Tamiya Panzer II

Looks like it's off to a great start, these little kits are fun projects and the new-tooling that Tamiya put into them produces some sharp details. Look forward to seeing what you do with it.

I enjoyed that kit,moving along nicely

I built this one fairly recently and it was a very easy and fun build so I'm sure you'll have fun with it. There is also another one of these currently in production in the forums which is looking really good too. Keep us posted.

Hi Rambo!

You'll love this build! On this very page on the armour section I too am building the exact same kit - the link to my Blog is below. You'll find that the guys have given me good photos and great links which helped me and should help you, too.

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/3/t/148790.aspx

As you can see from my blog I'm well into my build of the '312' Pz II which I think is an Ausf A? The yellow marking look good as opposed to bog standard white on grey! I also chose to use the early war Grey/Brown cammo scheme which really aids in helping the bland monotone grey scheme, which can be a pig to bring to life, look a bit different. It was also a scheme I was yet to try and I was very keen to give it a go.

I found the new Tamiya kits to be excellent and their use of slide mouldings a welcome relief. Aftermarket wise I am using Friuls but they really are not needed as the tracks with the kit are excellent. I also decide on replacing the 20mm cannon barrel with a metal RB version - much better with a correct muzzle brake - and the MG34 is RB too, as is the antennae. The RB stuff is very cheap and comes highly recommended! I always use their stuff!

Best of luck - what plans do you have in place?

Take care,

Ben

Hey Ben

i was planing to do this straight from box but not sure have to see how things swing.

but i have heard a lot about the two tone camo but there was always a lot of arguing about it..  found your blog the other night about yours and that made me decide to go with the grey/brown scheme on this one too.. also the white air marking another thing that brings a lot of arguing but with that photo i seen on your blog i will be masking mine off too for that..

I have another build after i get this one done that I'm gona go all out on.. i just picked this one for some what of a break lol

Thanks for all the great ideas

Got some done on the Panzer today..

Painted the inside last night Tamiya white with just a touch of buff added to it to give it the off white almost egg shell color that they use

Then toady i got the turret fitted and the guns in place.. I'm not sure if its just me but that was the hardest    Tamiya piece I've ever put together i just couldn't get it to line up for the longest time but finally it just clicked

Not sure yet if I'm going to leave the turret open or not yet kinda want to use the commander figure that came with the kit but i also don't want to paint him lol..

Again any feed back is appreciated be it good or bad 

Thank you for looking!!

Moving right along with this one! If you want to leave the turret open but without the commander, you can always "hide" the missing rest of the hull detail on the inside by painting it flat black or similar. On the flip side, you'll never know about the figure until you attempt it. Take the plunge and get your feet wet, you may discover that figure painting is just as much fun as vehicle painting!

wbill76

Moving right along with this one! If you want to leave the turret open but without the commander, you can always "hide" the missing rest of the hull detail on the inside by painting it flat black or similar. On the flip side, you'll never know about the figure until you attempt it. Take the plunge and get your feet wet, you may discover that figure painting is just as much fun as vehicle painting!

yep  what he said.

you'll never know til ya try

Just paint the figure and see how you go. If you like it stick it in the turret, if not then just leave it out. I like to include figures in my builds because they give a sense of scale. It's hard to tell how big a tank really is when it is on it's own but when you include a figure in there it really does illustrate their size really well.

Just came from Ben's Panzer II to this one.  It's like seeing  a sequel  Looks good so far.

Thanks everyone for your input i think i will go ahead and see how far i get with the figure.. I have to back to work tonight 3rd shift so my long weekend is over but i will try to get some time in at my bench today and post some progress 

O nice, two of these to keep an eye on. Looking good so far, and i will echo whats been said. Give the figure a go.

Got some work done on the Panzer today..

started by stretching some sprue to make weld seams. then brushed them with some tenax to soften them up and detailed them with the back of my knife.

I had came close to screwing up and laying it over the bolted on armor that wasn't welded to the rest of the tank but i caught it before the glue went on. I got all the weld seams around the hull and turret then started on making some corrections to the notek light bracket. I get this steel foil stuff at work that is really thin and holds its shape really good too. I used it to make the bracket and also to model a leather strap that a lot of my reference pics have in them thats also connected to the notek light. Not sure what its for if anyone knows i would be interested to know.

Here is the bracket i made

and there is the strap

also ran the conduit to the lights today too

my reference pics also show that the bracket had two bolts holding it down but i could only get one on it every time i cut a piece that was small enough it would go flying out of my tweezers into oblivion lol

again any feed back is much appreciated 

Thank you

Nice work, i like the weld seams. I have never tried that before, i might just have to give it a go.

NIce job on the added details! The strap is not something I've noticed before...now you have me curious.

Here is a couple of pics of what I'm talking about on the notek light

Making nice progress

That's fascinating...the strap isn't a detail I can find any evidence of in the reference photos in several different books I have on the Pz II...doesn't mean there wouldn't be one used but for exactly what seems to be a little mysterious given it's placement. I wonder if that's something the museum added? It wouldn't be the first time...

It was a bad day all around today got the panzer primed but kept having trouble with my airbrush not wanting to syphon i kicked up the psi but that still didn't work either so i got through getting the body primed tore it down and soaked it in mineral spirits then cleaned it all out really good hopefully i can get it working better tomorrow.. Wish i had a gravity feed brush right now!! Then i just happened to look over and realized that after all that i forgot to prime the road wheels while i still had paint ready.. But the  good news is when the airbrush was working it was going good and even

Nice work so far.

If the museum did that it was on 2 different vehicles.  Why would they do that twice much less once?  Does it add providence to that being a real detail on the vehicle?  The mystery remains.

awesome work Rambo very cool fined on the light. now you've started a masive look for that peice all over the net HAHAHAHA. nuts

Clay

Well decided I didn't like the look of the black out lights on this so I'm going to try something new with them... I've heard of tank crews covering the lights with shop towels.. rags.. ect.. to try to black them out so that is what I'm going to try to do. I cut a few pieces of thread tape it holds the shape really good of anything you put it on.

After that i went to put the chain on the smoke launchers but realized i didn't have any small enough so i just added some wire until i find some chain in the size i need

Then it was back to the paint booth to prime the road wheels and add preshade to the hull and turret getting all the panel lines, weld seams, grills and anything in shadow also added some light streaking 

That's it for right now going to let the paint dry before i go in with the brown base color.. still not sure what paint I'm going to use for that.. also got the figure primed today as well

Thanks for looking and all the kind input 

Any ideas are welcome

Not a bad idea on the headlight covers, the paint work is coming along nicely as well. By the time of the French campaign they were fitted with cloth blackout covers with slits cut into them, you might consider that alternative as well or leave as is depending on your preference. Crews were very creative when they needed to be.

Thanks everyone for you input it's appreciated. Got into the paint booth today and put on the brown base coat it's darker than what the pics show it to be..

Then disaster happened I was having trouble with my airbrush the other day but i cleaned it all out really good and it sprayed like brand new today.. Then when i was cleaning it out in the bathroom sink it slipped out of my hand and landed on the hard tile floor it bent the nozzle but that could be replaced it also bent one side of the treads all flat and it also bent the needle holder up to and somehow striped the treads out so my airbrush is rendered useless now. Tomorrow being Sunday i won't be able to buy a new one either...

Again Thanks for looking and any comments are welcome

WOW really liking this build Rambo and very sorry to read about your bad luck buddy especially when you are putting out such an awesome paint job hope you get that fixed soon. like watching this build.

Clay

Yikes! That's quite some damage...gravity is relentless in that respect. Hope you can get a new AB and be back up and running soon!

Well I got a new airbrush and got the tamiya German grey sprayed on the hull, turret and roadwheels

Got to add the grate on the side of the hull made from wire and after the paint dries put on a coat of future then start with the decals

the paint looks a bit darker then the pics show

again any comments are welcome 

Thank you

Looking good Rambo and I'm glad you were able to solve your airbrush issues

The grey looks good.  Whiles it sucks to have the AB take a header like that, it sure is nice getting new hardware.