Saturday, January 12

Zvezda 1/100 (15mm) Pz II.. completed

At last!


Took me far too long, but post Christmas ennui struck, work has been mental, blah blah blah...  no excuses...

Once again a nice simple paint job, very similar to the Hanomag [clicky], early war German crosses, plain dark grey overall, followed by a dry brush of the same colour with just a tadge of dove grey in it so as to provide a highlight. Bolt gun metal (my trusty Citadel paint pot must be 15 years old now) for the tracks, and then a careful wash of chestnut ink on tracks and exhaust for rust, completed by a dry brush of mud brown on running gear and mudguards..

The Pz II was designed as a stop gap due to delays in production of the Pz III and Pz IV and by 1940 it was the most numerous tank in the German Panzer divisions involved in the invasion of France.



It was superseded by the Panzer III and IV in 1940/41 and after that it was used purely for reconnaissance. By the end of 1942 it was largely removed from front line service, tank production ceased in 1943, but the chassis was used for a variety of self-propelled artillery such as the Wespe and Marder II.

Alongside the Pz38T (next post!)

Ausf (or type) A, B, and C had 14 mm slightly sloped armour on the sides, front, and back, with 10 mm of armour on the top and bottom; some model Cs were given increased armour in the front.

As for armament most versions of the Panzer II were armed with a 2 cm KwK 30 L/55, a few later versions used the similar 2 cm KwK 38 L/55. This was a cannon based on the 2 cm FlaK 30 anti-aircraft gun, capable of 600 rounds per minute from 10-round magazines - a total of 180 shells were carried. It also had a 7.92 mm MG 34 machine gun mounted coaxially (ie. firing at the same target as the main gun)



Love this model - very simple, very nice, and just makes me want to get the WWII skirmish figures out for a game!

Last of all a real one on the western front in 1940..  Pz I behind.. gives a good scale with the guy on the back as to just how small these tanks were..

Picture courtesy Bundesarchiv Bild website

6 comments:

  1. Nice model painting. Also, the infantry troop's camouflaged uniforms are sweet!

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    1. Jay, "sweet"?, "sweet"?! That's the Heer's finest wearing the latest from the Berlin cat walks... :o)

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  2. Great model! A tank frequently overlooked by late war monsters, but this really was the mainstay Panzer of Blitzkrieg.

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    1. Paul-- infinitely preferable to me - they smack of skill and finesse, rather than larger and larger hammers...

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  3. Those Zvezda kits take some beating. Good models, easy to put together and inexpensive.

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