A couple of weekends ago I was chatting with Mark Chandler and Bob Blanchett in Australia and for some reason the Matilda Hedgehog came up in conversation. For those that haven't heard of it, this was an Australian adaptation of the Hedgehog ASW spigot mortar with the Matilda tank, the idea being that the Hedgehog rounds would be ideal for taking out Japanese bunkers. I'd mentioned that I have an Airfix one in a box (unmade) but how it would be cool to have one for my 15mm collection.
A few hours later after a frantic burst of 3D modelling I'd created a Hedgehog launcher which I scaled to fit on one of Mike Bergman's lovely 1:100 scale models. Three hours after that I had my forst prints completed.
Its taken me a couple of weeks to get them painted but I'm pleased with the outcome. The launcher box was quite tricky to make (at least it was for me). It won't win prizes for accuracy but it captures the feel of the real thing quite nicely I think.
Anyone wanting to make their own can download the files from Thingiverse:
Nicely done! :)
ReplyDeleteNot much use for WW2 though as the Japanese surrendered before they could be used operationally. I think the only Australian Matilda variant that did see service was the Frog flamethrower which proved effective during the Borneo campaign.
It was really interesting to see this. I had never heard of this variant before reading your post. When researching it, I did see that it didn't make it into combat.
ReplyDeleteIt would have been interesting to know if it would have been successful.
The fact that it didn't see service is a mere speedbump in the plans of the average wargamer :) At least I'm only planning on fielding one or two :D
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