One thing I like about modelling as a hobby is that it always gives me a chance to try something new. In this case, that’s building armour! I’m not really an armour builder by “trade”, but I do find tanks and fighting vehicles very interesting.

I have been scared off by the complexity of armour kits in general, but then I found some old 1/76 Matchbox kits! With their small size and cool diorama bases, I figured I could get some practice on weathering and doing groundwork, all at the same time!

So, here’s what is actually my second piece of armour in recent times, the old M16 “meat chopper” from Matchbox.

I built this for the "Flak You Two" campaign, but I wanted to put it here as well. Please let me know what you think, and I’d really appreciate feedback since I’m new at this and would love to hear how to get better!

Thanks!

https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/ships-and-tanks/matchbox-172-m16-halftrack/

Adam, you asked for feedback... I looked at your blog and noticed that the photo you posted here perhaps doesn't show your weathering work as well as some of the others. The weathering is very subtle and doesn't show that well in this photo, with the result that it has a very flat appearance; you said you though it was a bit too dusty looking, which adds to the uniform and matt finish. What is very noticeable in comparison to many other models on this site is that you seem not to have done any work on pin washes or panel lines. Again this makes the overall effect quite flat.

Hope this doesn't sound overly critical... The build itself looks very neat and tidy, and the weathering you did looks good, but I feel there might be a couple more layers of shading under the dust effects.

The Matchbox kits are great, we've had two group build campaigns on Armorama, where we managed collectively to get most of the armor kits built.

First Matchbox campaign:
http://armorama.com/features/3285

Second Matchbox campaign:
https://armorama.kitmaker.net/features/4788

Thanks, Matthew, for your feedback.

I agree, a bit more shading on the dark end of things would have likely worked here and added the "missing dimension". I didn't want to get something too stark, but I agree that I might have erred too much on the side of caution. I'm definitely going to keep that in mind for the next one.

This is only my second armour kit using these techniques, so I'm expecting to need a bit of practice! Having people give me ideas to try really helps me out.

Those Mbox builds are great! I still am a firm believer in having fun with a build, and Matchboxes seem to be a pretty good choice for that!