1/35 Tamiya Panzer II Ausf A/B/C

[alextheblue]

Making a start with the dio, but I still need to work out a suitable base. Saw this little set at the weekend and thought it would look pretty good with the Panzer II. Not the best of quality and there's a lot of cleaning up and filling that needs doing, especially to the figures, but for 5 & 1/2 quid I wasn't expecting too much. Once I've worked out how best to position them, I will then know the size of the base I will need - gonna try and keep it reasonably small though.





Well, I thought I had nearly finished with this SIG, but I guess I was enjoying it sooooo much, I decided to keep on going!!!

[Coen]

I love these guys Alex. I think they'll be a great addition.

[alextheblue]

Just a small update - managed to get out of work a couple of hours early yesterday, so made a start on getting the little dudes painted up! I've decided to stick with Vallejo primer, although a did have a small problem with it a little while ago. It seemed to "collect" in small clumps, not quite pooling (or the needle clogging) and it also seemed to take longer than normal to dry. On reflection, I think it was a combination of the surface becoming contaminated (blue-tac was the most likely culprit), plus me having the pressure too high and being a tad too close to the model.

Anyways, a picture of the aforementioned culprit, plus the little critters all "greyed" up.




Once the primer is on and left for about an hour, I got a bit of flesh colour down. I've just recently ordered the Lifecolour set of flesh colours and I really like them. They mix really well to give every tone you will need and the base colour I think is just right.



Kinda like the grey uniforms - a "ghost" unit!
Also managed to get the base colours done, but I'd better leave them to dry now before painting in the details andtouching up.


Onto the bike now - can't believe that BMW still use that boxer engine on their bikes! I guess, if it aint broke then don't fix it. I've got a couple of other bits that are awaiting delivery and then I can have a play around with the staging - once this is done I'll know how big the base will need to be for the diorama. I'm a bit worried that I may run out of time for this one - but I can always skive off of work again!!

[wappynutter]

Super modelling so far Alex..

sat waiting and watching for the next update...
Well done again mate, fantastic work .......

[generalgrog]

Fantastic work!

Those figs will take your dio to a whole new level.

GG

[Rob]

Fantastic work indeed. The Tank, bike and figures will really look the part

[alextheblue]

Andy, GG, Rob, thanks for the kind words, very much appreciated.

I think I'm getting a bit too involved with this SIG, I'm even starting to wonder what the little fellas names might be - John, Paul, George and Ringo spring to mind!

[alextheblue]

They are Germans Alex.. haha great work but you should rather go with Heinz, Egon, Manfred and Gerhard or anything like that haha

I did consider naming them after my favourite German footballers - Michael (Ballack - I'm a Chelsea fan after-all!), Franz (Beckenbauer), Jürgen (Klinsmann) and Gerd (Müller). Although, it was tough limiting it to 4 players - maybe I should get some more figures and have a whole team!!!

[alextheblue]

Haha... But realy? Ballack? Oh man he was so bad... I was rooting for him to get injured so I would not have to stand him watching the German national team...

Arguably, I should probably include Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (great player!), but Ballack is an absolute legend amongst Chelsea fans.

[alextheblue]

you've definitely got a point there!

[HWGuderian23]

Superb build so far and excellent work on the figures sir !

Haha... But realy? Ballack? Oh man he was so bad... I was rooting for him to get injured so I would not have to stand him watching the German national team...

Arguably, I should probably include Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (great player!), but Ballack is an absolute legend amongst Chelsea fans.

Name them as you like but please not Karl-Heinz (Rummenigge) meanwhile better known as "the man with the golden wristwatches" !

[spruecutter]

Jan, Paul, Georg und Rickhardt?

The figures look good painted up.

If it's any help the machine gunner has an MG42 (1942), so if your dio is set in France 1940, he'd be better off with an MG34.

Otherwise say nowt about the date, either way it will make no difference to the look of the diorama.

[HamilkarBarkas]

Name them as you like but please not Karl-Heinz (Rummenigge) meanwhile better known as "the man with the golden wristwatches" !

This song always makes me laugh

[youtube]nWHL0HsusvU[/youtube]

[HWGuderian23]

Same here Michael

[HamilkarBarkas]

Same here Michael

I´m actually not sure whether it cracks me up or it upsets me The way they pronounce the name is just...how shall i put this...?

[alextheblue]

Jan, Paul, Georg und Rickhardt?

The figures look good painted up.

If it's any help the machine gunner has an MG42 (1942), so if your dio is set in France 1940, he'd be better off with an MG34.

Otherwise say nowt about the date, either way it will make no difference to the look of the diorama.

Think you might have cracked it with the names there!

Thanks for the tip with the MG, unfortunately I don't have an MG34 (could modify the MG42 of course), so I think it's best to keep quiet about the date!

[alextheblue]

Got some more done over the weekend, but nothing to the actual Panzer itself! I'm afraid I'm really rather slow when it comes to figure painting - having very little feeling in my hands and not the greatest eyesight kinda works against you when trying to paint teeny tiny details!

Got cracking with the bike and got it all painted up and manged to get some more done to the figures. The two walking dudes are almost done, a bit of work is needed to the belt etc. and the two guys on the bike should be more straightforward as they don't have anything in the way of packs, water bottles etc. Used a whole raft of different paints from Tamiya to Mr Hobby to Lifecolor - for the main colours I tried to keep to the call-outs, but for other bits I basically made it up as I went on. A lot of the reference pictures I have are black and white, so time to whip out the old artistic license again!








Hopefully, the next time I get to work on this I can get the bike and figures painted and get back to the tank itself. Everything will need a wash to tone the colours down a bit and blend everything in together. Plus a bit of weathering and then a matte coat and I can get on with my first diorama - the final bit I need arrived in the post over the weekend, but I'm going to keep that under wraps until nearer the end.

Thanks again for taking a look!

[spruecutter]

I think you've done a great job with this set

[alextheblue]

Thanks Pete, appreciate the comment.

And thanks again for the very kind offer - this forum has the best people on it!!

[alextheblue]

Just a quick update as I've finally finished the bike and figures that will be with my Panzer II. Painting the tank commander was my first foray into figure painting and I kinda liked it, so when I saw the R75 and figures, I thought, that would look nice with that Panzer.........

It's been a painstaking task and I have even more admiration for all the great figure painters we have on the forum
The decals are on and everything has been given a very light wash (Vallejo dark green, very diluted). The bike has had a little bit of weathering done, but I'll wait until I've decided on the final setting before finishing it up.




And if you look carefully in the background you can see the lesser spotted Panzer 2 somewhat out of it's natural environment!






It's been a lot of fun getting these done, but there are plenty of things that I'll do differently for my next set of figures. I invested in a wet-palette once the figures were almost finished and wished I had used one from the start. Makes it so much easier to blend colours for things like flesh tones and when painting highlights to clothes etc. The set itself was great fun to build, but there's a couple of things that I would change if I could. The hands and feet on the figures are a little cumbersome to say the least and even trying to paint details to the back of the hands and hinting at knuckles etc only help a little bit. On a couple of the figures the boots look like orthopedic shoes and I'm sure there's no way these guys would have passed the medical!!

Now I can finally get back to the tank, work out the set-up for the dio (I do have a rough idea) and this will decide the final weathering - I'm hoping to have reveal pics up by this time next week. Well that's the plan!!

Thanks for taking a look.

[Lee]

Some excellent work there Alex! Love both the figures and the motorcycle...

[alextheblue]

Thanks Lee appreciate the kind words.

There's a couple of the colours that I would change next time (the helmets are a bit light I think), but reasonably happy with it all.

[alextheblue]

Right, enough messing about with tiny bikes and figures and back to the main subject - Panzer II. It's been so long since I've posted pics other than the BMW R75 and figure set, I'm sure people think I'm posting in the wrong section!

With the bike and figures all but finished, I turned my attention back to the tank. It needs a bit of weathering and this is where I hit a problem. Weathering is a real problem for me as I've never really tried it properly. Once a model is built and painted, I'm petrified to weather it just in case I ruin it! But, I'm never going to develop as a modeller unless I keep trying new things, so this is where I need help and input from you's lot. I figured that this tank wouldn't need a lot of weathering as it was used primarily in France. I wanted to shows hints of earth/mud weathering along with the usual oil and grime stains. I also wanted to show a bit of flash rusting as a result of the rains showers prevalent in north Western Europe in late spring. I wanted to keep the weathering light as tanks wouldn't be in service if they were junk-yard dogs. Most tank crews would try and keep their vehicles in good condition as they relied on them for their protection and safety.

First off was to do a very light wash with Vallejo dark grey and then hit the tracks and certain highlights with light rust.



And the results so far










I have still to do the tracks and wheels on the left side of the tank as applied light earth pigments to the right side and I want to see how they dry before doing both sides.

And that's it so far - almost finished!!

Thanks for taking a look and I would really appreciate some help with this stage of the build!

[alextheblue]

Finally, I've almost finished! This is the first model that I've actually weathered as I've always bottled out in the past. Here are some of the weathering products that I used.



And here's the little Panzer. She looks quite clean in the pics but I think this is due to the light source being too close to the subject. Will have to sort that out for the final reveal pictures.













And here's a quick glimpse at the base.


Can't believe that I've almost finished as I've thoroughly enjoyed this SIG. All of the builds have been awesome and I've felt quite humble in even trying to join in.

Thanks for taking a look and see you all in the Final Reveals!!

[Lee]

That looks awesome mate

[JayCub]

Not only is the build super the diorama is something else, and what a great build log with fantastic photographs what more could we ask for........ more please.
Tom

[Paul]

Brilliant work alex, love the figures mate

[T3hGuppy]

Great work dude.

Really like the paint work on the Panzer and Bike.

The base looks really nice too.

[wappynutter]

All good to me Alex.......
Another masterpiece right here!
Cannot wait for the final reveal!!
Well done matey, love the BMW and figures, they compliment the tank wonderfully..
Cool finish to the tank, oh and the dio base is the dogs too!!
Really really nice build...... Fantastic!

[alextheblue]

Lee, Jaycub, Paul, Guppy, Andy, thanks for the kind words fellas - appreciate you taking the time to comment.

Absolutely loving this SIG and the standard of the entries is - WOW!!

I feel like one of Santa's elves in the deep end of a swimming pool - out of my depth!!!

Thanks again!

[alextheblue]

Thanks HM!

Just being catching up and yours and it's totally brilliant!!

Love this SIG, there's so many great entries.

[alextheblue]

Just a couple of quick pics as I've been getting stuck into this SIG to get it finished. Call me mad, but I decided to add another element to the diorama as I felt just the tank and the bike were missing something. The following couple of pictures are just a taste of the final dio and fingers crossed the next lot of pics will be in the final reveal section.

Here's what I have decided to add (plus there might be a couple of bits to go with it!)


My woodworking skills are pretty poor, even poorer than my modelling skills, but I managed to cobble the following together.


I'm having a blast with this SIG and for me the best bit is everyone else's builds. There's some truly great work and I'm in awe of everyone's skill and abilities.

Most of all, I really appreciate all the support and comments that everyone has left. For a relative newcomer to this great hobby, it means a lot when someone who's work you admire takes the time so leave a post.
Tanks everyone!!

[Paul]

Looking good Alex like the watchtower is that a masterbox kit, think I've got that myself.

[T3hGuppy]

That dio is really coming along nicely.

Loving the watch tower.

[JayCub]

Where do you live Alex and when will you be out of the house helping Santa absolute peach of an update, and i want to see this finished, you can photograph it before i nick it
im delighted for you Alex as your really enjoying yourself and that's what this build is about.

Tom

[Tiger131]

looking real good the base looks superb and the guard tower looks top keep the pics coming

[alextheblue]

Looking good Alex like the watchtower is that a masterbox kit, think I've got that myself.

Thanks Paul. It is the Master Box kit - love the detail but the fit isn't the best.

[alextheblue]

Guppy, Jaycub, Tiger, thanks for the kind words, really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment.

Got a couple more pics off before I push on to the final phase.



Thanks again