The conversion kit looks great . Look at those sponson rivets... (flashback memories of my own scratch build, where i glued each rivet on - madness  :D )

The conversion kit is nice - the sponsons are well-detailed and the rivets look good. They also seem to fit with the appearance of the original kit.

To be honest, it was following your build that inspired me to have a go at a Mk IV but to find a much easier way!

I see discussion on Badwolf's build about using the Archer transfers. Must check those out to see how feasible they are in braille scale

Great.  :)  Looks like you really have got the WWI tanks bug

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That looks pretty good, I have been wondering for some time about the quality of the Matador conversions.

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Bruce Probst
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Thanks guys.

On the subject of Matador conversions, they are a useful option in some cases. I have a number of them in the stash but only built a few because I'm such a slow builder.

Moulding of the resin parts is generally good, although not at the level of some of the resin kits or accessories that you see (especially for aircraft). Some make use of white metal as well. Many help correct major shortfalls in the original kit and/or 'obvious' conversions (such as the Mark IV or Sherman DD).

The kits support a traditional approach to modelling 1/76 armour.

Had an opportunity to make some progress with this one. First thing (which I'd been putting off) was to make the unditching beam rails from plastic as I'd decided that they'd be more robust than the 3-part resin representation in the Matador set. Making the shape was quite easy using tried and tested methods from my balsa aeroplane modelling days:



The rail is from L-shaped profile plastic strip with small cutouts to allow it to bend to shape. It was then pinned into place over a 1/76 plan from the Bradford book of early AFV plans (which is close enough to the Airfix kit in size). It was then glued with liquid cement (for which the plan was covered with cling film).

Worked well - any challenges thereafter were not due to the rail but due to the difficulty of sorting out the attachment points. More in the next post.

Next steps were to fit the rails (don't ask) and to add details such as the front towing point (over-simplified in the kit, Matador provide an additional part to help which I used as a template), make an unditching beam and fit the MGs. Here is the result, the chains on the beam haven't been fixed in position yet:





Overall, I'm quite pleased so far. The rails have worked OK but sit a bit low at the back (although there seems to be a fair amount of variation judging by photos).

Next up, fix the chains, prime and paint brown. And find the decals which I've put away safely somewhere  :roll:

Coming along splendidly, rt!

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Thanks, Bruce. Here's the current state of play, primed and ready to paint brown:

Brilliant.....Much nicer than the Emhar kits!  8-)

All the best
Sgt.S

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Thanks Sarge - somehow the Airfix model is nicer than the Emhar kit and I don't think it's just accuracy. It has charisma, if that's possible for a model! Anyway, here's the final result (may be matt varnished sometime in the future):







As noted elsewhere, the sponsons and most other bits are from the Matador conversion kit. Exhaust, rails and unditching beam were scratchbuilt and the decals came from Black Lion. Escapade was an E battalion tank at Cambrai. She may have had a letter-number designator but don't what it was so just included the name.

Superb work.

Excellent build.  :thumb:

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Fantastic build rt (as usual!).

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Bruce Probst
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Splendid job , another great build to add to the growing collection in the gallery

Cheers

Stu

Many thanks all for the kind comments

Excellent result Nigel  :notworthy:  Superb  :Clapping:

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A great build and another to the long list from this GB.  The total models built really surprised me!
These kits are brilliant aren't they, I think I counted 27 possible variations from this kit, amazing.

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Absolutely brilliant, Nigel!

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Cheers! Alan
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that mk2 tank is amazing , i am taken back by the quality of this converstion may have to have a bash at that, these tanks are the best. well done