My first WIP, Tamiya Panzer II

[Yetifan]

Hi All,

 

So thought I should have a practice at doing a WIP before the December Panzer IV group build. So since I was in Hobbycraft picking up some black paper for my photo backdrop (See my Flickr album for my just finished king Tiger here https://www.flickr.com/gp/138803726@N04/57D559 ) and spotted one lonely little Pz II sat on the shelf.

 

 

 

So here we go, will be OOB as usual and is really a test bed for some paint techniques before the GB. I won't be doing the figures (still can't get them right) the ones in the kit are quite crudely moulded.

 

First job is to check everything is present, all good except for one "bendy" track which hopefully will be ok when fitted.

 

 

 

Super simple kit with one page instructions 😀 
 

I'm going for a DAK colour scheme and will be using brushes only on this build. Sorry no photo etch or massive scratch building but just an exercise to try and get the hang of how best to do one of these, getting the photos right and so on. Any tips, comments and advice most welcome.

 

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

3 hours ago, Yetifan said:

I won't be doing the figures (still can't get them right) the ones in the kit are quite crudely moulded.

I think this mold goes back to the early 70’s at least ? That might be why the figures aren't the best. Ive built one of these about 20 years ago and it was a decent kit. 

 

Dennis

Edited November 9, 2018 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[Hamden]

 

Built this a little while ago and with care turns into a nice replica.

It was originally a motorised model hence all the holes in the bottom of the hull so you may want to fill those.

Looking forward to watch this come together

 

  Roger 

[PlaStix]

Like Dennis and Roger above I built this a while back. I too found it a nice kit to build. It was my first foray into 1/35 armour. Hope you have a good time building it. If it's any help my build thread can be found here.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Yetifan]

Hi @PlaStix i’ve checked out your build and will certainly emulate your technique using the revell aqua gunship grey wash. 

 

I built one a little while ago and it came out really nicely. Have added some photos to my flickr, it’s easy to spot the little mistakes when you go back and look again 🙄

 

First two thin coats on, tracks washed with thinned red brown xf64, interior painted nato black xf69 and then xf60 for the dark yellow.

 

 

@Hamden I blanked the floor holes with the rectangular bases from the figure sprue. Note the bendy track, was the same with the King Tiger but should be ok once fitted. You can see the shading effect you get with the thinned coats. You can vary it further by using your “washout” “rinse water” or whatever you call the small teacup of water I use to clean my brush.

 

 

one more thin coat to go then some further assembly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 9, 2018 by Yetifan
typo fix

[Yetifan]

Grey wash applied to hull and wheels using Revell gunship grey

 

 

 

 

Then upper hull and turret highlights painted with lightened xf60 with white xf2 

 

 

 

Thats all for today, IPMS tomorrow so will pick up again soon.

[Blaubar]

Coming together nicely. 

Will need to read about that grey wash style of stick's you referred to.

Let's hope that the bendy track will turn out good in the end!

/Stef

[Soeren]

Never tried acrylic paint thinned down to a wash with a good result. That just didn't flow right. And ended up like a mess.

[Badder]

On ‎11‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 2:44 PM, Yetifan said:

one "bendy" track which hopefully will be ok when fitted.

Sorry I didn't catch you earlier, but pinning the track down straight, in hot water and leaving them there, would have cured the bend.

You probably know that you can also heat them in hot water and stretch them gently, should they not be long enough to fit the wheels as you wish... eg, if you want 'droopy' tracks.

 

Nice going with the dilute acrylic. I would worry about following coat removing the first coat, but @PlaStix seems not to have had that issue, so I guess I would worry needlessly!

 

I first started making models in the early 70s and yes, as others have mentioned, this kit was out back then. I never built one because it's small size put me off. Personally, I find smaller vehicles harder to paint and weather, purely because of the physical restrictions of the model itself, together with my semi-useless fingers and I'd certainly choose a larger vehicle to practice (certain) techniques on. So good luck to you!

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[Yetifan]

Hey @Badder it was the low cost rather than the size that drove the choice 🙂 i’ve built one before and they are a really nice fun kit to build. It’s more about how I get the WIP thread thing working with taking pics and adding them as I go. Thanks for tip on the tracks will remember for next time.

 

Some updates for the evening, have added a thin filter wash of Mig brown for dark yellow, tyres touched up with xf85 rubber black. Addded some pigments to the tracks to lighten them up, Mig Europe Earth (the only one i have but quite light in color) also finished tools and jack with xf59, dark oil paint for the wood effect and anthracite and 4b pencil for the metal bits.

 

 

 

 

I think the hull is coming along nicely, still need some pin washes for the oily/greasy parts and then some weathering powder to blend it in and add some highlights.

 

 

Great morning at IPMS, really quite busy with some amazing models on display, so decided to move up a gear and now have a big box full of MENG Panther Ausf A Late, hiding under the workbench 😀

[Badder]

15 minutes ago, Yetifan said:

Hey @Badder it was the low cost rather than the size that drove the choice 🙂 i’ve built one before and they are a really nice fun kit to build. It’s more about how I get the WIP thread thing working with taking pics and adding them as I go..

Completely understandable. I was talking 'personally'.

Don't worry on the WIP front. You're doing a grand job.

 

This isn't a criticism, but I am surprised to see you painting the rubber wheels 'on the sprue'. I'm guessing you didn't use masks for this, but painted them carefully, freehand?

I wonder why you didn't remove them from the sprues, stick them on cocktail sticks and use the old 'twizzle' technique to paint them? Dunno whether there's an actual name for the technique, but 'twizzle' sums it up for me!

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[Yetifan]

44 minutes ago, Badder said:

 

I wonder why you didn't remove them from the sprues, stick them on cocktail sticks and use the old 'twizzle' technique to paint them? Dunno whether there's an actual name for the technique, but 'twizzle' sums it up for me!

Hi @Badder “twizzle” seems a perfect description to me 🙂 in this case I used two very thinned black coats first that run round the rims by capillary action so keeping them flat works a treat, i then touch up the edges with the rubber black. There will be a sprue mark but i will touch them up when fitted. 

[Badder]

I usually spray my wheels with a base colour while they are on the sprue, but then I remove them and place them on cocktail sticks. Then I remove the gate marks and any seams running around the circumference of the tyres.

After that, I too use capillary action to paint the tyres, but I tend to tilt and twizzle the wheels so that gravity gets involved as well. It's slightly quicker with both involved and I don't have to worry about any 'tidying up' after painting. 

 

For anyone using an airbrush and masks, bear in mind that when spraying the wheels you want the tyre rubber painted black, but NOT the metal hub, and that includes the outside of the 'rim' of the hub which the tyre butts up to. I've seen people use solid circular masks to cover the centre of the wheel and then spray black over the tyre, but this also means that the outside rim of the hub is also sprayed black. Far better to use an annular ring. Spray the tyre black and don't worry about any slight over-spray, then cover just the tyre with the annular mask, making sure that the mask is nice and thin, so as to leave the outside of the hub rim exposed. Then spray the hub, inside and out, with the base colour,

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

Edited November 10, 2018 by Badder

[Yetifan]

Finished my chores and got on with the task at hand this morning. So first, pretty happy with how the tub came out. Touched up the tyres and fitted wheels and idler wheels.

 

 

Next onto the decals. Late yesterday I applied a thin coat of MIG gloss lucky varnish to the upper hull and left to dry overnight. This morning, trimmed the big red “R” decals with a new scalpel blade to remove as much backing film as possible. Apply some MICRO SET to the turret while the decal releases in clean warm water. Then apply decal and use a brush damp with MICRO SET to position and then dab dry with a clean fresh cotton bud. I tend to give the decals a burnish with the buds a few minutes after applying them.

 

Again pretty happy with the result.

 

 

You can see a tiny bit of the decal film on the “06” but I’m hopeful that will reduce once the Matt varnish coat goes on. Mrs Yetifan kindly bought me a bottle of Pledge floor polish so will give that a test on the underside of the tub. I want to see how much I need to use to resist the effect of enamal thinners. Is there another less aggressive solvent you can use with enamel based weathering products like the ones from MIG?

 

In terms of how i’m updating the WIP, I’m using an iPhone to take the pics, it has an easy up load tool to Flickr. I then use my ipad with a keyboard case to add the text. Also super easy to edit the pics on the ipad using the Flickr App. So far so good, saves a bit of faff compared to using the big camera and iMac desktop to add and edit the pictures.  Also much easier to type using the ipad case keyboard than the on screen one.

 

 

Double benefit is using the ipad to stream Netflix whilst at the workbench (Season 4 of Chicago PD )It fits perfectly on the small shelf just above the white draw you can see in the background above.

 

Right, mountain biking this afternoon so will see how the pledge tests go later on tonight.

 

 

 

[Hamden]

 

That's coming together well. 

Looking forward to the next instalment 

 

  Roger

[Yetifan]

Ok, back a bit earlier than expected, got caught in a downpour and chose to bail out and head home like drowned rats 😫 anyhoo back to the bench and a new episode of Chicago PD (Amazon Prime not Netflix doh!) 

 

Next job was to apply pin wash to the panel lines and raised detail, using MIG Dark Brown was for green vehicles (again the only one I have, but very similar in colour to the burnt umber oil paint which works well for the same job.

 

 

 

Still get a few little blobs and dots where the brush touches but these are dabbed off with a Cotten bud. Next job to add some chippy chips.

 

Using the sponge technique and a bit of dry brushing with xf84 dark iron. I’ve not gone mad since its easier to add than take away 🙂 need to let the washes and chips fully dry and then decide what next. Getting close to the finish now so added the tools, gun barrels, spare track on the hull and turret hatch.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for your interest so far 🙂 

 

[Bill.B]

Coming along very nicely, but the starboard side (right hand side if sitting in the tank) track is on backwards.

T’other side is ok. 

[FrancisGL]

It is not my favorite vehicle, but it is a good medium for a first WIP, these Tamiya kits, oldies, cheap, but with a quality and planes more than acceptable, are ideal to test our skill and techniques without much "fear" to ruin the kit ... lol.

IMHO goes pretty well, the subject of the sponge, I do not know what it turned out to be complicated, but I do not get a result like the ones I see in finished models ...

Cheers mate 👍

[Yetifan]

28 minutes ago, Bill.B said:

Coming along very nicely, but the starboard side (right hand side if sitting in the tank) track is on backwards.

T’other side is ok. 

Thanks @Bill.B good spot, now fixed 🙂

 

@FrancisGL this little panzer has been a nice quick fun build and i’m pretty happy with how it’s going. I still feel the xf60 is a bit too yellow and hopefully the weathering will tone it down a bit. As a practice piece i think it’s pretty good, some nice detail to bring out and no delicate or fragile parts.

[PlaStix]

That has progressed wonderfully!! It's all coming together very nicely! 

Kind regards,

Stix

[Hamden]

1 hour ago, PlaStix said:

That has progressed wonderfully!! It's all coming together very nicely! 

Kind regards,

Stix

What he said!

 

  Roger

[Yetifan]

Final bit of extra chipping and then overall blending with Tamiya weathering powders. They really work well in taking off any remaining shine and softening the darker pin wash around the panels and hatches. 

 

So calling this one complete.

 

Overall really fun build and great practice for this WIP. Very happy with the way the decals worked, no silvering visible at all. I still think the xf60 looks a bit “strong” so will maybe lighten with some white next time. I’m happy with the weathering, not too much and I think it looks about right to my eyes. I certainly think there is some improvement over the first one which I built about two years ago.

 

 

Will look to do some more WIP threads as I go along. Unlikely to have some of the incredible scratchbuilding and super detailing that some of you guys do but none the less your generous comments and feedback just add to the fun of the build and add an extra dimension to the hobby.

 

I think the iPhone to flickr import and then editing and posting on the iPad worked really well and makes the updates really quick and easy to do. Still need to improve my description text to try and make it read better. So if any folks have’nt tried a WIP yet I would certainly recommend giving it a go even if your a newbie 🙂 Not sure if this is good enough for an RFI but will do some pics and see how they come out.

 

Various kits on the bench and in the queue, including a MENG Panther Ausf A so will certainly look to do a WIP on that.

 

Thanks again for your interest 🙂

 

 

 

[Hamden]

 

That is a stunning result, really like the weathering.

I tend to lighten XF60 with  deck tan rather than pure white for Africa Korps vehicles as it is not quite so stark to my eye

 

     Roger

[Gav G]

Nice build you've got there.

 

I got this kit a little while ago when there was a 20% off discount for Hobbycraft.  I've also bought the Eduard PE pack for it and an RB Models barrel, so I've spent more on aftermarket than the kit itself cost me!  Unfortunately due to a car accident I can't do any modelling for a while.

 

 

For dunkelgelb,  I've been using 50% XF-55 Deck Tan and 50% XF-60 Dark Yellow.  I found the mix online somewhere and it seems to work fine.

Edited November 13, 2018 by Gav G

[Yetifan]

8 hours ago, Hamden said:

 

That is a stunning result, really like the weathering.

I tend to lighten XF60 with  deck tan rather than pure white for Africa Korps vehicles as it is not quite so stark to my eye

 

     Roger

Thanks Hamden i’m pleased its not just me the idea to use deck tan is great so will certainly give that a try 🙂

 

4 hours ago, Gav G said:

Nice build you've got there.

 

I got this kit a little while ago when there was a 20% off discount for Hobbycraft.  I've also bought the Eduard PE pack for it and an RB Models barrel, so I've spent more on aftermarket than the kit itself cost me!  Unfortunately due to a car accident I can't do any modelling for a while.

 

 

For dunkelgelb,  I've been using 50% XF-55 Deck Tan and 50% XF-60 Dark Yellow.  I found the mix online somewhere and it seems to work fine.

Hi Gav, sorry to hear you being hors du combat, I do like this little kit and i’m sure the PE would make a real difference at this scale. Will definitely try that paint mix 🙂