The Modelcard Panzer II build begins

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This is the first installment of my running battle with the Modelcard Panzer II Ausf.C. This is my first shot at building a fully tracked armored vehicle. Hopefully it will be entertaining for you, and theraputic for me.

First Impressions/Observations
Nice cover art. I notice that some of the stowage boxes depicted on the artwork are not included on the parts pages, nor are some small details (bolts and rivets and such) but I think I'll be able to detail the actual kit parts with paint as necessary, so this should be no big deal. I believe that the tank tracks as depicted in the illustration are on backwards. Maybe one of our armor experts can confirm this.

The instructions are in Polish, but there is a free floating English translation page too, which will help immensely. The pictorial instructions and diagrams look pretty good. There are two flimsy pages and four card stock pages of colored parts in the kit, mostly medium grey outlined in black. The muffler and exhaust pipe are henna colored. Printed on the sides of the turret is "14 III" in red, outlined in white. Unfortunately the registration is off, and the red is not centered in the white as it should be. Three "Y"'s on the fender, turret, and hull need to be painted yellow by hand. One bad thing I noticed is that several parts that need to be rolled, including the cannon barrel, part 59, are oriented 90 degrees off on the page. I've decided not to use this part as I'd have to roll it into a small cylinder against the grain of the paper - never a good practice. I'll either make a new part oriented with the grain, or cut the part out and have it photocopied on card stock with the barrel pointing in the proper direction.

Building the Hull Frame
Pretty straight forward here. The entire flimsy sheet was glued to 1mm cardboard using spray adhesive. Frame part 2 needs to be scored and bent, but there is no score line printed on the part. I had to take a measurement from the frame sides to decide where to place my score. Charlie had forewarned me that there was a fit problem with the front and he was right on the money. I had to cut off a good 1/16" from the front of frame parts 1L, 1P and 5. It'll get real interesting when I start skinning. This could be a real short build article.

Click the link below to view my progress so far.

http://www.cardmodels.net/gallery/browseimages.php?c=43
 

Fishcarver

Active Member
I am Watching with Interest!

I have a 1:35 scale PT76 in the back room of the Tractor Plant...waiting to be built....so your build will be followed with interest. I intand to scratch-build my tracks link by link......

And yes, I believe that the cover art illustration has the tracks backward.....

Good Luck!
Jim
 
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