darson Posted December 26, 2010 Share Posted December 26, 2010 (edited) The postman arrived on Christmas eve and dropped off this little beauty which will give me something to do during break. This kit was released last year and is basically a follow-up to the French Campaign boxing and corrects the issue of only 25 teeth on the idler but the KwK 30 barrel remains too short. This is not a problem as I'll be replacing the barrel with an AM item anyway. Luckily for me I actually have a real R03 which appeared in "Panzer Vor!" Vol 1. As you can see from this photo, the markings appear to have been mud smeared in an attempt to tone them down and perhaps not make them such an obvious aiming point, this is something I'll be trying to replicate on my kit. Cheers Edited January 2, 2011 by darson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted December 26, 2010 Share Posted December 26, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darson Posted December 30, 2010 Author Share Posted December 30, 2010 Ok first step in this little kit is the same as for all tanks, the road wheels idlers & drive sprockets along with their polly caps. No real problems to report here other than the four very nice ejector pin marks on each idler. I needed to remove these as the idler protrudes from the front of the vehicle and the ejector pin marks would be highly visible. Now normally this would be a piece of cake to fill and sand but as there is a row of very fine bolt heads that I didn't want to obliterate I had to be very careful. The next step called for the suspension arms being attached to the bottom of the hull. These were prepared with a sharp No11 blade to remove the mold seam that runs down the middle of each arm. I always try and take extra care at this stage of a build to ensure that every piece of a tank's suspension is at the correct angle and equal distance from the ground. There is nothing worse than letting the whole lot dry and find out when you test fit the wheels that one is sticking out at an odd angle. From here I was going to move straight on to the upper hull but after having a bit of a play I discovered that the ejector pin marks under the fenders are very easily seen so out came the trusty Gunze putty mixed with a bit of lacquer thinner into a slurry that is worked easily with a toothpick into small holes like this. I find this much easier to control (and clean up) than putty straight out of the tube which for me tends to go everywhere. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darson Posted January 2, 2011 Author Share Posted January 2, 2011 I had a couple of good days modeling and the Panzer II is motoring along very nicely indeed. The upper hull is now complete with everything except the fiddly little bots that have a tendency to break off when gluing the upper and lower halves together. I must say that the splash guards and the driver’s frontal armour took quite a bit of pressure and convincing with clamps in order not to leave gaps but in the end I'm happy with the result, although the splash guards will need a bit more clean-up before I hit it with paint. The replacement KwK 30 barrel comes from Lion Mark and is an absolute gem and is well worth the couple of dollars (6 I think) I paid for it on Hobbyeasy. Fitting consisted of simply snipping off the old barrel, drilling a hole and then attaching the replacement part with a drop of CA to fix it in place. Here's a comparison between the original barrel and the replacement The turret presented no problems at all with only a couple of seams to be filled where the upper and lower halves joined and a missing weld seam added in the same location. I know there are many methods used to attach link and length tracks but this is the one that works best for me. I start with temporarily attaching the wheels to the vehicle then simply glue a couple of pieces of track together and wait a couple of minutes for the glue to set (a bit). I repeat this procedure a few times till I have a number of track runs drying at which point I place them on the vehicle and tape the runs in place with Tamiya tape and wait for the whole lot to dry. I repeat this for the entire track length but do not glue the last two links together so they are easily removed for painting. Well tacked together she's actually starting to look like a Pz II now Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smuts Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Hi, very nice so far looks a gem to build as well got to admit you can't beat aftermarket barrels they do make all the difference to a kit. Those link & length tracks look the best I've seen to date. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmac Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 This kit was released last year and is basically a follow-up to the French Campaign boxing and corrects the issue of only 25 teeth on the idler but the KwK 30 barrel remains too short. This is not a problem as I'll be replacing the barrel with an AM item anyway. Actually it was the size of the rear idler according to reviews by Terry Ashley etc. Pointing out it being undersized, and corrected in this kit. The issue of the incorrect number of teeth on the drive sprocket is an issue of all the Dragon Panzer II kits and has never been addressed, even on latest released kits. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbuna Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Very nice, I built this kit many years ago and was unaware of the faults you've pointed out....well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darson Posted January 2, 2011 Author Share Posted January 2, 2011 Thanks for the comments guys I must say I'm having a lot of fun with this build. Alan, I checked my references and you are spot on mate the rear idler has been corrected for this kit I have to put that one down to "didn't even realise it was wrong" Jim & Andy thanks for the feedback guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Nice work so far.Carry on ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darson Posted January 26, 2011 Author Share Posted January 26, 2011 Well it's been a little while since I've done an update on this build so I thought I had better post something to show work is continuing on albeit at a slower pace than when I was on holidays. Construction is now complete with the exception of the jack block and some wooden handled tools which I will add last. The kit received a coat of Tamiya fine white surface primer particularly the metal muffler guard and the Kwk 30. As the white primer is lacquer based it gives subsequent coats of acrylic paint something to bite into. The white primer was followed by a couple of thin coats of Tamiya NATO black which I use to create shadows in any places the main camo colors might not reach properly. The turret is mounted on an old bog role covered in plumbers tape by the way so the I can handle it and paint it without having to touch anything. The only thing I've added to the hull is an antenna made from thin brass wire which sits in the antenna tray, you can sort of see in on the left side of the shot below Sorry about the crap light with this last one but now it's off to the paint shop proper and correct the paint scheme that Tamiya recommends. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy K Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Its coming along nicely Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deacon Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Looking good mate. Deacon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbuna Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Coming along nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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