After my Vietnam Gun Truck conversion I fancied something a bit more straight forward to follow up, and the 54-year-old Tamiya Panzer 2 I bought for £10 at the IPMS Avon show, fitted the bill perfectly.
Accuracy issues aside, the kit cannot be faulted for value. The model was originally intended to be motorised and the lower hull still comes with the fittings for this. However, the parts were all moulded crisply with no flash whatsoever. The tracks are the old joinable vinyl type but, again are flash free and adequately detailed. An as a bonus you get the old DAK figure set of four advancing infantry to display with the model. What’s not to like?
There is a commander figure included, and whilst not up to aftermarket resin items, he is perfectly usable once the rather prominent mould lines have been removed.
The figures themselves had similar mould lines to remove, a lengthy process t say the least. The detail of the sculpting is not the worse that Tamiya have ever produced, nor is it the worse. Careful assembly together with a little bit of up detailing (weapons slings, gasmask straps and binocular straps) with some masking tape and gap filling with liquid green stuff can make a difference.
I planned to paint these with the new AK Quick Gen speed paints so simply primed them in matt white.
The suspension arms were all moulded onto the lower hull, so whilst there is some accuracy compromise here, it saved a lot of time.
The wheels are all secured using poly caps. I know they aren’t universally popular, but I liked them as it meant all the wheels could be painted and weathered off the vehicle and simply push on when finally assembling.
The turret literally fell together, the only detailing I added was to drill out the barrel ends. I incorporated the turret storage box to give it a different look. My source books stated that these boxes were fitted to some Ausf F vehicles (which this depicts) and I even found one DAK picture to back this up.
The upper hull was equally quick to assemble and as the radio aerial was moulded folded in it’s protective trough, I didn’t feel compelled to add any brush bristles.
When dry assembled it was clear that the engine grills looked
through to an open void and there were gaps in the underside of the fenders
that might be visible on the completed model. I decided to fill these gaps and
cover the undersides of the grills with plasticard. I also cut away the underside
of the left rear storage box to separate it from the fender as it was oversimplified
in the original moulding.
I was now ready to attach the two hull pieces and needed to apply a little pressure from a clamp while the glue dried.
To help with painting I glued a piece of scrap sprue to the bottom of the hull. This would then be clamped to give me a hand hold.
The wheels were mounted on cotton buds to facilitate painting.
A similar piece of scrap sprue was glued to the inner surface of the turret to help with painting.
Meanwhile, the figures were blocked out using a mixture of speed paints including the new AK DAK Green.
Most DAK AFVs were originally serving in Europe before being shipped to North Africa. They therefore arrived still painted in their Panzer Grey livery. Initially they were camouflaged with an application of wet mud but later painted in a suitable desert sand colour. Time and hard use led to this finish being chipped and battered revealing the undercoat of Panzer Grey. This was the look I was after, so the first coat of paint was Vallejo Model Air Anthracite Grey.
This was highlighted on the horizontal panels with a slightly lightened mix. And once thoroughly dry (24 hours later) sprayed with a coat of Vallejo Chipping Medium.
Again after 24 hour drying time the topcoat of Vallejo Model
Air Desert Sand was sprayed on. Again, this was highlighted with a lightened
coat on the horizontal panels. I also attached the decals at this point using
Vallejo setting agent.
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| The rusty exhaust was painted using a mixture of Army Painter Rust wash with Vallejo Red Earth pigment - it gives just the right colour and has a realistic texture too. |
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| My little helper, Molly, keeping an eye on proceedings! |
Then once this had dried for an hour or so, the chipping process can take place. I use tap water with a stiff paint brush to start the process and a clean wooden cocktail stick to make the small chips. I find this quite fun and rather relaxing to do, but be careful, it would be all too easy to overdo this! The whole vehicle has this treatment – the hull, turret and wheels – The tyres were painted using a black rubber AK paint pen (awesome piece of kit!!).
I could now finish painting some details like the gun barrels, headlights etc. and start to add some pigmentation. To give the impression of a build up of sand in the crevices and corners of the tank I mixed desert sand pigment with Vallejo Desert Sand wash. I then applied it where I thought it would gather. When dry the pigment is fixed and it looks quite realistic to my eye.
Finally, the model was assembled. The commander figure ended up having his legs removed at the knee and gluing him to a strip of plasticard I glued across the turret base. The tracks were joined in the traditional way using my USB soldering iron and the join was more or less invisible. Tracks don’t rust in the desert the same way they do in Europe, so they were weathered with a mixture of steel and dust effects culminating in a rub of graphite on the raised detail from a soft pencil.
The figures were completed and them plus the tank all received a coat of Ultra Matt varnish.
The base was a simple 3D print affair with a surface created using artist’s acrylic paste covered in various grades of sand. It was painted using cheap craft acrylic paint and dry-brushed with white before adding the models and grass tufts.
The figures are all secured using pins (lengths of paper
clip) secured in holes drilled in their feet and then fed through holes drilled
in the base, before bending them over and a blob of super-glue. The tank was
secured using good old Bostick!
I tried to recreate the original box art for old time’s sake, and I think it looks OK.
A really nice model to build, not too challenging, but fun and a good-looking finished article. Thoroughly recommended.
