Takom 1/35 Panzer I ausf B

[Tomcat64]

As some of you may have already seen I'm building the Panzer I ausf A from Takom's double boxing for the "Not the Usual Conflicts" GB over here

So I'll be keeping this build log for the ausf B version which will be painted up in early war colours.

The full background for the Panzer I is over in the other thread so here's a bit of info about the B version:

Ausf.B and variants
The Ausf.B was an improved version of the first model. It appeared in 1936 and was built until 1938, with around 675 machines produced. The main difference was a longer chassis (by 40 cm) with one more road wheel, in order to accommodate a much more reliable and powerful water-cooled, six-cylinder Maybach NL 38 TR delivering 90 bhp, along with a new gearbox. The suspension was also largely improved. The weight rose to 5.8 tons, but neither the armament nor armor were modified. During the war, the ‘main’ version of the Panzer I was the Ausf.A. Soon, both Ausf.A and B served as basis for sub-versions and adaptations, such as the kleiner Panzerbefehlswagen, or light command tanks, which had their turret replaced by a larger superstructure. In 1940, several Panzer I Ausf.Bs were rearmed with the Czech 47 mm (1.85 in) gun, resulting in the Panzerjäger I tank hunter. Other were equipped the 15cm sIG and became the heavy artillery carrier 15 cm sIG 33 (Sf) auf Panzerkampfwagen I Ausf B, which was designed to destroy fortifications with its 150 mm (5.9 in) howitzer. The resulting tank had a very high profile, only partial crew protection, and both the chassis and propulsion were highly overloaded.

I've made a start and as expected many of the build stages are similar for both versions so there may be some repetition for those that are reading both threads

The first section of the instructions deals with the return rollers & some bits for the hull


As my preference is to attach the running gear after painting I've just added the parts to the hull & kept the rollers separate for now (there are two spares which I can use for lining up tracks later)


Section 2 moves onto building wheels & bogies


I decided at this point to bite the bullet & spend a couple of hours working on all the wheels (for both the ausf A and ausf B as many parts are shared) so skimmed through the rest of the instructions to find out what was needed


And again due to the way I want to leave the wheels off for now the bogies weren't fully assembled.


Essentially the back plate was attached to the hull and the rest dry fitted for now


That's all for now - thanks for looking

[digger303]

Looks a choice kit.

[Tomcat64]

Looks a choice kit.

Thanks digger - yep it's an enjoyable kit

[Tomcat64]

Picking up where we left off the next stage added a towing assembly to the back plate & added the extra road wheel & bogie beam


Unlike the ausf A in this case I've actually cemented the bogie beam to the two bogie front plates as they'll all be painted the same colour


Nothing too taxing in the next section although a little neatening was required at the front to get F1 to sit neatly


So we'll combine that step with this one which adds the idler wheel assembly at the back end


And this then installs the bogies & wheels - the fit of the idler axles (B14) is very tight


Here they are in place


And that's as far as I got with this one over the weekend as fiddling about with the tracks on the ausf A took longer than expected.

[Tomcat64]

In parallel with the ausf a build for the "Not the Usual conflicts" GB I've managed to catch up with the ausf b build as well so apologies again for the repetition for anyone reading both threads

First up for the ausf b was to catch up with the tracks


And learning from my experience with the ausf a I used the sprockets & idlers as formers


Which worked really well and the tracks were completed fairly quickly using Revell Contacta for the connections; and this shows one of the main differences between the a & b with the extra road wheel & return roller and the idler lifted off the ground


And they popped off nicely for painting up separately


After the tracks were done we went up top


First point here was some fairly impressive injection pins, which were chopped out and cleaned up


Then back to the top sides - I'll add the tools after I've painted them not a lot to do here


Here are the fenders attached to the hull


Additions at the back end


Which went without too much trouble although the fittings for the bracers are a little vague


Then onto the upper hull and a load of view ports to attach


One thing to note here is that the tow cable ends (a4) are trapped between the hooks (a3) and the hull - I'm assuming there was some sort of sprung latch on the real thing. Also a3 seemed fairly insistent on joining the carpet monster and had to be rescued more than once...


More of the same inside


All the hatches had levers despite the all being in the closed position as there's no other interior, but I fitted them anyway just for practice


Be aware that the fins on the vent (e4) are very delicate and needed to be carefully teased into place


Out onto the rear deck and I assembled the exhaust


The exhaust is dry fitted here after some testing to make sure it'll go in under e13 again later (also needed a swipe of filler in places)


Time to add the combine the upper & lower hull


The PE Exhaust grille will also be left off until later although I do need to find something to curve it around. The upper hull for the ausf b was slightly twisted, but the two hull halves popped together really nicely with a little encouragement and settled into place well


Final greeblies


And again the aerial is left off until painted


Over the page and we tackle the turret


One note here is that the turrets are very similar with only the arrowed notches for lifting hooks on the ausf b being the difference


All hatches in place with more of those slightly redundant levers, but in this case the main hatch is only dry fitted as I'm hoping to cram a suitable figure in there to give a sense of scale; so unlike the ausf a I did take the time to clean up the three EPMs on f31 for the b


Unlike the ausf a, I did manage to add all the turret parts the right way up on this one


So here's how it all looks together


So that's us done with building - onto priming next; but since I'm building the ausf a in parallel here are the twins next to each other


Hopefully I'll be able to make a start on the paintwork this week

Thanks as always for looking

[Tomcat64]

The Ausf B behaved itself much better than the ausf A this weekend

First everything was given a coat of Ultimate Black Primer


This was then given a coat of Vallejo Anthracite Grey, which was masked off and then AK Dark brown added for the camo pattern


This was my first real go with the AK 3rd gen paints and they sprayed really nicely straight out of the bottle. Edit: nope they weren't 3rd Gen - they were the previous type of AK paints! But they still sprayed nicely out of the bottle


Somewhere along the way I've managed to break off one of the mudflap bracers so a replacement was fashioned from one of the spare hatch handles


The turret got similar treatment - including breaking off the rear lifting hook - If I find it I'll glue it back on but otherwise I'll leave it


Tracks were primed in Ultimate black, given a coat of black/brown & then dry brushed with oily steel


And then fitted; one note here is that the drive sprockets don't rotate as they have a locating pin so it's a bit of faff to get the tracks on but worked ok in the end. As you can see the wheels & suspension parts have also received Anthracite grey with Nato black for the tyres.


Here's how it looks with the turret on - I'll leave this for a day or so and then it'll be decals & make a start on the tools & exhaust system


Thanks for looking

[digger303]

Sweet and so close to putting in the display cabinet.

[Quax]

great job on both - it was very interesting seeing the two side by side so as you could see the differences between them

cheers

Paul

[Stokesy44]

Very nice paintwork Sir. Glad you're enjoying the new paint.

[Garion77]

Both projects are going well ! It's nice to follow and follow your explanations while following the instructions.

I am too, now, a big fan of AK's 3rd generation. They brush paint well and they spray beautifully with a finish so smooth ! How did you manage to spray it directly from the bottle ? It's so thick... I mix 50/50 with Ultimate's thinner or AK's

[Tomcat64]

Sweet and so close to putting in the display cabinet.

great job on both - it was very interesting seeing the two side by side so as you could see the differences between them

cheers

Paul

Very nice paintwork Sir. Glad you're enjoying the new paint.

Thanks guys

Both projects are going well ! It's nice to follow and follow your explanations while following the instructions.

I am too, now, a big fan of AK's 3rd generation. They brush paint well and they spray beautifully with a finish so smooth ! How did you manage to spray it directly from the bottle ? It's so thick... I mix 50/50 with Ultimate's thinner or AK's

Thanks Francis - and you're right and my mistake they're not 3rd Gen AK paints, they're the previous gen!

Just for info this is the set I've used

[Garion77]

Then you're going to love the 3rd generation because they are much better then the ones you've used. Great job again.

[Quax]

oh no! 2nd Generation I just wont see it in the same light now Does scale reduction mean the bottles are smaller??

Paul

[Tomcat64]

Then you're going to love the 3rd generation because they are much better then the ones you've used. Great job again.

Thanks Francis, and yep I actually do have a set of 3rd gen metallics which is where the confusion came from

oh no! 2nd Generation I just wont see it in the same light now Does scale reduction mean the bottles are smaller??

I know - the shame of using older generation paints!!!

[Tomcat64]

As with the ausf A there has been some work on this one during the week...

The return rollers have been finished & added


And then some decals - just three on the hull (two at the front and one at the back)


But there were five on the turret that had to form around the hatches and happy to report they settled down nicely with the aid of some microsol & Daco strong solutions (still in progress at this point)


Apparently the crews painted over the original plain white markings with yellow in the field when they realised that the white crosses made exceptionally good aiming points.

As with the A the tools & exhaust are now in progress as well and will hopefully be added in the next couple of days.

Thanks for looking

[Tomcat64]

This has been keeping pace with the ausf A again

Only the single exhaust on this one, painted up with Life Color's rust set


Tools painted up and added with CA - I left the "S" hook off until the jack block was done as fitting looked a bit tight


And on the other side - the longer fenders gave them more room to rearrange things, so the jack assembly was shifted down the back end as compared to up front on the "A". The aerial is just dry fitted as I intend to pose this deployed when we're finished up.


Exhaust shroud shaped, painted and installed - the left tracks look a little wonky in this but I think it's the camera angle as they look ok in real life!


Then the aforementioned jack block & "S" hook were added


Down the front and the tow cable was painted & fitted


A view with the turret installed


And here it is along side the "A"


Matt coat, weathering & any touch ups to finish

Thanks for looking

[BigWall]

Very nice Neil!

[RangerNeil]

Both look excellent!!

I am thinking it would fascinating to line these up along side either the range of Panzers - II, III, IV, V, VI and - if someone makes a kit the VIII Maus or just beside aTiger I or II to see how tank development changed between '39 and '45.

[Tomcat64]

Very nice Neil!

Thanks Joe

Both look excellent!!

I am thinking it would fascinating to line these up along side either the range of Panzers - II, III, IV, V, VI and - if someone makes a kit the VIII Maus or just beside aTiger I or II to see how tank development changed between '39 and '45.

Part of your wish is my command I dug out an old Tamiya Pz III for comparison purposes and Mrs TC asked if they were the same scale

Here's the ausf A with it


And all three lined up


I've got a Jagdpanther on a dio so if I can get that out without damaging anything I might park that next to (or over) one of the Pz Is

[digger303]

Add a modern mbt to the mix and a WW1 mk iv to give some perspective over the decades.

[RangerNeil]

Add a modern mbt to the mix and a WW1 mk iv to give some perspective over the decades.

Now that would be an interesting display "The Genesis of the Tank"

[Tomcat64]

Add a modern mbt to the mix and a WW1 mk iv to give some perspective over the decades.

Now that would be an interesting display "The Genesis of the Tank"

Well I have tentative plans & associated stash to do panzers from I to V (including the 35t & 38t) I just need Tigers I & II to finish off the list

It would be really interesting to add something from WW1 and a modern piece to the evolution too... but that requires even more stash expansion

[RangerNeil]

Add a modern mbt to the mix and a WW1 mk iv to give some perspective over the decades.

Now that would be an interesting display "The Genesis of the Tank"

Well I have tentative plans & associated stash to do panzers from I to V (including the 35t & 38t) I just need Tigers I & II to finish off the list

It would be really interesting to add something from WW1 and a modern piece to the evolution too... but that requires even more stash expansion

Nothing wrong with stash expansions in a worthwhile cause....

[digger303]

Add a modern mbt to the mix and a WW1 mk iv to give some perspective over the decades.

Now that would be an interesting display "The Genesis of the Tank"

Well I have tentative plans & associated stash to do panzers from I to V (including the 35t & 38t) I just need Tigers I & II to finish off the list

It would be really interesting to add something from WW1 and a modern piece to the evolution too... but that requires even more stash expansion

AND that's a problem.....really ??

[Tomcat64]

Nothing wrong with stash expansions in a worthwhile cause....

AND that's a problem.....really ??

[Tomcat64]

Just the one photo for this update, but basically I've added a little dust & grime with oils and that'll do in terms of the main build


And you might have noticed the turret hatch is now open as I want to install the commander figure from this set of dubious poses...


All being well I think I should be able to get this done this week

[digger303]

[BigWall]

Very nice work with the weathering!

[Tomcat64]

Very nice work with the weathering!

Thanks Chaps

[Tomcat64]

Soooo... I think I've got this one done ready to be photographed alongside its little brother...

Here's Gruber ready for his little tank


And here he is in the turret - he's not glued in place so I can change him around a little if necessary


I'll post up the final photos later this week - thanks as always for looking in & commenting

[Tomcat64]

Reveal photos are now up here

[Tomcat64]

@digger303 & @RangerNeil so I managed to dig out the Jagdpanther... and here's how the Panzer Ia matches up to it...






So the Panzer 1 Ausf A effectively dates from 1934 and the Jagdpanther from 1943...

[RangerNeil]

Wow!! Talk about doubling in size. I saw a Panzer 1 in a museum once - either Bovington or Saumur in France and stood beside it the one word description that hit me was claustrophobic. I would not have wanted to crew one whereas a JagdPanther or Tiger - put me down for it!!

[BigWall]

Oh my! What a size and power difference!