British 8th Army
Matchbox 1:76 Scale Figure Review
Matchbox British 8th Army offers a mix of British and Scottish soldiers, with an unusual number of machine gunners and generals, but no useful corporals, no subaltern officers, and far too few riflemen to raise an infantry platoon.
Contents
49 Figures in 17 Poses – 22 mm equal 167 cm Height
- Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery (1)
- Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks with Binoculars (2)
- NCO with Thompson Machine Carbine, Stealth Patrol (3)
- NCO with Thompson MC, falling (2)
- Bagpiper, advancing (1)
- British № 1 Bren with Bren LMG prone, firing (3)
- Scottish № 1 Bren with Bren LMG, Tam o‘ Shanter, kneeling, firing (3)
- Scottish № 1 Bren with Bren LMG, Tam o‘ Shanter, standing, firing (3)
- Scottish Bomber with SMLE, Tam o‘ Shanter, throwing Hand Grenade (3)
- British Rifleman with SMLE, in Melee (3)
- British Rifleman with SMLE, standing, firing (5)
- British Rifleman with SMLE, running (4)
- British Rifleman with SMLE, charging (4)
- Machine Gun Team
- Team Leader (Corporal) – not available
- № 1 Vickers Gunner (2)
- № 2 Vickers Loader – n.a.
- Vickers .303 Machine Gun (2)
- Mortar Team
- Team Leader (Lance-Corporal with SMLE) – n.a.
- № 1 Mortar Gunner with Thompson MP and 3″ Bomb (2)
- № 2 Mortar Loader (2)
- 3″ Mortar and Bipod (2)
- Soldier of the Afrika Korps, surrendering (2)
Evaluation
Good choice of subject, Matchbox was able to advance the British 8th Army in 1977 by addressing the obvious gaps which Airfix had left in its 1974 British 8th Army release. This was mostly succesful, and yet eight of the 17 poses in this set duplicate what Airfix had already established at a higher level of design and sculpting quality.
The figures are wearing “aertex” tropical shirts, khaki drill shorts, hosetops with puttees, ammunition boots, 1937 pattern web equipment, British Mk. II “Brodie” steel helmets, the Scottish Tam o‘ Shanter, or the khaki officer‘s service dress cap.
The Matchbox 8th Army figure set includes nine Bren light machine guns, enough for an entire company! However, two of the three poses might have been put to better use. A prone Bren gunner is already available from Airfix, and the kneeling gunner can easily be converted from a standing machine gunner. Instead, we would have liked a convincing platoon sergeant and a really good section leader (corporal) with Thomson Machine Carbine, both of whom are missing from this set.
The bayonets are better than those seen on Matchbox British Infantry, but they still cannot compare to Airfix‘s 8th Army. We probably have to thank British military photographer Len Chetwyn and his creatively posed photos of bayonet charges in the desert for the plethora of bayonet fighters included in every 8th Army figure set.
A Vickers heavy machine gun team without team leader or loader is quite pointless, especially considering that Airfix already delivered a superb Vickers team. Matchbox might have supplemented Airfix‘s machine gun team with an ammunition number, or represented the same team advancing, or omitted the gunner and vickers entirely, and instead offered a 13.9 mm Boys anti-tank rifle team.
The mortar team is incomplete, the mortar commander is missing. What is unusual is that the № 1 mortar gunner – with a TMC cradled in his arm – is acting as an ammunition number. The notion that the other members of the team might already be out of action seems absurd, because neither of the two figures shows any urgency or tension in what they are doing. If the gunner really wanted to do any serious work here, he would have gotten both hands free by putting the machine carbine down within easy reach.
The mortar is a very simple and robust design, easy to set up or take apart, but it might be replaced by a more realistic model. However, the 3″ mortar belongs to the support company of the British Infantry Battalion; it fires from a position far behind the front, out of sight of the riflemen and bayonet fighters of the infantry companies. What is really missing here is a 2″ mortar team of three men (Lance Corporal, Gunner, Loader), who would support the riflemen of their platoon with smoke or high-explosive bombs.
Painting Instructions
The original painting instructions for Matchbox British 8th Army recommended enamel paints which are not really suitable for soft plastic miniatures. Cf. Plastic Corrosion
- Humbrol HM8 »Khaki Drill«: Tropical Shirt, Khaki Drill Shorts
- Humbrol HB12 »Mid Stone«: ‘37 Pattern Webbing, Puttees, Steel Helmet
- Humbrol 61 »Flesh«: Face, Hands
- Humbrol 29 »Dark Earth«: Hosetops, Boots?!
- Humbrol HS217 »Steel«: Bayonet, Metal Parts on Rifles and Carbines
- Humbrol MC22 »Chestnut Brown«: Water-Bottle, Rifle Butt, Hair
The painting instructions are incomplete. Puttees were brown, only the strap in the center needs to be painted ochre. Khaki is the better choice for hosetops. Ammunition boots were black; the jungle boots introduced in 1944 were of reddish brown leather.
Historical Employment
- British and Commonwealth Infantry, 1941–1945
Matchbox provides a number of interesting British 8th Army poses to supplement the 8th Army available from Airfix. Unfortunately, there are too many duplicate poses that cannot hold a candle to their Airfix equivalents.