So, I bought this nice little kit at 13 € on Amazon:
The model is so small (coming from KV-2 and ISU-152 kits) and it looks extremely easy to build.
It has rubber tracks, 1 tank commander and some soldiers.
The Idea is to make a tank that fought in the desert.
You can assemble both the F and the G Variants and this is my first dilemma:
-What would you build?
I haven’t been able to find a decent comparison picture so I really do not have any idea of the differences. All I know is that the G variant wasn’t really issued to any unit and never saw any combat and that is a significant minus for me.
Other doubts i have:
-What color do you use to pin-wash a desert khaki painted tank?
Is dark brown good or you need other colors?
-Weathering: I suppose that desert is all about sand: I have the Vallejo desert sand pigment , I suppose it should be fine for both hull and tracks, right?
You cannot build a ‘G’ from this kit; the ‘G’ had interleaved road wheels for one thing.
Also, the Tamiya kit is not totally accurate as it was based on a reconstructed example that I believe used two fenders meant for the same side as one was missing, so they flipped a spare one around and attached it.
But it is a cheap kit and easy to build. As far as your other questions those would all be acceptable choices for the weathering.
Here is a picture of a Pz II ausf G. Tamiya was mistaken in its documentation. They believed the turret rear bin distinguished the two. Only one unit in Africa had the bin (not the one they give you markings for).
I might add: Do not use the image posted of the kit as a guide for markings either. The “Berlin Bear” is the insignia of the 3rd Panzer Division, which did not serve in North Africa.
Tamiya’s instruction says (erroneously) that the addition of the bin makes it an ausf G.
As I said, only one African unit (Pz Bde 190)'s recon element (about 12 Pz IIF) had the bins attached. No other photos of one have appeared.
(As an aside, unrelated Fifth SSPzDiv Wiking had some Pz II F with their version of the rear turret bin too – but they don’t look like the Tamiya one).
Whatever other kits (like the DML one) do, it’s irrelevant. Only the recent Pz II F from Academy includes decals for “white 14” of Pz Bde 190. That’s correct. Here’s a pic of White 14.
Speaking of decals, I just noticed that the box art has several black marker blots on some symbols, including the soldier’s uniforms, I suppose they removed politically incorrect insignia.
I also noticed that the decal sheet is missing something that has been clearly cut.
Yes, the marking guide is nearly useless on this kit. My kit was bought about ten years ago so it still had the ‘inappropriate’ markings. You bought it new from Amazon, I presume, so I wonder what was cut from the sheet?
Was the DAK palm tree common on panzer II? None of the Africa variants in the dragon kit have the palm tree and the decal sheet doesn’t include it. Wonder if it wasn’t as common on early DAK vehicles or if dragon got political too
I think there’s a law in my country that forbids the selling of “apologetic” material or similar memorabilia, but as far as I know it’s enforced very loosely. Applying to historical models which have no political meaning seems a bit excessive.
Maybe it was an Amazon policy.
Or maybe it was just Tamyia digging up these old kits and “sanitizing” them for the European market. Someone actually bothered to open all these kits to cut out the decals and used a black marker on the box, I doubt Amazon did this.
Anyway, I was thinking to get a “companion” vehicle, since I have a very large spare plexiglass case that could hold two small models like this. I was thinking of this one:
The black diamond should be a swastika, I think it is illegal in Germany if I am not mistaken to sell the swastika so a lot of companies have resorted to the two piece one to get around it
How is the barrel on that kit? I bought a two pack 2 2cm KwK and MG34 aber metal barrel from hobbyeasy. Much nicer than the kit barrel dragon supplies and I think it was $9 with free shipping but it went snail mail and took like 6 weeks to get here
The older cheaper Tamiya kits are nice to learn on because you’ll be less afraid to try things. You won’t be so scared to “mess” things up on a $20 kit vs an $80 kit
Common? My guess is maybe? I’d like to be able to find some text to verify this, but where to look?
