Tamiya 1/35 Panzer II Ausf G

[aur0ra145]

Howdy!

This is my first walk into the world of armor. Do I make my sacrifice to Coen now or when I start my first Tiger? Anyways, I picked this kit up for next to nothing and it's my test kit, so to speak, before I try a Panzer IV ausf H I bought. I'm excited to get this kit together, I've always wanted to build an armor kit!

Additionally, I started this kit with a new audiobook. Panzer Commander: The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck. Interesting insight thus far. I'm mainly into aviation history and I've read a lot of novels by u-boat and fleet boat commanders. So this book has a much different pacing. It's written for a non-military person to enjoy and only touches lightly on tactics and more heavily on over all themes. The culture of the German officer corps is astounding. It's so different from what I've read of American officer culture. With that said, if there is some book like Infantry Attacks out there for armor, please point me in that direction.

So, the build. It's going great! I think. Honestly I don't know enough about armor building to know if anything is going wrong at this point. All the parts fit together pretty well. Only one spot looks to need filling. The hatch isn't quite big enough for the hole it's supposed to cover. However, I'm just going to leave the hatch ajar and solve that problem.

The tracks are made out of rubber. I don't think most armor kits are this way. Sooooo, I don't think I'll be able to paint or weather them really. Oh well. That can wait for the Panzer IV. I also noticed that most people here leave the wheels (is that what they're called?) off and paint them separately before assembly. These have some rubber gromets in them, so I guess they were meant to go that way. Ooorrrrrrrr, it's some kind of stop gap for how the kit was originally done. The chasis? has a spot for AA batteries, so I guess this kit may have used to have been a motorized kit?

Another question, are the gun(s) supposed to elevate freely or do you glue them in place? I left this one free moving when I closed up the turret; but, that could be weird because I didn't paint it first. Speaking of which, when do you normally paint stuff? I'm going with the airplane approach and painting macro stuff, then add on the detail stuff afterwards. Thankfully the helpful community here solved my paint mixing problems and I get really consistent airbrushing now.

This kit was my first triumph over the carpet monster. I had a really small exhaust stack shoot off into the great carpet monster. So I did what any normal guy would do. Drained my beer and broke out the flashlight. 15 minutes later, I FOUND IT! The ecstatic joy I felt was overwhelming, it's a moment I will not soon forget.

Without further adieu, pictures!

[Naedrux]

That's a good start, welcome to armor modelling!

Unless you're going to play with the kit as though it were a toy (not at all recommended), I'd suggest gluing the gun(s) stuck in place, so choose an elevation you want for it when it's on display, and get it stuck like so forever.

As for the matter of the "wheels" (return rollers, road wheels, idler wheels and drive sprockets, to be exact on the part naming), it is a matter of personal preference, really. On my tank builds I usually don't choose to glue them on last, unless there's something that's difficult to reach with the brush which would be blocked by the wheel when it is attached. Leaving them off is a bit easier for weathering, but I don't consider having them attached early difficult enough for me to leave them till the end.

And yes, Tamiya kits used to come with engines, that or you could buy them separately. I don't know anything about the engine functions or anything, so someone else will have to fill you in on that information.

[TheTroyster]

You know I think this model is a lot of people's first armor build - it was mine - I keep it to remind myself of how bad I really was at the time. Hey watch out on those tracks they break easy.

ps you can paint and weather those tracks - primer first - then go to town.

[pir8hntr]

I have one I am doing that is helping me get the control back in my arm. I decided to fill all the openings that Tamiya left in the kit and some rather large injection pin marks. I did this simply at the time because max usage of my arm was 5 minutes or so. Going on 4 months later, I have about 90% usage back. Enough about me. I like the smaller armor, Panzerll's, SD. KFZ 250, UE, Kettenkrad, Jeeps etc. They are fun to build, you can detail and upgrade them to your hearts content. I believe Hammilkar Barkus shows how to weather those type tracks on one of his build videos and Ppossibly Coen C among others. Have fun with it. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.
Yours
pir8hntr

[aur0ra145]

Well, I finished this one up. Meant to take pictures; but, I went on leave and when I got back around to working on this, I was too wrapped up in talking to a girl I'd met. I've never hit it off with someone so well in my life. Hopefully it pans out. This Panzer II I opted for some Eastern front markings as I'm told. So I went with winter weathering. It's my first time using the Tamiya pigments so I tried pretty hard to not over do it. When I dullcoated over the pigments, some of it came off or went clear. It ended up looking, "somewhat weathered" and I think it's a good effect. The big guy upstairs looks out for us newbro modellers!

As always, comments, critiques, concerns and encouragement are welcome!

[InitialProduction1]

Like those early war tanks great job aurOra145, congratulations on meeting someone, if you two get together see you in 10 years or longer, lol.

[Naedrux]

Nice work on that tank! It was my first armor build, as with so many other modellers, but mine came out horrible. I almost want to get a new copy of the kit and rebuild it, after seeing this!