WW2 BEF: 7RTR France 1940 - Matilda Battalion in 1/200 - (Monster Post)

Stage One: 40mm square bases are covered in air-hardening clay and stippled with an old toothbrush to get a rippled ground effect. The vesicles are used to make track marks in the wet clay (see below, it looks like the BEF are about to invade the arctic!):

Stage Two: Disaster recovery as the air-hardened clay did its job it curled the edges of the card to the heavens. To recover from this while it was still partially damp I firmly pulled down the corners. Cracks appeared and it was going to obviously crumble but I let it dry fully then applied a coat of PVA and let it set (see below, how many times when you are modelling do you want to cry!):

Stage Three: Make the base brown! I grabbed some Anita's Acrylic browns to hand and mixed a couple together to get a base brown (see below, "Bark Brown" was too dark IMHO so I mixed it with Burnt Sienna and liked the result):

Stage Four: Making the tracks stand out. Using the third Anita's Acrylic (Chocolate Brown) I roughly applied the lighter of the three browns to the churned track lines (see below, it may look a little rough just now but works when the rest of the green basing comes into play along with a couple of highlights):

Stage Five: Prime the Tanks in Airfix Acrylic Grey Primer (see below, a "ghost fleet" of Matilda IIs, please note I have snipped off the Western Desert extended range external fuel tank off the back of the beast):

Stage Six: Wash the "ghost fleet" in Vallejo Brown Sepia Wash (see below, I always think something magical starts happening at this point - the detail on the Matilda I tracks seem to stand out really well):

All told the Command Decision version of the 7th RTR (1940) is thirteen models strong (see below, looking mucky but warlike):

Stage Seven: Tank-track highlights (see below, a lighter shade [Anita Acrylic's Chocolate Brown mixed with Tamiya Flat Yellow] is 'wet-brushed' along the tank track):

Stage Eight: Final Tank-track highlight (see below, add a touch of white to the previous mixture and light touch the sides of parts of the tracks - I am being very 'sad' here):

Stage Nine: Dry-brush some Chocolate Brown and Bark Brown (Anita's Acrylics) over the none track area of the base (see below, tank-tracks but no tanks?):

OK here they are, bases and tanks (see below, at a push ready for the tabletop?):

Stage Ten: Flocking the bases with model train-set scatter (see below, watered-down 'Play School' PVA glue used as the 'adhesive agent', dip and press into "flock box" then tap with finger excess away):

Getting there! (see below, three combat companies and a HQ company):

Stage Eleven: Tank highlight, second tome of green added (see below, Tamiya Olive Drab with Tamiya Flat Yellow added, in a a 2:1 ratio as seen on this Matilda II):

Stage Twelve: Final green highlight (see below, Tamiya Olive Drab with Tamiya Flat Yellow added, in a a 1:1 ratio as seen on this Matilda II):

The 7th RTR as seen from a far (see below, the highlighting is just beginning to make a difference):

A Matilda I close-up (see below, tracks still to be painted):

A recon Bren Carrier close-up (see below, crew and tracks still to do):

A MkVI Vickers Light Tank close-up (see below, tracks still to do):

The 7th RTR (1940) locked away in its travelling case (see below, highlighted green and flocked bases but awaiting a little TLC on the track front):

Stage Thirteen: Tank tracks, Vallejo Game Colour Gun Metal mixed with Vallejo Black (ratio 1:2) followed by a highlight of a more Gun Metal bias (1:2 ratio) to finish it off (see below, 90% is unseen on the Matilda II but leaving it just "as-is" would have been wrong as I would have known):

The Vickers MkVI Light Tank is basically a turret on top of a Bren Carrier (see below, the tracks are slightly more prominent on it, so no getting away from doing them here):

The recon Bren Carriers (see below, again the tracks are prominent and plus they have Bren LMGs sticking out that need gun metal):

The Matilda I's are true phoney war "clanky tanks" as they have almost comically exposed tank tracks, a bugger to super glue together in 1/200 scale, but the final product was worth the effort (see below, the Matilda I's got an extra Vallejo Brown Wash over their tracks to make them look mucky and a tiny final Gun Metal highlight):

Stage Fourteen: Elephant grass clumps, aka "static grass" (see below, the 7 RTR ready for the Germans, although the Carriers crews are still grey):

HQ: The Command Matilda II and the HQ Company (see below, the recon element of the battalion [Scout Carriers x2, and MkVI Light Tank] are charged with 'finding' the enemy):

The Infantry Killers aka Infantry Support:  Matilda Is, two companies (see below, at a steady walking pace these beasts are heavily armoured Vickers HMG mobile pill-boxes):

The Tank Killers: A company of the 'deadly' Matilda IIs, still slow but armoured ahead of its time and although armed with a 'pop-gun' (aka 2pdr) it still could go through any contemporary German tank's armour (see below, soon to be hailed as the "Queen of the Desert" by the Desert Rats in the Western Desert):

Stage Fifteen: Adding the uniforms to the Recon Carrier crews, it had to be done (see below, Vallejo British Uniform with Khaki Grey highlight, Russian Green Helmet with Russian Uniform Green highlight, Dark Flesh with Dwarf Flesh highlight):

Are you ready for Arras gentlemen? These boys are. Rommel is waiting! Just let me call up my friends fro the 8th DLI for a jaunt ;)