Fernando's Matchbox/Revell M7 HMC Priest

[Fernando N]

Evening all,

Neat of the good Peter to come up with this GB and seeing many of ones childhood’s kits being built once again:thumb2:.
Choose to have crack at this little afv first, simple and a nice canvas for a weathering set I had bought many moons ago…:upside:

The box and contents:

Ex- Matchbox indeed:

Having a long weekend:tongue-out3:, made most of the progress yesterday and the last bits went on this morning:


Not that many parts and most fitted pretty well, only some big gaps to fill, don’t recall that on the old Matchbox version, guess the molds are getting old.

On to the paint, going for the US version, one colour, simple:smiling4:

Thanks for looking in.
Fernando

[Fernando N]

Hi all,

Good thing with today’s warm spring weather that the paint dries quickly especially the acrylics.
Couple that with an early start and much progress has been made…:nerd:

Primed and base coated it all late yesterday, mostly having aircraft paints in stock the only vehicle olive drab I had was from Ammo but the post WW2 shade didn’t look right so repainted it in USAF OD in the morning.
A coat of gloss an hour followed shortly and after my morning run all was dry for the detail painting.
Add the handful of decals and here it stands now (on a stick for easy painting):smiling4::


Onto the weathering:

Fernando

[yak face]

Looking beautiful Fernando , but the factory fresh look isn’t going to last long is it ?

[Fernando N]

Looking beautiful Fernando , but the factory fresh look isn’t going to last long is it ?

You got that right, I’ll see if the SBS on the back of the VJ set will be enough for the planned look:nerd:

[peterairfix]

Looking good I didn't know matchbox kits could look so good.

[Windy]

That's looking really nice Fernando. I'll be building this one after I've finished the Frenchies so I'm furiously taking notes!

[adt70hk]

Looking very good Fernando! Let me know how you get on with the weathering kit, will you?

ATB

Andrew

[Steve Jones]

Hi Fernando

You do know the Priest cant fly?:smiling5::smiling2:

Great to see you back doing some armour. A very nice tidy build. Looking forward to seeing how you weather this little gem of a build. Great stuff mate.

[Fernando N]

Evening all,

Looking good I didn't know matchbox kits could look so good.

Thanks Peter, just some TLC and a bit of putty needed:smiling:

That's looking really nice Fernando. I'll be building this one after I've finished the Frenchies so I'm furiously taking notes!

Thanks :thumb2: , well I have a tip for you: a black primer helps with the OD coat as the dark preshade base and also narrows down the chance you miss a spot during airbrushing the colour on and having a light spot somewhere later on.

Looking very good Fernando! Let me know how you get on with the weathering kit, will you?

ATB

Andrew

Thank you:thumb2: the set is good with the colours, washes and pigment supplied will elaborate some more below.

Hi Fernando

You do know the Priest cant fly?:smiling5::smiling2:

Great to see you back doing some armour. A very nice tidy build. Looking forward to seeing how you weather this little gem of a build. Great stuff mate.

Ah, I already found the gunshields to be quite small for wings, thanks mate:thumb2:.
Mud and such on its way.

Well having yet another long weekend I started in following the instructions of the weathering set, just to see where it can lead me have weathered a tracked thingy before but sometimes to go off the beaten path can lead to unexpected results:smiling4:.

The supplied Black Brown was a decent paint for the soft tracks, staying on long enough for fitting.
Found the washes to dry superfast compared to the oils I’m used to and a different application way gave the desired approach ea. more a pin wash instead of brushing on and cleaning with thinner…

Also the first time I used a pigment binder and think I overdid it at some places ending with a very muddy vehicle, but hey it’s a learning experience.
With a bit of creativity, the washes, colours and pigments can be combined to have different colours of mud, dust and scratches.
This how it looks after a couple of sessions:

Might have overdone it but it looks better from a distance:nerd:
Letting the last bit of mud dry and then a final coat of matt to seal it all in.

Figures were painted with some enamels, brown wash and a bit of pigment for the face features to show:

Base with a (hopefully) final layer of pigment and binder, the others vanished with the matt coat….:rolling::

Fernando

[colin m]

All looking great Fernando. These little tanks do seem to turn out quite nice. It's got me thinking.

[Fernando N]

All looking great Fernando. These little tanks do seem to turn out quite nice. It's got me thinking.

Cheers mate, to be honest I can’t recommend these little armour kits enough :thumb2: .
If you can get some, go for it!

[Fernando N]

Evening all,

With the last layer of pigments on the base dry, the result was fine to accompany the HMC and a coat of dark green was painted on the edge to finish it off.
Misted some mud brown on the lower bits of the HMC for some dust I missed in the whole mucky look, a final coat of matt to seal it in and then the final assembly could begin:smiling4:.

First in the big gun and it didn’t fit the locating hole, thought that was fine in testing…:rolling:must be the layers of paint, oh well nipped off the pin and glued it in place.
No traverse just elevation for this howitzer:smiling:, gun crew and .50 followed and it’s ready for the pics:



More pics in the completed section.
Even if some parts have the wrong colour, in general it looks the part to me and with the weathering exercise it was a good bit of fun.

Simple to build, cheap and with some TLC and creativity these Matchbox re-releases can be made to modern standards.
Loved these kits since I got some them in the mid ‘90s when I was a kid (still am…) and try to build one or two each year just for the fun of it:nerd:

Thanks to Peter for setting up the GB and giving me the added incentive to have a crack at this little green one:thumb2:.

Thanks for looking in.
Fernando

[Steve Jones]

Just gotta luv these little kits. You have done a great job on this one Fernando. Thanks for sharing mate.