Hi! I haven´t been posting here for a long time, but inspired by Sabredogs M-24 thread I wanted to share with you some pictures of my collection of Matchbox Military Kits with Diorama bases. Usually I´m a 1:35 builder, but last year I discovered that Revell was reboxing those kits I loved as a kid, especially for their inventive Diorama bases. So I decided to give it a try and take a rest from the difficult and stressful job of building excessively detailed largescale models, figures and dioramas.
It all started with the M-16, also the first Matchbox vehicle I got as a Kid in the 80ies:





I found it very relaxing to build this model OOB with just minor improvements such as drilled out barrels and was also pleased with the quick progress - it was fun and finished within a few days. Soon I became addicted and wanted more:

Krupp Protze with Pak 36:





LRDG Jeep and Chevrolet:





A-34 Comet:





M-24 Chaffee:





M-19 Tank Transporter / JPz IV:





Monty´s Caravan & Scout Car:





Panzer II:





Sdkfz11 & Pak40:







M7 Priest:





Morris Truck with 17pdr and Jeep:






I´ve collected and built those Kits over the last 1 1/2 years and could just recently complete my collection - I now have all 27 of the Matchbox 1/76 diorama sets, though most of them are Revell reboxes. I prefer those anyway since I actually plan on building all of them and they include far superior decals.

Here a preview of things to come:



And the unfinished stash:



Looks manageable. I hope to have all of them completed within the next two years.

I just want to make a point that even those cheap chunks of ancient plastic deserve to be built and can turn out into decent representations of historic fighting vehicles.
Some minor changes and improvements (like transparent windshields, better detailed machineguns and headlights) had to be added on a few of the oldest kits, since they were unacceptable, but generally they were built OOB.

I´ve been posting these works on a German forum and displaying them on modeling exhibitions for a while now and so far people seem to like them, even if the kits are simple and primitive by today´s standards.

I hope you enjoy them too and I´m looking forward to your comments!

WOW ,what a blast from the past Max. Very nice job on these old kits. I think I had most of them but they never got painted . Maybe I will go and pickup a couple for the nostalgia kick. Thanks for sharing. Jim ( If I remember correctly the panzer 3 came molded in orange , black & tan plastic . Must have been one of those late war paint schemes..lol.)

A good selection you have finished there with more to come, the only thing that bothers me is that the various machine guns have a bore on par with the main guns in some cases. Takes me back a lot further than I thought. Good job.

Max,

Thanks for posting many of the Matchbox builds that you have already completed. You have done an outstanding job thusfar. Sure takes me back in time . . .

Hoping to see more of these as you complete them. Very nice set of photos too!

-Eddy

Hi Max,

Great builds, I had to look closely to see if they were indeed small scale models.

I think I recall the kits being in two colours?

I see you have now gone from building excessivly detailed large scale to excessivly detailed small scale!

i have just built the daimler scout car don't think there will ever be a time that i do not enjoy building these kits !!

now as when i was a child they are a total joy !!! except now i plan to do them better !!

Excellent work, simply excellent!

OK, do we have a Matchbox 1:76 Campaign? We should I reckon!

OOB or uber detailed, the choice is up to the builder!

Hi Maxiplus,

I have a few of these kits - the Comet, LRDG, Monty's Caravan, Humber, T34/76, Churchill AVRE...it's great to see what a job you've done on them and I look forward to seeing the rest of them coming up on the site when they're done.


All the best

A

WHAT A LOVELY WORK!!!AMAZING!!!
Sorry for my enthuziasm,but for me,Matchbox means my "first and big Love"...at my modelistique beginning[2001],i make 500 Km,to buy an Jagdpanther and a Firefly...

i'd be up for that !! , if long enough you could fit a few in !! make it strictly oob to see how many difrent interpretations you get !!

Maximilian, you've done a beautiful job on these kits and shown that there is still life and potential in them. Thanks for sharing and as Eddy mentioned, your pictures do justice to the fine builds.

Cheers,
tread_geek

Thanks for posting Max!
Almost brought tears in my eyes, when I suddenly realised how old I am.. that M-16, M-19 tank transporter, Panzer II, M7 Priest and that Char & Renault couple. All those I had in my collection in late 70´s and early 80´s and now they are all loong gone.. and it´s sooo long time ago. But anyway, excellent finishes.

Those look fantastic Max!

I haven't built in 1/72 for about 30 years. Maybe I'll have a bash again.

Really excellent work with these basic kits, I too started with these and built the whole set many years ago but not nearly as well as you've done. If Revell are reading this they'd do well to ask to include these photos in their catalog showing just what can be achieved with the old kits....

wow that takes me back! my first trophy at a model show was in 1980 for the mmb sherman firefly going up a blown out bridge. thanks for posting!

Thanks for your comments!
I´m glad I could awake nostalgic feelings in some of you and hope to inspire a couple of people to join the upcoming matchbox campaign!

I will keep you updated with my progress on the next models and I´m looking forward to seeing more of these simple and fun kits built on this site.

Love the grass effect on some of those, especially the Protz; also think the Pzkpfw III looks great on that very simple base.