Tomcat's Lynx - Asuka 1/35 Pz.Kpfw. II Ausf. L

[Stokesy44]

Probably a wise decision - masking would take ages, and you've got an awesome result with the brush!

Well I wouldn't go that far....

Only joking

[Tomcat64]

Wow, nice work bud!

It's looking very sharp so far, I'm very impressed. It's been a long time since I used a hairy stick for work like this.

Now that, Sir, is very cool.

Top marks for going old school and brush painting the camo.

Probably a wise decision - masking would take ages, and you've got an awesome result with the brush!

Thanks guys

Yep I really didn't fancy trying to mask all that up so decided to go old-school on it. It's taking some time but has been somewhat therapeutic!

How's the little one doing Rob? Hope all's well

[Tomcat64]

Probably a wise decision - masking would take ages, and you've got an awesome result with the brush!

Well I wouldn't go that far....

[Stokesy44]

Probably a wise decision - masking would take ages, and you've got an awesome result with the brush!

Well I wouldn't go that far....

Noooooooooooo.........

[Tomcat64]

Noooooooooooo.........

Surely you mean...


The change to Google's view image policy has really stymied my memeing recently - I'm having to recycle old ones!

[Stokesy44]

Noooooooooooo.........

Surely you mean...


The change to Google's view image policy has really stymied my memeing recently - I'm having to recycle old ones!

Yeah, I noticed that too, a bit of a PITA.

[ElCapitan]

How's the little one doing Rob? Hope all's well

Thanks for asking! Everything is fine, she's doing really well. 4 weeks old today, despite her due date only being last friday!

[Stokesy44]

How's the little one doing Rob? Hope all's well

Thanks for asking! Everything is fine, she's doing really well. 4 weeks old today, despite her due date only being last friday!

Great news!

[Tomcat64]

How's the little one doing Rob? Hope all's well

Thanks for asking! Everything is fine, she's doing really well. 4 weeks old today, despite her due date only being last friday!

Like Stokesy said - that's great to hear!

[sheppsea]

How's the little one doing Rob? Hope all's well

Thanks for asking! Everything is fine, she's doing really well. 4 weeks old today, despite her due date only being last friday!

Good to hear

Our baby's due date was last Friday too, just hoping she arrives before next Monday as I am hopefully starting at new job then!

[DrSprue]

How's the little one doing Rob? Hope all's well

Thanks for asking! Everything is fine, she's doing really well. 4 weeks old today, despite her due date only being last friday!

Good to hear

Our baby's due date was last Friday too, just hoping she arrives before next Monday as I am hopefully starting at new job then!

Wow congratz guys!! You too sheppsea, soon as well I see!

[Tomcat64]

Our baby's due date was last Friday too, just hoping she arrives before next Monday as I am hopefully starting at new job then!

Awesome news mate - hope everythng goes smoothly!

[digger303]

congrats to you both.

[Tomcat64]

Back on March 5th some fool wrote

... hopefully in the next couple of weeks I'll be able to start bringing it all back together again.

Two weeks? Pah! More like nearly three months, although in my defence I have finished off two other builds in the meantime.

Anyway I had a good session at the bench with this neglected little kitty yesterday and moved it along well.

First up the camo was finished


As you can see from that shot I was a little heavy handed where the overpainted balkenkruze was supposed to be, so when I applied the decals I used a spare cross to act as a stencil with the plan of picking it out in a darker shade of brown


The decals were ok - but a little fragile and ripped pretty quickly when trying to position them as I found when trying to get the turret numbers around some of the raise detail on the right hand side. There are two decals here but the upper one has split over a bolt. I'm probably going to live with it because trying to "fix" it will result in tears and swearage


The exhaust system was rusted up and attached - needs matting down


Then onto the tools - the jack mounts were a little fiddly


So the jack ended up a little wonky, but it's on and nothing was lost to the carpet monster - and you can see the jack block and fire extinguisher added here too


The other pioneer tools were finished up and added


And also the other side with the jerry can on the turret - actually the cross on the can looks a little rough so I'll tidy that up a bit


So here's how it looks - the yellow is showing up a bit deep in the photos so it's darker than in reality, but you can see where the overpainted cross is on the left hand side of the hull


I'm a bit frustrated with myself that I had it this close to completion when I let myself get distracted by the other builds, but it's getting there now. Once I've tidied some of the details up it'll be a matt coat followed by the first weathering stages. And that leaves the aerials and tracks to do.

Thanks as always for looking.

[Tomcat64]

Managed to move this along again grabbing the occasional half-hour in the evenings this week.

First up the whole thing was given a dark dirt clay wash to dull it down a little


Then it was onto the tracks - earlier on I said I wasn't going to use fruils as they cost as much as the kit, but I found a set of resin replacements from a company called GTG in Australia. Great service, but including postage they cost about as much as the fruils but it was my lucky day and they threw in a set of tiger tracks for free

Anyway - here's a bag of resin bits


The casting is really good quality with virtually no clean up required


They just clip together, some give a really positive click and others are a little softer - but there are plenty of spares in case there are some duff ones


Half an hour in front of the TV produced both lengths


These were given a Ultimate black primer coat followed by Vallejo metal color burnt iron and added to the kit. This was a little fiddly and in some cases the links came apart but a few dabs of CA sorted them out nicely


As you can see I've also added the aerials and painted the gun barrels in gun metal. The tracks were given the same dark dirt wash and I think I'm going to call it done aside from the commander figure. So here's a quick walkaround








Thanks for looking - hopefully I can get the commander done and finish it all off in the next week or so.

[Stokesy44]

Very nice.

Those indy link tracks really look good. A great result without any faffing around

[Tomcat64]

Very nice.

Those indy link tracks really look good. A great result without any faffing around

Thanks mate

The snap together tracks went together really quickly, they're a little more flimsy that the ones held together with wire but overall I'm happy with the result. Just need to add a tiger to the stash now so I can use the freebies

[ElCapitan]

Looks awesome Neil, I'd been looking forward to seeing how this would turn out! Those tracks look so much easier to put together, and look great!

[TheNordus]

It looks really damn nice. Did the kit not include periscopes for those turret hatches by the way?

[Tomcat64]

Looks awesome Neil, I'd been looking forward to seeing how this would turn out! Those tracks look so much easier to put together, and look great!

It looks really damn nice. Did the kit not include periscopes for those turret hatches by the way?

Thanks guys

Nope - no perscopes in the kit unfortunately.

[digger303]

damn nice...well done

[Tomcat64]

Cheers Digger

[Quax]

great job as usual Neil

Paul

[Tomcat64]

great job as usual Neil

Thanks Paul!

The crewman is currently in progress and hoping to get him done and out of the way this week so I can focus on the Buckingham currently cluttering up the bench.

[Tomcat64]

Finally got around to finishing the crewman off - I know the trousers won't be visible when he's inside the tank but it's all practice.

The trousers and cap were done in Andrea field grey, the jacket in various shades of Vallejo (yep I know it's not historically accurate!) and the flesh tones were Andrea again.


Here he is in his new home


And we're done - this one's heading to a shelf


Thanks as always for looking and taking the time to offer support and encouragement through the build.

[Stokesy44]

That looks so cool. Really like the figure work mate!

[TheNordus]

Looking real good, definitely would deserve to be in a diorama or a vignette base.

[Tomcat64]

That looks so cool. Really like the figure work mate!

Looking real good, definitely would deserve to be in a diorama or a vignette base.

Thanks guys

I'm not going to put it on its own dio base (too many other things on the go at the moment) but my original plan was to see if it'd fit into the Puma base from the Feline Fever build so I'll give that a go and post pics if it works - or even if it doesn't

[Donkeywalloper]

Oh well played Sir, very nice job.
Love the little Luchs.
DW

[Tomcat64]

Oh well played Sir, very nice job.
Love the little Luchs.
DW

Thanks DW!