Thanks renarts

http://afvinteriors.hobbyvista.com/pz2
http://www.achtungpanzer.com
http://www.battletanks.com
http://www.leapinghorseman.com/panzers.html
http://www.ww2mmrefphotos.com/photos/walkPZiif.htm (This one has some great detail photos of the non skid plate of the fenders)
http://www.missing-lynx.com/library/german/luchs/luchs.htm
http://www.vy75.dial.pipex.com/kskpics.htm
http://www.wwiitech.net/main/germany/vehicles/pzkpfw2/index.html#Ausf%20F

Thank you soooo much. Can you give me a good site for reference, just to get a good feel for the little panther want to be.

Hope this helps

Like chum to a shark, Bill..........

Pzr2's in Africa had all three. The Dunkelgelb, Scwarzgrau and the dunkelgelb base with the 2 color (red brown and dark green). Bengasi 15th Panzer Div.

Return rollers had rubber on them.

There is some slack in the tracks but not much. Period photos show vehicles (both parked and in motion) with positive track tension (no slack) and with some slack, but again, not much. So I'm not sure what the cause would be but your safe either way. If you do sag the tracks, make them wavy, no deep sags like on some of the later, bigger vehicles. (if that translates well enough?)

This vehicle was outclassed in 1942 and production ceased. The chasis were modified and used for specialized vehicles.

HAHA, by the way on the return rollers...did they also have the rubber around them, or was it jsut the lower road weels

i am no expert, but i think the paint options are limited to grey for Europe,
and dunkelgelb (dark yellow) for North Africa.
these little tanks predate the funky camo of the later war.

but i could be wrong.

on the track slack, i thin the Pz II was pretty tight,
and w/ 4 return rollers, not much opportunity for sag.

now we will wait for the experts!
:-)

Well all the construction is done, jsut waiting for the compressor to come in so i can use my air brush and paint it. I underestimated the kit. It was a fun build to do between builds, i will have to send one to my cousin who has jsut started modeling 9thanks to me), but he likes planes.

One quick question:
Did the track have slack to it, and if so how should i go about showing it.
Another thing, what paitn options do i have for this model.

Thanks, guys. It really was a fun build. I think it came out pretty well for a first build. There are things I'd do differently if I did it again, and, along with having fun, that's what modeling is all about.

ausf, you are correct. I'll never find the pieces I tweezerpulted on that kit! Even vacuuming the carpet, nylon firmly in place, several times hasn't turned up any of those guys!! lol

QUOTE: This would make a great "Model in a day" theme. Nice job on the little guy.

Shhhh, Eric. Don't we have enough going on in this forum?? lol

I gotta put his on the list, sounds like too much fun to miss.

Bill, The extra effort really shows, an excellent build! I bet your workroom floor is nicely detailed as well. I always admired the sig pic, but it's great to see the other angles.

(Except for the extra link, it's hideous!)

Another vote of confidence for the little fella. I built it as my second armour build and I loved it. With a nice paintjob it builds into a great little tank. I would pick it up for the right price without a doubt. Have fun!

Just look at those fine little panzers from Bill and Rich!

This would make a great "Model in a day" theme. Nice job on the little guy.

Hey, don't sell yourself or this kit short. You did a great job. And this kit is an oldy but goldy. Has been the platform for alot of great builds and is one of the kits that is reccomended by many on the forum when the question is asked about what to build for a first time build. I did this one and picked up a couple of trophies at shows with it as an OOB.

If you want to try something more challenging and much more detailed, pick up Tascas version of this vehicle.

Well here they are. Like I said not the best but hey you gotta start some were right??





Now that I have looked at it again I think I may go back and maybe try to fix some of the flaws that I see. Who knows.

Haha its ok,

What i mean by paint tester is that it will be the first model to be airbrushed...the true testers will be some snap togethers form toys r us.

This is the kit that got me back into modeling again after a 8 year hiatis. It was a model that I had gotten when I first started doing models in 1981 but never put together. If I can dig them up I will post a picture of it. It didn't turn out as good as I would expect of myself now but the fact that it got me back into building is why it means so much to me. So much that I went out and baught another one and want to put all my new skills to the test and see if I can turn out a good Invasion of France one. I geuss what I am trying to say is that sometimes the simplest models are the ones that mean the most to us. Cant speak for every one on this forum but I know it is true for me.

Sorry didn't mean to get of track there or sentimental for that matter.

Abe, don't kick yourself. It's not worth putting a lot of time and money into a kit to use as a paint tester. And anyway, the idea, after all, is to have fun. Don't look back!

Thanks. I have to say one thing about the kit. iF you are not doing any AM like i am it is a very easy build. Since the begining of the post i worked on it and its almost done, jsut have to put some deck details on,paint and then weather.
I kinda feel bad about not diong AM, it feels like I am letting myself donw, lowering my expectations, but like i said shes a test dummy.

Thanks for all the help.

Just bought it and I can reccomend the Italeri gerry can kit. The pour spots are nicely detailed and they have the ever elusive 3 bars for the handle.

Let me know if you can't wrangle a kit and I'll see if I can find one for you here. I think there were 2 or 3 on the shelf when I got mine.

Thanks, Mike. I can always count on you!! One other thing is that the rack in the Eduard pe set is supposed to hold 4 jerry cans. I BARELY got 3 in. If you look closely, you can see how the rack is bulged up on the top. These were from the second set of Tamiya AM cans I tried. The others were even worse. I understand Italeri makes a fantastic set of AM jerry cans, but I've never been able to find it.

Happy day Bill, Squadron' Panzer Colors 2 has a photo on page 61 of a Panzer II of the 8th company II battalion pzrgt 8, 15th Panzer Division in Libya in 1941. Stacked in a rack, on the rear left fender, are 5 gerry cans.

In Squadrons Leicthe Panzers in action, they show up on the back deck of one being loaded on a ship.

In all honesty, I think its a case of wahtever works. But at least you have a reference point of documentation for yours if need be.

Mike

I found one more. i don't think I'd finished the headlights when I took this one.

Here are a couple more pictures I had stowed away here at work. (Shhhhh!)
You can see the jerry can rack on the back fender here. Also, you can see how I messed up and made the tracks 1 link too long on the right side! Oh, one other thing I wouldn't do again; I got a Jordi Rubio barrel for this kit. If you look at this pic, you can see that it's a stepped barrel. As far as I can tell, the real one was tapered like the one in the kit. Another case of believing the AM manufacturer would have a more accurate part....WRONG!




Here you can see the rack better.

Thanks Abe and Ed!

Yep, I started with the Tamiya F/B. Part of the extremely high cost, though, was because I bought 3 PE sets for it. (One of them just to replace some parts sacrificed to the god of twezerpult in the first set.)

My sig has a picture of the completed kit. If you can find the Eduard set, it goes a long way toward fixing it up. You can carve off & file down the tread pattern and the tools on the fenders then use the kit parts to replace them. One thing I wouldn't do again is to use the jerry can rack on the rear of the right fender, though. Not because there was anything wrong with it (other than being fragile), but because I haven't found any pictures of a Pz II with one one it. If your budget will allow, I'd definately replace the tracks with either Model Kasten or Friulmodelessemo. I went with the Fruils and had no problems with them. However, unless you want to hastle with the kit drive sprockets having the wrong spacing for the teeth, you'll have to replace them too. A set of Fruils is about $7. I know it's hard to spend that much on a $9 kit, believe me!

There was an article on detailing this kit in FSM about 3 years ago. It's actually what started me actively modeling armor. I can look up the issue, if you want..

All in all, it was a pretty fun build, and let me get my feet wet with PE, indy tracks, and some light scratch building.

If I can help at all, let me know!

Yeah when i bought the kit i was jsut looking for a simple build, nothing big in detail, jsut something to test my

NEW AIRBRUSH ON!!!!

I will jsut build it from the box, i wont worry about accuracy,.

It is a decent, solid build, but an old, simplified kit. The fenders are supposed to represent some type of diamond anti slip pattern.

A better, and not much more expensive, kit of the PzKpfw II is Alan's PzKpfw II Ausf. C. This kit is also boxed by Dragon but they add a DAK crewman and some jerry can racks.

Just remember, while Tamiya's latest kits are some of the best made, their older stuff (kit numbers 350##) are normally old and lacking in detail. Although some of this stuff is still pretty decent (88m Flak 36/37 comes to mind).

i think the 'screen' is actually like 'diamond plate'
kind of a texture for traction (for crew's feet?)
my Pzkpfw IV-D has that too.
the fenders are solid, but w/ that raised pattern on them.

the other 'features' [:0] are old Tamiya at it's best/worst.
hard to beat the price tho.

i am sure Bill will have more info.
but his Pz II has over $100 of AM goodies on it.
not sure if he even started w/ that kit.
he sure didn't finish w/ it!

Wish I could help. I'll be following along though, good luck.