Very nice. Yours are probably the only ones I've seen in model form with the lowered suspension.

I was going to mention the nice high heels.

Different scale but the Warlord BEF Matilda has high heels and a bustle.
http://ultravanillasmurf.blogspot.com/2012/12/matilda-in-high-heels.html

The 15mm version looks nicer, interested to see the reprint version.

[Fitz]

Here's the newest print, pretty much fresh off the printer. It was printed standing vertically on its tail, which gave me much better top surface and track detail, and smoother sloping panels, at the cost of an extra hour or so of printing time.

The 2-pounder was turned from a bit of brazing rod, using a cheap electric drill strapped to a board as an impromptu lathe. The printer is capable of rendering a gun barrel this size, but it's never as clean or sturdy as a metal piece.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

The sides look good, the front then becomes an issue.

Saying that, I guess I am looking at an image that is three times life size.

[Fitz]

There is no way to completely eliminate layer lines in an FDM print without going to phenomenally expensive printers, using expensive and tricky filaments. The best you can ever hope for, with the current state of technology, is to mitigate them as much as possible.

This model is printed at a layer height of 0.08mm. On my printer I could go to half that – 0.04mm – and at that level layer lines are effectively invisible unless you're looking absurdly closely. However, that doubles the printing time, and the imprecision of the mechanism itself means that there will still be imperfections to be found.

If I was just interested in producing functional gaming tokens, I could go to 1:200 scale and print them at 0.16mm. I'd still get something that looked recognisable as a Matilda II, but the print time per token would be slashed dramatically.

Alas, I'm pretty much wedded to 1:100/15mm now, and all my conditioning to this point leads me to want to make something that looks half-way decent as a model for wargaming, or else I'd probably be playing Squad leader or something, with cardboard tokens.

[vodkafan]

I am well impressed- excellent model, much better than the Battlefront one in my opinion.

[carlos marighela]

Nice but it looks like it sits too high. Have a look at how far down the running gear the side plates come on the actual thing. Very little of the runnng gear can be seen.

[Fitz]

Nice but it looks like it sits too high. Have a look at how far down the running gear the side plates come on the actual thing. Very little of the runnng gear can be seen.

The early models of the Matilda II used in France did sit high on their suspension. It was the later versions that went to the desert that were lowered.

[carlos marighela]

Ok, I see what you mean. I’ve looked at a couple of Beutepanzer obviously captured in France and they are indeed sitting higher than normal. That said, photos of tanks purporting to be at Arras, show the lowered version so presumably the modification was made earlier.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Nice but it looks like it sits too high. Have a look at how far down the running gear the side plates come on the actual thing. Very little of the runnng gear can be seen.

I thought that on building my BEF one from Warlord.
In France they jacked up the suspension, hence the High Heels comment.

I remember the plate of a BEF Matilda is the same, but will need to look for a photograph reference.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

New Vanguard 8 page 11 has a Matilda with the raised suspension (and wire cutter).

The plate is B1. There is an original photograph of Gamecock somewhere after it was captured.

Page 10 describes the modification, "Like the tail skid this modification was seen on some tanks in France, but rarely afterwards".

I did find this https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205222622


THE INFANTRY TANK MK II (A12) MATILDA II. © IWM (AP 120004C) IWM Non Commercial License

[Etranger]

In order to improve their mobility by increasing the ground clearance, tanks serving with the BEF had their suspension units raised by around 6", but as this put extra strain on the springs it was not widely adopted elsewhere. Dick Taylor, British Infantry Tanks in World War II, page 20.

Looking at pictures from France, the modification was common, if not universal for BEF Matilda IIs. As almost all of them came from 7RTR (23 or 27, depending upon source) with possibly 1 in 4RTR (Taylor again) photos of many of the individual tanks can be tracked down, 7RTR using names beginning with G, usually shown prominently on the hull. A quick Google identifies Goat, Gamecock, Gorgonzola, Good Luck, Galahad, Grasshopper & Greenock, all under 'new ownership', all with the lowered suspension. Some here https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/track48/conversion-ideas-for-a-bef-matilda-t6799.html

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Apologies for not having read all posts before typing, must refresh page after research ^__^.