Father/Son Tamiya Panzerkampfwagen II Ausf.F/G buddy build.

[Hillbilly]

Hello all,well the other day I was browsing the model section in Hobby Lobby when my 12 year old son came up and showed me these two diorama kits and asked if he could build one.



Of course I said yes.Now,he has built a a few snap together kits but nothing this serious.So I told him the dio would be bare without an AFV or aircraft on it.He browsed the shelves for a bit and settled on the venerable old Tamiya Panzer II kit and he also picked up a box of Tamiya US WWII Army figures.I decided what the hell,I don't have this kit in my stash so I picked one up for myself also.Now being 12 I figured after we had gotten home the kits would be put in my stash never to be touched again,but to my surprise as soon as we got home he asked if we could go out to the workshop and work on his kit.So I dug out one of my old cutting mats,and found him his own set of brushes,sprue cutters,hobby knife,sanding sticks and sponges and some Extra Thin,cleared the end of my bench off for him,turned on the baseball game and started teaching him the in's-and-out's of model building.After getting his tools together and showing him the basics we didn't get much accomplished but here is where we are now.Needless to say I am a very pleased dad right now






Here is his progress so far.



And mine.




I haven't been able to do any modelling for a couple days so he has been bugging me to no end about it so we are getting ready to hit the bench again in a few so I should have another update soon.

[Art17847]

Thats too cool......those r nice little kits.....have fun guys!!

[Coen]

I can't tell you how envious I am Steve... Lucky bugger.
The joy of building with your kids is a one of a kid thing. I was lucky to do it with my eldest son, and my daughter has tried her hand at it now.
But the age of twelve is the perfect age.
Enjoy every second of it.... And share it if you can. I know I'll look forward to seeing your progress.

[Hillbilly]

Thats too cool......those r nice little kits.....have fun guys!!

Thanks,your right,for their age they aren't too bad.

I can't tell you how envious I am Steve... Lucky bugger.
The joy of building with your kids is a one of a kid thing. I was lucky to do it with my eldest son, and my daughter has tried her hand at it now.
But the age of twelve is the perfect age.
Enjoy every second of it.... And share it if you can. I know I'll look forward to seeing your progress.

Thanks Mike,yea it's pretty awesome.It's a great way to spend some quality time and maybe help add to the next generation of modelling.Everything I have been showing him so far seems to be sinking in and he seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself.



We got a little bit more done tonight,not much as there were more modelling lessons to be given,but we did get the turrets done.He was going to drill the ends of the gun barrels out on his but looked a little bit intimidated so I didn't push it and risk him getting discouraged if he messed it up.




I went ahead and drilled the gun barrels out and I decided not to use the extra road wheel on the front of the hull so I filled the mounting holes with some Tamiya putty.





Thanks for looking.

[Nige201980]

Great builds from both of you me always enjoy it when I build with my two just wish I had more time to do it.

[Coen]

This is the perfect kit for this.
They look great!!!

[Lee]

That's awesome buddy

[DaMadModler]

Great kit to get your feet wet on armor. The great thing about building with your kids is they have not been told what will work and what won't so the possibilities of learning something new are endless and also they learn so fast it will make you improve just to keep up! Have a great weekend.

[AchtungPanzer]

Good work . Keep it up "Young Man"

[Hillbilly]

Sorry for not updating this build but my son has had a hectic football schedule lately and haven't had any time to build,but football is over now and we got some time in the workshop.


Ok,as we were ready for paint I sat Cory down at the airbrush station and explained how an airbrush works and then gave him some plastic spoons and let him go to town on them.After he was comfortable with the airbrush he loaded up some XF63 and started painting.



And when he was done here is the results.I had to do a little coaching but I think he did a pretty good job




After he was done I shot my parts with some Vallejo Model Air German Grey.



We then painted all the pioneer tools and the rubber on the road wheels and other odds and ends.The next step was to attempt some chipping.As I am no expert on chipping I did the best I could teaching him.He still has alot to learn (as do I) but he is heading in the right direction.



And here is where I am.




Now it's time for some clear coats and decals.We hope to have these two done this week as there is a model show on Sat and he want's to enter his build in it.So I guess we better get back to work

[FishBowlMan]

Nice progress from both of you, and if that's Cory's first attempt with an airbrush, I'm very impressed.

[PaulAyrey]

Well done guys, a great idea mad great progress by both of you!

[HWGuderian23]

Fabulous work so far guys ! Will follow your progress with large interest !

[Hillbilly]

Thanks for the kind words everyone There is a model contest a couple hours away tomorrow and my son decided on Wednesday that he wanted to inter his Panzer into the Youth division so these builds have been put into overdrive to get them done.So here are some pics of the thrash to get these things done.

Applying the AK wash for Panzer grey vehicles.



Cory spraying a flat coat.



Here he is applying the MIG Russian Earth pigments.



And here is his weathering done.....or so I thought






When everything dried we noticed some white spots where the pigments were applied.



After further investigation I found the source.There are specks of white (pigment?) in the bottle




So needless to say I am not impressed with the MIG Russian Earth product,I will try another brand next time.
I noticed a few spots on my hull also so I am in the process of trying to repair it now and it seems to be working so far so we should make our deadline.All he has to do is finish his tank commander add the gun barrels and finish some minor track weathering.Thanks for watching

[JayCub]

Wish I had thought of a buddy build with my son's but they are adults, the white specks are a pain, and things looked like they where going so well, still it is good to see you both having quality time together and something for your son to look back on with pride, looking forward to more updates
Tom

[Hillbilly]

Wish I had thought of a buddy build with my son's but they are adults, the white specks are a pain, and things looked like they where going so well, still it is good to see you both having quality time together and something for your son to look back on with pride, looking forward to more updates
Tom

Yea,it's been a blast.The cool thing is that as being new to the military side of modelling myself we are both learning new techniques at the same time.


Ok,I think I have gotten the white speck problem taken care of.I put some pigments on a small lid and picked around all the white specks in it and then gave the whole hull a dusting of pigments.It covered the white specks but in my opinion gave it an over-weathered look.Oh well,it was the best I could do with what I had to work with.Anyway I have my Panzer finished and I have to say it looks good from a far,but far from good looking






Now when Cory gets home from school he can get his finished up and then it's off to the model contest tomorrow

[Hillbilly]

After a thrash Fri. night Cory got his Panzer done.He entered it in his first model competition today and here is the result.



Needless to say he was a very happy young man after the awards ceremony,and on the ride home he was already planning his next build!

[Yevgeny]

This is fantastic news. You must be so proud

[Hillbilly]

This is fantastic news. You must be so proud

Very proud.It was a pleasure teaching him how to build,he listened intently and always paid attention when I was talking.And he has his next build planned already,I think he has the modelling bug (until girls get in the way at least )

[mannloon]

That's awesome man. I tried modeling with my 15 year old this summer while he was grounded from his Xbox. He never finished anything.