1/72 Matchbox Vickers Wellesley 

by Gabriel Stern

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The legend tells that back then in the dark ages of modeling, in the British dungeons of the Matchbox skunk works, after long research based mostly in helter skelter and hocus pocus, a new substance was created. It was called Ectoplastic, a hybrid between Ectoplasm and plastic. The amazing properties of the new material consisted basically in refusing correct shapes to be molded in, the development of deep furrows to represent almost unnoticeable panel lines and a strange coloration of the parts created from that ominous material. Traces of this stuff hide now in the form of Matchbox kits, on dusty shelves and battered cardboard boxes lying in the back corners of murky hobby stores.
I managed to acquire one of those kits, exchanging it -if I recall correctly- for a mandrake plant. After removing the dust and the cobwebs, and battling valiantly with the above-mentioned substance, here are the results of my efforts. As you can notice, the model lacks decals. If any fellow modeler can help providing info about how/where to get them, I'll very much appreciate that.

Gabriel

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Photos and text © by Gabriel Stern