Just brought a Tamiya German Pzkpfw II Tank ,
while waiting for it to be delivered, i want to plan what i need for it to be improved, it will be set in north africa and my plan is to have it rushing forward with some german infantry.

would someone reccomend me some good after market parts to improve the model which would fit with this part of the war (relatively early in the afrika conflict where germans are quickly moving through along with italians ).

thanks fuzz

One thing that you can do is go to Ebay and search "toys and hobbies" for DAK Infantry or DAK tank crew,it should return many figures you can check out.You don't have to buy them from Ebay,but it does give you an idea of what's out there.

You can do the same thing for Italian Infantry or German stowage and you should find something.


http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0&_nkw=dak+infantry&_sacat=220&_from=R40


http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=dak+infantry&_osacat=220&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0&_nkw=german+stowage&_sacat=220


http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0&_nkw=italian+infantry&_sacat=220&_from=R40

im more looking for what would be suitable

Sorry dude,I don't know what you are trying to say

im not sure what would be suitable on this tank in action in north africa early war

Tamiya has 3 different Panzer II kits. Which did you order?

Fuzz;

The more-recent Tamiya II-A/B/C kits (Poland and France campaigns) are really nice. The old DAK F is of an older, mushier age.

The newer kits build clean and come out looking good. They don't really need any AM for a nice build. I recently did the France kit and added on an RB 2cm KwK 30 barrel as my only true AM addition. Like other kits, these can use some fixes on the tool-clamps, and thinning of some slightly-thicker bits here and there. I also drilled out the kit MG barrel and the holes in those little lift hooks. I did add on some styrene sheet detail bits, and plopped some load on back.

You can see this build on the KitMaker gallery - campaigns - 2012 "Light tanks" pages. I'm the Pz II at the top of the first pictures page for this campaign.

About the infantry... There are at least a few kits out there of figures - the more-recent Dragon DAK might be what you are looking for. Figures from any part of the DAK experience from 1941 - 43 should be useful, as this panzer served there all the way thru...

Cheers!

Bob

35009 and i got this version although its reasonably old i got it for only £8 so i can replace plenty of the paarts

Some aftermarket tracks would do you well. The ancient vinyl tracks are pretty poor.

yh i want to change things like that what would you reccomend

Sadly, sometimes the least expensive beginning can end up being the most expensive final product.

As Jesse mentioned, the tracks are poor. Replacements sets can set you back more than you paid for the kit. With some work, the originals can be made "passable". You can see how I handled them here:
https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/206509&page=1
Not the best solution, but I didn't want to spend $20 on tracks for a $10 kit.

The molding on the kit is soft for details, and heavy on plastic, as Bob mentioned. It also doesn't help that the tools are molded on, either. I didn't do anything with the hinges on the boxes, but I did remove and replace most of the tools with ones from my spares box and thinned the fenders.

35009 is a great kit to hone your skills on, but a lot of time and money has to go into it to make it a "show stopper".

I concur with, and with the other Bob as well.

I've built a couple of these oldies and have some more in the stash. It's obviously dated, but its a fun and quick build if you're not heavily into accuracy and/or AM stuff. My suggestions (for your consideration of course) would be on what take out:

* Thin the fenders

* Don't use the turret bin -- most of available pics on the net don't have this (I say most as I know of a couple of pics that had these and IIRC this bin-thing did not catch on)

* Take out the left-hand side tool box, the one behind the antenna stowage tray. Its not supposed to be there, I read that it was a post-war / post-capture improvement which Tamiya unfortunately reproduced based on a museum display. Okay it will surely leave an ugly hole when taken out, you can put in a replacement styrene sheet, but what about the anti-skid plate pattern? -- maybe the best way is to cover it with stuff like jerry cans. There are DAK Pz II pics you can use as reference.

Personally, I'd leave the tracks as is. It will surely turn out more than the price you paid for the kit. With some TLC and bits of wire you can get it to sag. A good paint job like what Bob (AFVFan) has shown will nail it.

Good luck on your project.

Cheers,

Tat

yh its just my first 1/35 armour kit i used to build lots of 1/72 so was gonna start cheap and easy and then work up to the likes of dragon and what have you

The kit portrays a Pz II ausf F, a variant that didn't get into Africa until relatively late in the game (think of final retreating battles near Tunisia). Like others have said, I would recommend NOT spending the extra money on enhancements (40 year old kit) but rather enjoy the first venture into this scale. Next time around, get a more modern-tooled kit.

thats ok then i will make the infantry run the other way while the tank makes a stand

Hi Edward

I can only concur with the other posters on the quality, detail and age of this kit.

For example although you may replace the tracks, and these will cost you more than the kit did, you'll find the front drive sprocket is wrong, it hasn't got the right number of teeth.


My advice would be the same, don't spend loads of your hard earned money on this kit, put it towards something that is better and more accurate to start off with. It'll be a much more rewarding experience.

Welcome to Armour Modelling by the way, hope you enjoy it.

Alan

would it be better to build this tank destroyed as ive decided it will have German infantry retreating and then i could hide some of the inaccuracies if its burnt out battle scarered

Tank arrived going to do a timelapse video of me building it the tank itself seems a nice start up for 1/35 armour however the figures are much worse than the tamiya D.A.K infantry i have

finished the build other than the tracks which are driving me crazy however il sort something out

Edward,

For a kit of such a vintage I'd expect the details to be on the soft side. My first figure kit was their Fallschirmjager set -- while the box art was inspiring, the real thing had issues such as soft details on straps. Still it was a good practice set.

What's with the tracks? If you plan to install it as a whole, you'd be be better off using wire to get the two ends together. I never had success gluing it even with CA. But I recall you mentioned of a battle-damaged tank so it shouldn't pose much of an issue then (?). Maybe a couple pics would help folks better understand the problem.

Cheers,

Tat

ive glued them they dont just lock together but its not bad as there at the very bottom and the will be covered up with sand

I have built four of these ol' dawgs (a couple as "what if fun projects), a nice little touch is to add some strip styrene or lead foil, etc. as the downturned edges for the fenders as Tamiya does not really represent this in the kit. But it does add some pizzaz...

Other than the very recent Dragon DS track, single piece vinyl tracks will never glue together with any strength. The plastic they are made of simply does not take any glue well other than, maybe, some specialist vinyl cements. That's why the instructions recommend heating the pips and melting them.

Paul

i tried but i struggled to hold them together while melting them

I just build the Tamiya II and used voyager clamps, RB MG34 amd 2cm gunbarrel together with Aber's german antenna. A lovely model, so this is what I would reccommend.

- Johan