The Germans Are Coming!

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Placemarker.....Which I meant to post yesterday!

[CliffB]

Oooh, nice tiny things.

Cliff

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Tiny & Quick.....I hope!

The builds here will eventually form the core of a 12 Pz. Division wargaming force, representing one of the battalions of 29 Pz. Regiment, each model represents (approximately) a platoon of five vehicles.....Eventually there will be:

HQ

1xPz.38(t) Befehls

1xPz.I Ausf B Befehls

2x Light Co.

6xPz.38(t)

2xPz.II Ausf C

1xMedium Co.

2x Pz.IV Ausf C or D

1xPz.I Ausf B

12 Pz. Division decals seem to be hard to come by in 1/72 (As opposed to 12 SS Pz. Division of which there are bucketloads.....Which I personally find rather distasteful. ), so these may be painted as generic vehicles in the short term.

PS - Does anyone know of an aftermarket Pz.II Ausf C (late) Cupola.....My models should probably have them, but my kits don't.

[PlaStix]

Hi Sarge. Can't help with the cupola but I'll be following these builds with interest.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Cheers Stix.....It isn't absolutely essential that they have them IMHO, the TOE nominally represents 29 Pz. Rgt, on 22 June 1941 at the start of Barbarossa and I'm pretty sure not all Ausf C had been fitted with a cupola by then. If I'm wrong I can always add 'em later (or just ignore it completely).

[Foxbat]

Since you introduced me to S-Model I've seen some interesting schemes on the boxes. Do they come with decals? I know Armourfast kits don't (well, I do now, having bought some ).

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Yup, decals and etched brass in each & every QB kit.....They are strange.

I've taken knife to plastic:

And I have to say I am not at all happy with the QB tracks.....More soon, but it's unlikely to be good news.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

So the single piece track units.....Here they are, one cleaned up and one fresh off the sprue, typical QB fare you might say, featureless on the track faces, full width guide teeth and of course featuring the inevitable multiple sprue attachment points and mould seam:

So let's look a little closer:

Some of you may at this point be thinking that the Sarge has lost the plot; "Those are lovely.....Why look at the detail on the guide teeth, whatever is the fellow waffling on about?", those of you more familiar with AFV suspension arrangements may be beginning to see the problem.....For some reason S-Model attached the leaf spring suspension to the wheels (all but two of them), not the hull!

You see this arrangement does create something of a gap between the leaf springs and the hull:

I'd estimate that at between nine scale inches and a foot!

[Foxbat]

Oops. Adequate as a quickie for the wargames table perhaps, but a bit sub-optimal for a display model. I suppose with the width of the track there's no room for corrective surgery by shaving the inner face, and removing the springs from the wheels will leave them obviously deficient.

Does that stall the build or do you have a cunning plan?

Andy

Hardtailed and grateful.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Sadly S-Model have only moulded the visible half of the suspension units, so simply cutting them away and adding spacers (or axles as they are more commonly known) just won't work.....What an utterly idiotic bit of design!

I had hoped I could fix all the kit's problems using these (I have several in the stash):

But unfortunately the way both the cupola and suspension mounts are moulded onto the turret or hull parts renders them unusable in this project.....I also fished out my Italeri 1/72 Pz.II Ausf F to see if there was anything that might be of use, but it's moulded in just the same way as the MB/Revell kit.

I'm going to check the aftermarket companies (Modelltrans Modellbau specialise in this sort of thing, but getting hold of their stuff can be a real chore in itself), if that's not sucessful I either live with it or bin all four kits!

EDIT - I just remembered I have the ACE 1/72 Pz.II Ausf F too.....It has the suspension arms moulded seperately, so a fix is doable using this kit. Unfortunately the ACE kit's not cheap and buying them to fix up S-Models is thus utterly out of the question (not to mention that ACE already make a perfectly serviceable Pz.II Ausf C kit all of their own).

Any resin casters out there feeling generous toward a Trackhead in trouble?

In summary, even if I do find a way to correct things this build will fall into the same category as the SU-152s, ie: not even remotely a quickbuild anymore and I don't think I'll get four kits of that kind finished in time, rejigging tracks is fiddly and it always takes me ages.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

To be fair to S-Models here I should probably point out that the Pz.II Ausf C was their first ever kit and having read Rob H's review on OTW! I was aware of the suspension issue before I started, just not the sheer magnitude of the the problem (which is very hard to photograph).

The kit is also still miles better than anything from the Armourfast or Italeri Quickbuild ranges, for very little extra cash, it actually includes etched brass exhaust shields and a turned brass gun barrel for each model, none of which will be fitted, polishing is not my thing.....Here's how it looks now, I've shortened the axle-stubs as much as I dare in the hope of bringing the suspension just a little closer to the hull:

So finish it/them or kill it/them.....What's the opinion of my illustrious comrades?

With the Pz.II Ausf Cs under a temporary stay of execution, it's on with the Kleinebefehlspanzer:

Have to say, this one looks a lot more promising.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

OK.....I decided to finish it/them, gave the PPP a serious workout to see how it did at filling massive voids:

It did just fine!

So I finished up and primed it:

Looking a bit furry, but nothing I can't either sort out or turn into weathering.....The suspension is still hideous, but it will just have to do until I get around to buying some better Pz .II Ausf C kits.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Here we go again:

This one shouldn't take terribly long at all now that I know what the problems are and have chosen to ignore all of them!

[Ozzy]

Nice going sarge, you have been busy.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Once you decide not to fiddle with 'em there really ain't all that much to 'em Ozzy!

I'd recommend my fellow BM Braille AFV builders avoid the S-Model 1/72 Pz.II Ausf C.....While it has a lot of potential the work required to realise it is significant, resin-casting (or some seriously fiddly scratch-building) is neccessary to bring the suspension units to anything approaching an acceptable standard and that still leaves the default problems of blank track face and full width guide teeth to deal with.

The Kleinepanzerbefehlswagen looks a lot better, it still has the latter problems (almost all QB kits do) and a minor issue of a missing grille which I will very probably be completely ignoring on this build.....Compared to the problems with the Pz.IIs it's almost trivial!

http://www.onthewaymodels.com/reviews/S-Model/FGiova_S-Model_PS720098_preview.htm

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Almost there:

PS - I had put the mantlet in upside-down in this photo, since corrected.....Build threads have their uses don't they?

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Two down, three on the go:

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Almost there with number three:

Number four is on the way (from PSC)!

[Sgt.Squarehead]

The Kleinebefehlspanzer decided to fight tooth & nail at the primer stage, TBH it's a bloody mess.....Here they all are together, just before it all went pear-pear shaped:

The Pz.I Ausf Bs arrived from PSC, but after the hassle I've just had with this one I'm really not in the mood for any more QB rubbish right now.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Here's how it currently looks after a 'touch-up' with Halford's finest:

Oh dear!

[The_Lancaster]

Blimey, looks like there's a bit more shaking needed on the halford cans...

Hope you sort it out though! The building is going very well, maybe on the point of the paint you could at least with the running gear use it as a textured basis for a thick mud coating?

Good luck!

[Sgt.Squarehead]

I adjusted it:

[badger]

That's really bad luck and very odd. Ibe used halfords primer for years with no issues.

Having said that I did read recently there was suspicions they had changed it.

Real shame as it looked pretty good for a qb model.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Nah.....It's a half-baked gimmicky POS!

It superficially looks nicer than the Pz.IIs but it's every bit as bad, lots of silly niggling annoyances like telling you to fit the etched side panels after you've fitted the antenna mount, which is impossible without cutting the etched part down.....I'll build the second one alongside the Pz.I Ausf B in due course, forewarned is forearmed so I shouldn't have any major issues with it this time. The yellow plastic really doesn't like Tamiya Limonene so I'll be using Humbrol Liquid Poly on S-Models kits in future. I've got quite a few of the things in the stash but I doubt I'll be buying many more, I just don't like them. I had intended to use the second kit for my Fall Weiss force, but that plan's gone for a burton now and I suspect I'll be going the FtF (or maybe even Attack Hobby) route for a replacement.

Blimey, looks like there's a bit more shaking needed on the halford cans...

It sprayed fine on one side and then, in the time it took me to rotate the turntable, switched to 'fuzz' mode.....I have absolutely no idea what happened TBH.

[badger]

Think I've only got the Renault R35 set and a set of the nebelwerfers neither of which I've built yet so useful tip on the cement.

I've got quite a few of the newer attack kits and really rate them. Their panzer ii's are excellent and I have a panzer I ausf a part buit which is equally as nice.

They're a bit trickier than say revell, but far better than Ace / PST etc.

Would the old esci one be an option? The tracks are horrid though, unless they released it with link and length (neither of my 2 have them).