Hi all,
I have had a very long break from modelling and I am about to embark on my first AFV in almost 20yrs.
I am learning to use an airbrush - they were far too expensive back in the day - and thought a nice cheap 1/35 scale Tamiya would be a good canvas to practice on. Then I thought were better place to start than with the very first Tamita kit I made when I was a kid - the Panzer II ausf f/g with accompanying Afrika corps figures.
Well, it appears not much has changed with this kit :-) still got the bendy belt type tracks and thick spru joins on the upper Hull.
I just wondered if anybody here has recently built this and could offer any painting and finishing tips. Its bringing back lots of memories building this kit and i would like to place it in a little diorama and give it as a gift to my father who brought me the original many yrs ago.
Cheers
Steve

Steve building this ancient kit is a right of passage for those returning to the fold.

I do not believe ANYTHING has changed with this kit in over 30 years!

Here's mine, I built this three years ago upon my return to armor building.



Painted with Tamiya's totally fictitious Desert Yellow, weathered with oils and dusted using a makeup kit the recent ex wife left lying in the bathroom.

G

Hi G,
This looks really nice - the make up kit has worked well for u :-)
As for fictitious yellow - what colour were these desert tanks from early in the NA campaign ??
Cheers
Steve

Steve,
I too built this kit when I 1st returned to the hobby for 5 weeks after more then a 25 year absence. No primer or base paint and a horrid uniform color, the green spots were sprayed with rattle can paint through paper towel

Then 2 years later I really came back into the hobby and found this here sight, and read about all these new techniques and stuff so my little Pz.II got and over haul added some storage and a trooper to the rear sprayed with some Panzer gray and dusted with acrylic tan wash.
Good luck with your and welcome back to the hobby, I find it very relaxing now

Ok when it comes to N Afrika, you have several options depending on time period.

The first vehicles were shipped in the Panzer Gray color. The crews soon began camouflaging them with anything they could find including mud, dirt and canvas.

March 1941-April 1942, the base color is "Gelbbraun" (Grunbraun) RAL 8000 with a overspray of Graugrun RAL 7008.

May 1942- May 1943, Gelbbraun RAL 8020 with an overspray of "Sandgrau" RAL 7027.

From February 1943 on, any equipment delivered was most likely in the now new "Dunklegelb" color, RAL 7028.

Remember, they were ordered to be painted two different colors, in a 2/3 to 1/3 ratio. Here's a link.

http://www.miniatures.de/colour-ral-farben.html

Several manufacturers offer the correct colors in both enamel and acrylic. I have used both Lifecolor acrylic, and Model Master Enamel, to replicate the schemes on different models.

The first is a Pz III in RAL 8000 with a 7008 pattern.



This is a Pz IV in RAL 8020 with a 7027 pattern.



You can see where the colors are actually very close in terms of shade. With dust dirt and fading, old BW photos sometimes fail to show the differences. That's why folks seem to gravitate toward monocolored DAK equipment when in fact they weren't.

Here's a digitally altered photo of the previous PzIII. I used an app called "old photo"





G

Thank you, this chart is going to be a big help and is very interesting. Think I may go with an early grey base color field oversprayed effect. Seems that some tanks had very individualised paterns.
PS - I hope my builds turn out as good as the ones here, I will be more than happy..

Nice!