Matchbox M24 Chaffee & Matador Models NM116 Conversion Set Review

Jumping to the next random topic - today I want to take a look at the Matchbox M24 Chaffee and the Matador Models NM116 Conversion Set.

I managed to get a hold of 2 of the Matador Models NM116 conversion sets 3 or 4 years ago, but only snagged a couple of Matchbox M24 Chaffee a couple of years back - so of course it wasn't until this year that I was able to have a crack at these.  Then once I started I was so put off by the whole thing that it probably took me all year to finish the two kits.

First off I love the NM116.  It's the epitome of a teeny weeny tank trying to take on the Soviet war machine - my kind of against all odds weapon system.  Here's a few pics of what it's meant to look like:

Here's a lovely side shot.  Some great stowage ideas as well that I will be stealing!

This is a more widely seen photo of the NM116.  A good view of the muzzle brake.

Not really an "in action" - more of a static display shot - but it does show in some detail the interesting Norwegian hard-edge cam pattern used on their vehicles.  Something I'm looking forward (ha!) to replicating. 

Now onto the models.  These are obviously not painted, and not even a "finished" build.  However I thought this was a good point to stop to show the original Matchbox Chaffee, the Matador Models conversion bits, and my dodgy add-ons.  Here's a couple of photos:

So looking at the 2 photos above, obviously the grey and green tanks are all Matchbox.  The 90mm new main gun barrel, raised engine decks, smoke dischargers and spades (which you can't see) are Matador Models. The white plastic card on the track guards cover the hole created when I cut of the large boxes that come with the Chaffee kit.  I also had to remove the sand guards (?) from these as I've not seen an NM116 photo showing a tank with these.  I added a couple of boxes from my PSC bits box on each side of the track guard - as also seen in lots of photos.

Significantly I also had to add, from plastic card, rod etc, the Simrad LV3 laser rangefinder and what I believe is the passive night vision sight for the gunner.  Before I can call it finished - in terms of converting - I also need to add a small rod in front of the commander's hatch which was an additional attachment for the turret roof mounted .50 cal.

This shot shows the Matador Models engine deck a little better:

You need to clean off any detail on the models engine deck before you can fit these.  I also need to severely trim one of them to get the turret to fit correctly.

This next photo was an attempt to get a closer shot of detail on the turret & main gun:

So I'm happy with the smoke dischargers - which are really pretty basic, but the main gun barrel is a little disappointing and I think the muzzle brake is completely wrong.  They were also very annoying to try and bend the resin barrel back into straight lines and I feel I was only partly successful.  Also I felt a bit let down that I had to make the laser range finder - something I consider to be fairly fundamental in changing the tank from the Chaffee to the NM116.

You do get a bunch of other bits and pieces - mainly WW2 stowage - from Matador Models, but these are really just to spice up the M24 Chaffee - they're not really for the NM116 - and I didn't use them at all.  I did use a big bit of stowage I made on the grey tanks glacis plate.

Final thing to say.  Even though I am a little disappointed overall with the conversion set, I am pretty happy with the overall look of the NM116.  Needless to say, I'll be liberally coving both tanks in cam netting and foliage so they'll end up more like the next photo anyway - so you won't be able to see much of the tank at all!

What tank?

So - that's it for now

Richard

Matador Models - FV432/20 (Fox Turret) Build and Review

OK - so I was very chuffed recently to get this little goodie as one of my final purchases to round out my Berlin Brigade.  It's a Matador Models FV432/20 (Fox Turret) and it comes like this:

Opening the box reveals a couple of plastic baggies:

Which opened up reveal the following:

As you can see some pretty crisp molding here and options to have every hatch open - which is very good in my book.  Flipping the hull and tracks over you can see there is still a little work to be done:

So I cleaned it all up and the parts looked like this:

So now were we on to assembly.  I'd like to say it all went together smoothly, but I'd be lying.  I don't know if it was my superglue or the kind of resin used by Matador Models, but for some reason things just wouldn't stick together - at least not in the short term.  After some hair pulling, a lot of crying and a little cursing it started to go my way and this is the end result:

I think you end up with a pretty smashing model of a FV432/20.  There are a couple of negatives.  First up - no plans whatsoever.  When you pay 23 quid for a model I feel there should at least be a decent drawing of what it should look like from a couple of different angles.  At least...

One is the other difficulty I previously mentioned, which turned a half hour job into a several hour job.  The third is the metal RARDEN 30mm gun barrel.  You get two options - one standard, one with a cover.  I went with the standard gun and compared to the rest of the kit, I looks a little naff.  If I had a spare Scimitar or Warrior RARDEN barrel - I'd definitely use them.

My only other concern was the smoke dischargers.  They look great, but I'm pretty sure I've placed them in the wrong spot...  I'll have a think about removing them and placing them slightly differently, but due to the glue issues I'm not sure I'm up to it.

Finally, I thought a comparison shot might be worthwhile:

From left to right we have an S&S FV438 Swingfire, Cromwell Models FV434, Matador Fv432/20 and a Britannia FV432 APC.  As you can see they all fit together very nicely.

So one day if I'm very lucky this new Matador model might just end up looking something like this!

Thanks

Richard