The Small Panzer In A Big Panzer World

Historical Background

In 1934, the Waffenamnt issued a specification for an armoured vehicle weighing 10 tons and armed with a 20mm cannon. In early 1935, MAN, Krupp, Henschel and Daimler-Benz submitted their proposals under the cover name Landwirtschaftlicher Schlepper 100 'agricultural tractor' for evaluation. The new vehicle was to supplement the then-new Panzerkampfwagen I light tank / tankette and capable of firing 20mm high explosive and armour-piercing rounds. Krupp was the first to submit their design but it was not adopted. Eventually it was decided to use the MAN chassis, allied to the hull of the Daimler-Benz design. For testing purposes, pre-production models Ausf. a,b and c of the Panzerkampfwagen II (as the new vehicle was now named) were produced from 1935 to 1937. The Ausf c. introduced the five independent roadwheel suspension, which became standard on full production models.

In July 1937, the first true production Panzer II, Ausf. A was produced. It featured improved transmission and increased armour thickness (from 13mm to 14.5mm). This was followed by the Ausf. B, which featured minor changes. From March 1937 to April 1940, the Ausf. C was produced. All of the Ausf A, B and C have rounded hull front, but many of these were up-armoured before the invasion of France, by having an extra armour plate bolted on the turret front and at the front of the hull. Ausf. D and E featured torsion-bar suspension with four roadwheels and also a new superstructure. The D and E were designed as a fast cavalry tank, geared towards pursuit and reconnaissance. The final major version was Ausf. F, with even thicker armour (35mm front, 30mm on front superstructure and face of the turret and 15mm elsewhere. The commander was provided with a cupola (also retrofitted to many Ausf Cs) and a dummy visor.

All Panzer IIs were powered by Maybach HL62 petrol engine of 138hp. Models A to C had a top speed of 40km/h while the the D and E, using torsion bar suspension had a top road speed of 55km/h. All versions had a range of 200 km. The gun tank versions of the Panzer II were armed with a 20mm cannon, either the KwK 30 L/55 or the KwK 38 L/55. A total of 180 shells were carried. The tank was also armed with a co-axial MG34 machine gun with 2,250 rounds. The 20mm cannon had weak penetrating power and efforts were made to rearm the Panzer II with captured French 37mm gun following the fall of France in 1940, but the project came to nothing. Crew consists of three men - the driver, the loader/radio operator and the commander, who also acted as the gunner.

The Panzer II first saw action in 1938, albeit not 'in anger', during the Anschluss with Austria and the occupation of Czechoslovakia. Despite its supposed role as a training and reconnaissance tank, the Panzer II saw service as a combat tank early in World War 2. Of the 2,750 tanks available for the invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, 1,223 were Panzer IIs. For operation against France and the Low Countries, 920 Panzer IIs were mustered. Although possessing a smaller gun, the Panzer II was comparable to the Polish 7TP, Soviet T-26 and the French R-35 and H-35/39. Following the reorganization of the Panzertruppen in late 1940/early 1941, the Panzer II was finally relegated to the reconnaissance role. They were however had to be used on occassions during Operation Barbarossa as combat tanks due to the sheer number of Soviet tanks. The Panzer II was finally withdrawn from frontline service in 1943; it however remain in service until the end of the war.

A total of 1,924 Panzer IIs including prototypes were built. The Panzer II chassis was also used for other armoured fighting vehicles, notably the Wespe 105mm self-propelled gun, Marder II tank destroyer, Flammpanzer II Flamingo and Sturmpanzer II Bison assault gun.

The Kit

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of their Military Miniatures range in 2008, Tamiya released a new-tool Panzerkampfwagen II (the first tank in the Military Miniatures range was another Panzer II, the Ausf. F/G). This time Tamiya chose to depict the early war Ausf A/B/C, specifically for the timeframe of Operation Case Yellow (i.e. the invasion of France). The kit parts were spread among five dark grey-coloured sprue trees, hull bottom, a small stainless steel PE fret, poly caps and a decal sheet plus, of course, the instruction sheet. The tracks are of the link-and-length type with sag built-in into the upper runs. Being a modern kit, it has better details than the original Panzer II kit released in 1971. The decal sheet contains markings for four tanks : two from the 6th Panzer Division and the other two from the 4th Panzer Division. As usual, while the decals appear to be well-printed, it looks rather thick.

Construction

The instruction slightly deviates from the usual assembly sequence for an armoured vehicle in that it starts by assembling the running gears first. I however stick to the 'normal' assembly sequence by handling the lower hull first by attaching the suspension to it. The suspension units have good detail, and also a seam line running on top of them. I however had an attack of laziness that day and not cleaning them up! Besides they were not really noticeable (yeah, excuses, excuses). This was followed by the idler wheel mounting and the final drive housing; a poly-cap was inserted into each of the latter to allow movement of the sprocket wheel. Only then I returned to the wheels. Instead of the open backs of the road wheels in their earlier releases (most noticeably on their Shermans), Tamiya includes the inside faces of the wheels. And as usual, all the road wheels and and the idler feature the ubiquitous poly caps. Once completed, they were set aside and I continue with the upper hull.

Before assembling the upper hull, various holes were drilled into it in order to accommodate parts like the armour plates, bullet splash guards and pioneer tools. With the exception of the last mentioned, they were duly cemented onto the upper hull shell. This was followed by attaching the engine deck hatches. As for the hull visor port covers, a decision has to be made at this point - Part B19 for marking options A and B and B20 for options C and D. I decided to do Option D and used the recommended part. To ease assembly, I returned to the lower hull again. I first painted the hull sides and wheels Panzer Grey using  a mixture of Tamiya XF-63 German grey and XF-18 Medium Blue and the tyres straight Gunze H77 Tyre Black while the tracks were painted XF-64 Red Brown. Once the paints were dry, I placed all the wheels onto the chassis, cementing them all but the sprocket wheels. The tracks were then mounted onto the model; the uncemented sprocket were adjusted accordingly while positioning the tracks. when the tracks had dried properly, the upper hull was joined to the lower half. Some parts, such as the headlights, Notek headlight, tool box, hooks, fire extinguisher and the rear mudflaps were cemented onto the upper hull, while the rest were left off until after painting.

Attention was then turned towards turret assembly. The turret upper and lower halves were mated first and all hatches, ports and sundry small parts were cemented onto it, bar the commander's hatch. The instructions then have you complete the gun mantlet and then inserting the whole assembly into the turret shell. I believe this might cause some problem during painting stage, so while I did cement the mantlet, the guns were left off at this time. The mantlet also include poly caps, so that the guns would remain poseable. Now it was time for painting.

Painting and decaling

Early war German panzers were painted dark (or 'panzer' grey). I used a mixture of 80% Tamiya XF-63 German grey and 20% XF-18 Medium Blue, plus roughly 20% white for scale effect. The entire tank was covered in this paint mixture and coupled with its rather diminutive size, painting was over fairly quickly. And, yes, I don't really subscribe to the paint modulation technique or to the simulate-the-light-falling-on-object school of thought. The decals were then applied - I chose the markings for tank number 216 of the 36th Panzer Regiment, 4th Panzer Division, May 1940. The decals, as usual, were fairly thick, but settled well. Afterwards, I applied the sludge wash on certain parts of the model - not really appropriate for a tank model but sufficient for me to pop up some of the recessed details. The guns were painted flat black and when the paint dried, I applied powdered graphite onto them. But before that I covered two sections of the KwK 30 gun barrel with strips of Tamiya tape, to simulate the knurled grips.

Finishing

To start the final leg, I attached all the remaining loose parts such as the pioneer tools and the aerial holder. The guns were glued beforehand and were inserted into their slots through the bottom of the turret. The wooden block was painted XF-59 Desert Yellow and dry-brushed XF-64 Red Brown to simulate wood grain. I had another attack of laziness and simply paint the pioneer tools a straight XF-59 and XF-56 Metallic Grey. The exhaust and muffler were also painted XF-64. The PE exhaust guard was bended using a pencil as guide and fixed to the model using superglue. It was then painted steel with patches of red brown. Finally the colours were blended (sort of) using Tamiya weathering Master Rust.

For weathering, I started by applying thinned XF-57 Buff all over the lower hull, tracks and wheel. I then applied Mig Productions European Dust 'wet' and once dried, removed the excess using a stiff brush. The process was repeated, in patches, using MiG Productions Rubble Dust pigment. The same weathering powders were also applied 'dry' at selected areas of the model. Tamiya did not include the aerial in this kit, and I fashioned one using 0.5mm Evergreen rod. Finally the crew figure was painted and assembled. The uniform was painted NATO Black while the 'metal' parts (belt buckle and decorations) were painted X-11 Silver. I decided not to add any stowed items as early war panzers were rarely seen with them.

Conclusion

Tamiya has come up with another simple yet finely executed model. Assembly is hassle-free as usual, and the moulded-on details, while rather simple for some modelers, are good enough for the casual (or those not suffering from AMS) modelers. Like I mentioned elsewhere, a simple, yet detailed kit is a good antidote for stress after building a 1,000 part 'premium edition' kit!