1/35 PzKpfw II... triple flavors

[cantara]

Greetings again gents,

A while ago have bought Tamiya PzKpfw II kit, item 35009*1200, thinking I've got myself a great deal... Although labeled 'easy to assemble' I didn't expect it to be more of a snap in kit... likely to be one of the oldest Tamiya kit. Couldn't push myself to stat building it, despite being one of my favorite tanks of WW2, so it ended up in the stash for a long time... it just felt wrong, not enough to call it a build...

Recently I got couple of Luchs kits from Mirage, the prototype SdKfz 123, kit no. 35108, and the final version PzKpf 2 Ausf. L, kit no. 35107.

All 3 kits in front of me and half an hour later, i knew i would not be able to stick to build one at a time, so i settle to build them all together already looking forward to see them all 3 side by side... kinda of a micro display of the lifetime and evolution of an armored vehicle.

All plans ahead, rather than showing these builds in separate treads and given they refer to versions of the same tank, i decided to collapse them in one tread showing the build of Pz 2... in 3 flavors...


First bit was Tamiya, primed and ready for the base coat. Added some shadows and modulation elements...



Next the base color









Please enjoy and all comments are welcome and appreciated.

Cheers,

[AridTalons]

Nice preshading! Top layer came out very nice.

[cantara]

Hi,

I was able to advance on the Luchs prototype assembly and primer.
Overall Mirage kit seems to be good quality, tough there are some molding errors present. Also lots molding stubs that required some time to remove...
I'm holding back a bit the main one tough till the later stages of the prototype hoping for a smoother build...

Cheers,

[cantara]

Nice preshading! Top layer came out very nice.

Glad you like it As you might suspect this one is heading for DAK... and good luck to your ongoing build, seen you do a DAK also

Cheers,

[AridTalons]

Nice preshading! Top layer came out very nice.

Glad you like it As you might suspect this one is heading for DAK... and good luck to your ongoing build, seen you do a DAK also

Cheers,

Thanks! Yeah, I think I will be doing a DAK. Looks better and I prefer the decals for it.

Interesting looking second tank. Looks like a Panzer III prototype.

[InitialProduction1]

Very cool builds, what did you think of the Marage,? Always wanted one of the Lucas, but worried about Marage.

[cantara]

Thanks guys,

Mirage kits seems pretty good quality, but one would have expected more for the associated price tag... I took 3 of them as they were available locally.
Is clear now, after the prototype assembly, that I'm looking on significant amounts of time to properly clean and adjust the next one... much more that one would have to spend with a kit from a more establish manufacturer.
On the upside there are plenty of PE and the displayed side of the molds is sharp with good definition, the kits have the potential to become nice builds but not without struggle.

Cheers,

[cantara]

Hi,

Some progress on the Pz2 F, I started a preliminary layer of chipping on it to simulate the wear of the top desert color giving room to original panzer grey to pop out.

At this stage my aim was two folded...

First, to simulate different levels of detail by striving to avoid a specific "scale" of the chips, the intent was to preserve their relative size and distribution both at normal and close viewing range of the model. I used a very fine sponge and a diluted shade of grey, successive taping in one spot rendering the intensity of the layer.

Second, to get an early edge definition and random accidents that could later be rationalized and/or enhanced by brush...

At least... this was the theory

Please enjoy and let me know what you think about it.

Cheers,