SPA Modeler

Hi Gent''s

I spent a bit of time today nosing through the Tamiya 1/35 M2 Bradley IFV I bought on a whim the other day - WOW what a nice kit, but wow what a lot of parts. I'm not sure I have the head space to tackle such a complex build at the moment.

However it's really got my interest in having a stab at 1/35 stoked - I've wanted to build one for years.

Feeling like I'd like to have a crack at something more sensible as my first large scale armor build I had a quick nose on Amazon and bought this...



I don't normally build German stuff but it was at the right price, and looks like it should be a good simple first kit, besides it looks rather cool.

Have you guys got any general tips etc. for somebody new to the genre? One thing I've been trying to figure out is the order of building & painting. Do I build up the whole thing and then paint it, or do I paint it with the tracks and wheels off?





Cheers!

Stuart

Stuart, the Panzer II is a simple old kit from Tamyia. I think it was a clever move to start with such a kit as your first 1/35 scale armour kit!

I usually assemble most of such kit, but leave off the tracks and the wheels. If possible I pin the wheels to cocktail sticks with Maskol, for example. This way it is easy to first paint the center of the wheel in the camo colour, then do the rubber part. Using a fine brush and some diluted rubber (no black!), or even a dark grey colour, I spin the sticks between my fingers and touch the brush to the edge where the rubber begins. As usual, practice makes perfect.

If this leaves some not so clean spots, don´t worry! It´s a tank, and you could apply some earth or mud pigments!

IIRC this kit comes with rubber tracks. These are hard to paint, because the paint might flake off. Priming with an aggressive primer as Alclad´s surface primers may help, but I am not sure about this. Leave them as they are, or get some mud on. It´s your first kit, so fun should be in first place!

This kit comes without PE parts, I think. Another reason for a starter kit! I usually wash my kits in water with some ph neutral soap, the one´s that are not lipid replenishing. You could make use of Tamyia´s fine surface primer from a spray can for priming, if you plan to paint the tank with acrylics.

Great advice - thanks Thomas!

It's interesting the painting with wheels on/off thing as there seem to be people who do both - to my mind it makes sense for them to be off. The comment on not using black for the rubber - can you get rubber paint? I'll use dark grey as per your suggestion.

I can see where painting the tracks will be tricky, I've painted figures in that material before and it was a PITA, I think I coated them with watered down PVA glue first - not sure if that would help here though.

Fun! I intend to have that!

Cheers!

I have a Panzer from Tamiya as well! IV I believe! Tamiya makes good tank kits from what I hear and this’ll be a fun build to see! I say go for it.

Stuart, that is a perfect kit for the novice armor builder. And Thomas gave some spot on advice. For the road wheel rubber, a simple solution is to mix up a little gray added to flat black for a nice faded rubber look. The only modification to dress up the kit would be to perhaps hollow out the bore of the main gun. You can easily do that with the tip of a hobby knife.
Once you have everything on and painted, including the tracks, the final steps I would suggest would be an earth tone wash on the tracks, followed by some steel dry brushing on them. Your choice of earth tone just depends upon if you choose the go DAK, or Continental, on your paint scheme.

KennyX wrote:I have a Panzer from Tamiya as well! IV I believe! Tamiya makes good tank kits from what I hear and this’ll be a fun build to see! I say go for it.

It'll be on the bench as soon as it turns up

Stikpusher wrote:Stuart, that is a perfect kit for the novice armor builder. And Thomas gave some spot on advice. For the road wheel rubber, a simple solution is to mix up a little gray added to flat black for a nice faded rubber look. The only modification to dress up the kit would be to perhaps hollow out the bore of the main gun. You can easily do that with the tip of a hobby knife.
Once you have everything on and painted, including the tracks, the final steps I would suggest would be an earth tone wash on the tracks, followed by some steel dry brushing on them. Your choice of earth tone just depends upon if you choose the go DAK, or Continental, on your paint scheme.

Thanks Stik - I think the kit has DAK markings so I'll probably go with that. I think I have some Humbrol sand wash and weathering powders, and some of the Tamiya weather masters to try out.

I have a fair few hobby drills and a pin vice, so I'll probably use those, mind you, a hobby knife might taper out the end of the barrel better What would you use?

I think I might also need some AM Jerry cans...

The Humbrol and Tamiya weathering products sound perfect. And yes, the pin vise and micro drill bits are the ideal tools for opening up the cannon bore. Lastly, even if you don’t go with DAK, extra Jerry cans are never a bad idea.

Thanks Bruce - I'll pass it on!

Thanks Stik - It'll be fun to see what I can come up with. I'll probably stick with a DAK build as I um.. may have accidentally bought a Kubelwagon to go with it.