A13 Mk 1

Manufacturer: C-in-C
Genre: ¹/₂₈₅th WWII Wargaming

Comments:

Valentine Mk 2

Manufacturer: C-in-C
Genre: ¹/₂₈₅th WWII Wargaming

Comments:

PzKfw IV D

Manufacturer: C-in-C Microarmour
Genre: ¹/₂₈₅th WWII Wargaming

Comments: This Panzer IV is painted in the grey scheme used by the Germans for pretty much all military equipment up until early 1943. I find overall panzer grey a very difficult colour scheme to paint convincingly; it's very easy to over-do the highlighting, or to under-do it and end up with something that looks far too dark.

Matilda II - BEF, France 1940

Manufacturer: C-in-C Microarmour
Genre: ¹/₂₈₅th WWII Wargaming

Comments: I've painted these Matildas in the Middle Bronze Green scheme used for British armour during the Battle of France in 1940. The middle one has also had a Deep Bronze Green disruptive pattern painted over it (you can just make it out in the enlargement), but as with the original paint scheme, the contrast between the two colours is so low as to be practically worthless as a disruptive camouflage scheme, and I didn't bother with the other two.

The large white square painted on the hull sides (and also front and rear) was a BEF recognition symbol. It was, understandably, not tremendously popular with the men who actually had to drive the tanks into battle since it makes a perfect aiming mark for anti-tank gunners.

This is the first time I've based any vehicles; I'm not really in favour of it for aesthetic reasons. However, I've found that by using thin galvanised steel as a basing material, I can store and carry the models on flexible magnetic sheet of the sort used for fridge magnets and the like. The models are thus easily accessible, and don't slide around getting chipped and bent.

PzKfw V - Panther D

Manufacturer: Heroics & Ros
Genre: ¹/₃₀₀th WWII Wargaming

Comments: I originally airbrushed the camouflage on these models with coloured inks. They looked great when they were freshly done, but over the years the ink has faded away almost to nothing. I won't be trying that again.

PzKfw IV f2

Manufacturer: Heroics & Ros
Genre: ¹/₃₀₀th WWII Wargaming

Comments: Getting a decent-looking sprayed camouflage effect is really difficult in these very small scales. A good quality airbrush is capable of a pretty fine line, but it's very tricky to paint. On these Panzer IV models I tried drawing the patterns on the base yellow with coloured pencils, and the result isn't too terrible although the colours look a bit garish to me. Still, the search goes on for the perfect method.

Sherman M4A1

Manufacturer: Heroics & Ros
Genre: ¹/₃₀₀th WWII Wargaming

Comments: The Allies used about a zillion of these tanks in every theatre of operations, and the type was continually upgraded throughout the war and after. These ones are painted to represent vehicles in North Africa. On the wargames table — in my games, at least — they have a distressing tendency to be destroyed long before they have any chance of being able to take out a German tank.

Sherman M4A3

Manufacturer: C-in-C
Genre: ¹/₂₈₅th WWII Wargaming

Comments: This is the C-in-C version of the Sherman, in this case a later model than the M4A1 pictured above (which C-in-C don't make, oddly enough). I can't get over the level of detailing on these teensy-tiny models. This might just as easily be a ¹/₇₂nd scale kit, judging on looks alone.

Matilda II - Western desert

Manufacturer: C-in-C
Genre: ¹/₂₈₅th WWII Wargaming

Comments: This infantry tank was known for a time as the "Queen Of The Desert" because of its reliability, and because its armour was sufficient to shrug off hits from any German anti-tank gun until they started using the 88mm flak in that role. Slow and under-gunned, the Matilda was soon outclassed by newer German tanks with bigger guns and heavier armour. Quite a few were sent to the Soviet Union as lend-lease equipment, though the well-protected running gear proved to be too complex and fragile for Russian conditions.

This model has been painted in the early-war "Caunter" pattern for the Western Desert. I've had very little luck finding online pictorial references for Caunter schemes, so I've just taken a guess as to how it might have been applied to the upper surfaces of the tank.