El Alamein...The Turning Point

December 30, 2022 · in Armor · 10 · 0.6K

Greetings all

Hope everyone had a great Christmas.

I thought I would challenge myself and build these three 48th scale "queens of the desert" in the same time frame as the actual battle, 80 years ago , October -November 1942. I was partially successful as I got the Matilda done in early December (I know they were phased out by then but the Germans were using captured ones at that time).

The Crusader and Matilda are the excellent Tamiya kits and the Valentine is a Bandai kit from the early 70's.

Really groundbreaking , those old Bandai kits, full interior and all!

The Tamiya kits are unique in that they have weighted hulls. This is something I had never experienced before. The Crusader having a die-cast lower hull and the Matilda had cylindrical weights held by circular brackets (if you happen to build this kit, CA the weights in place, or they will rattle around, ask me how i know).

All the best in the new year!

Reader reactions:
8  Awesome

7 additional images. Click to enlarge.


10 responses

  1. All three are amazing, Philip!
    Happy New Year!

  2. Nice work, Philip! They look great.

  3. I agree these three are very fine looking tanks, Philip!

  4. Nice work on these, Philip.

  5. All three are equally beautiful, Philip @phillyhipower
    They are queens for sure.
    Happy New Year

  6. Great work and the paintwork and weathering make your models here stand out thus pleasing to the eye . The Matilda is fabulous great effort and happy new year to you all the best .

  7. Good looking trio, Philip, it’s interesting that they are known as “queens”, is a King Tiger a queen as well?

    • King of Queens I suppose...
      The only legitimate "Queen" is "She Who Must Be Obeyed"... You know...the other half who keeps the kit stash at a reasonable level!
      Thanks for all the great feedback!
      It's good to be back!

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