Despite being an old Zvezda kit, it still has some nice details.

Hopefully I'll get around to building my Vickers Tank for this one.

Al

Starter pictures. Heller's 1/35 Renault R35 and 25mm antitank gun. I'll probably build the 25mm gun as well.





My other French pieces that I plan on using for my column. Some of that has been sitting in a box for over a decade. I'll have to repaint them and convert crew figures for the guns. You can see two partial figures sitting on the trailer. I've still got to pick up another Renault UE Carrier. I may try to squeeze that in for the campaign. If not, I'll do it on my own.

Happy New Year chaps. Made a start on a standard Krupp Protze and I've got the AT towing version with the Pak 36 (chrimbo pressie). Nothing much to photograph yet but once I've made some progress I'll stick some up

Happy 2014 to all,

After 10 years, I feel confident enough to join this campaign with this golden oldie.



I trying to be finished before the 10th of may

Well, I find myself once again overcommitted and with too little time. So as not to withdraw from this campaign all together, I've sized back and gone to a simple, but hopefully interesting, choice.



I'm going to do it as a French staff car as shown in the instructions. I plan to do it right out of the box, including the Tamiya paint call outs. Here is the obligatory unstarted-in-the-box photo:



I expect it'll go fast and be a nice break from bigger, more extensive projects. I have several of these small soft skin kits for just this kind of thing, so we'll see how this goes!

Michael

good choices guys ...

I have found a StuG ausf A in the early dragon red and green box 9031. Will try and build it. Unless someone wants to take it off my hands.

Michael;

Could be an interesting choice and opportunity! Remembering that we are talking the Blitz of 1940, here, this Citroen may well have still been in French hands - maybe the French used them in a similar staff role - and it could wear 1940 French camo!

I would guess that it could not have been a fully-assimilated-into-German-use staff car in 1940 - probably not enough time for the Germans to have captured it and repainted it during this brief blitz! Perhaps it could be a captured car in orig camo with some ad-hoc new-owner markings...

Just thinking "out loud"!

Bob

Hopefully this



will live here:



Cheers

Al

Hi, everyone!

This is my intended kit for this campaign.



Hope to see you soon!

Raul

Tamiya's Panzer II is a great little kit ... Fun build ,, Al ... just those tracks are enough to put me off that kit but great kit for this campaign.. You are a braver man than me.

Hi!

Day 1 – Steps 1 to 3 – Lower Hull and running gear.

Nothing particular to comment. A very straight forward operation.

Some seams were left on the suspension arms to replicate the original ones.

To the pictures.















Richard:

Tonight I´ll make the tracks and tell you how it goes. Doesn´t seem too complicated, not as detailed as individual links but I think they´ll do the part.

See you soon.

Raul.

Hi Raul .. No the tracks on the panzer II are great ...It was Al with his Mark VIB yank with those tiny little separate links tracks... That's crazy !

Hello,

I'd like to join this campaign with a Pz35t as part of 6th Panzerdivision.

Raul;

Good Choice for the Blitz!

INHO, it's a super nice kit - I did this one for the Light Tanks campaign (did it up as the -C in 1940 France, with brown-over-gray scheme) and found that the tracks are pretty well detailed and actually very easy to work with.



Just take your time and make up the short link-runs for the idler and sprocket and cement them, and then attach them to the upper length. Set the length and soft runs onto the rollers and wrap those short runs while still soft around the desired wheels and let set up fully.

Be sure to check your top lengths for desired sag (keep it light!) and put in some curves, if "needed", before you do your final track install. (I'm speaking here as when I did this - I assemble tracks onto the tank, set up, remove them and paint them, and later re-install them for weathering in a final step - but that's me!)

And... Consider getting a metal KwK 30 barrel - the styrene kit item is OK - but a metal barrel does some wonders! I used the RB item - reasonable price, easy to get, etc. And very good!

Bob

HAHA! I didn´t notice it was to Al. Sorry! And yes, I agree. Tiny little devils.




Bob,

Nice PzII you have here!

I just assemble one side of the tracks and goes like a dream. Have to be very careful with the sprue attaching points, no easy to clean up.

And yes, I have the metal barrels for this baby.

One question thou. I´m planning to model a C from 36th Panzer regiment, 4th. Panzer Division, France May1940 (D scheme on Tamiya model). Does it carries the Notek light or it was introduced later, between Fall Gelb and Barbarrosa?

Both Vorpanzer (front hull) and Zusatzpanzerung (front turret) were issued for the Low Countries and French campaigns due to experiences from Poland.

Later, some of them were retrofitted with the new commander cupola (all arround vision) and Notek light.

I can´t find a good/clear photo of the PZII A,B or C during Fall Gelb that carries the Notek.

See you soon.

Raul

Hello everyone!
I'm join this campaign with my favourite German tank



I'll make an early Ausf F with 3,7cm gun;the kit is awesome and very detailed but i must change road wheels because parts of the kit are the later 95mm wide,introduced from May 1940,so i need of earlier 75 mm wide wheels to have correct vehicle for Fall Gelb operation.
In the next days i'll study units and insigna of this tank and i'll start with works soon
Ciao

Dario;

Hi!

It seems from what you have identified above that you may really want the Dragon III-E "France" kit! The primary difference between E and F was the change-over to an improved engine and some air-intake changes in the F. Not many visible exterior changes! During the Blitz, both E and F were armed with the 37mm PaK 36 L/36 gun and the mantlet with 2 coaxial MG. Both E and F originally came out wearing the narrower road wheels and 36cm tracks, and both saw eventual change-over to 40cm tracks and wider wheels after the Blitz. Pics of E and F after JUNE 1940 show some with mixes of wheels (under the wider tracks).

Most E and all F were upgraded to 5.0cm guns after the Blitz was done. Both E and F served in the Blitz - because F were just coming into units right before the start of May 1940 events, probably most F served wearing straight dunkelgrau, whereas E came into service earlier before the Blitz and most wore the regulation brown-on-gray coats.

Strange as they are, Dragon produced the E "France" kit with two sets of road-wheels to allow use or conversion to the wider 40cm track, but included only the narrow 36cm track for building, and did the F kit with wider wheels and wider tracks... Having only the narrow tracks with the E kit is OK - as many folks may well be willing to or already have a set of early 40cm tracks they could apply as for a later post-Blitz E. This means that IF you have the E kit, you can build a "typical E" or an earlier F - tanks with narrow tracks and wheels - while IF you have the F kit, you pretty much can build only the post-Blitz wider-track "older" F! But... not having the F kit, I don't know whether you get both a 3.7cm "early F gun" AND a 5.0cm "later F gun", or only one gun - so maybe you are actually constrained to building the "mid F post-Blitz / before Barbarossa" (IF the 3.7 only), or a 5.0cm "later F" (IF the 5.0 only)!

However you actually go, I'm sure it shall be cool! Me? I'm fondling my E kit for this campaign as we speak, albeit I have many other candidates all screaming "ME ME ME" from the closet!

Bob

Hi Bob
I have the F kit from Dragon,and it contains only 3,7 cm gun and wider wheels and tracks,so you are right,out of the box is possible build only an Ausf F between Fall Gelb and Barbarossa.
To partecipate at this campagne i must change wheels and tracks to have a correct early ausf F and it is not a big problem,i have a lot of spear parts from others Dragon kits and probably i'll use Friulmodel tracks,because i don't like very much Magic of Dragon.
Obviously starting with ausf E France kit would be better...
I have also others kits suitable for this campagne but i like too much PZ III

And here I thought the only narrow Pz.III wheels came in that Dragon E "France" kit! If you have some of these lying around, and the proper early sprocket, why, I would guess you are in good shape!

Bob

Hi,

Problem solved.

I´ve found two excellent pictures where a Pz IIC sports the Notek light in France. Thanks to Concord Publications “German Leichte Panzer at War” by Frank V. De Sisto.

The Notek goes on.

See you.

Raul

Yeah the Notek light started showing up in time for the French campaign... Did they all have it ???
hey since bob showed you his ..I'll show you mine ..lol..




Rick

Nice, Rick, a really nice PzII. Hope mine looks half than yours or Bob´s.

Now I´ll show mine.

Day 2 – Steps 04 to 07 – Tracks and Upper hull

Everything goes like a charm.

The upper and lower hull is a very tight fit.

When first join them there were an important gap at the front that I couldn´t believe this was happening to me. What did I do wrong? keep saying to myself, and come on, it´s a Tamiya! It´s impossible! Then, a little extra pressure and Click! Perfect. Yeah, it´s a Tamiya.

To the photos.









That´s all for today.

See you soon.

Raul