Reviewer: Andy Burton (2010)
What’s in the Box?
First thing to mention is on opening the box look for the etched parts and decals in a small plastic bag glued to the inside of the lid. The lower hull is a one piece tub with crisply moulded details including the underneath.
There are five sprues of 240 parts for the Vehicle moulded in a dark grey styrene and two sprues of 78 parts for the three infantry figures including equipment for 5 figures moulded in dark green styrene. A few parts for the Panzer II are not used plus the extra infantry equipment for 2 figures will make good additions to the spares box.
Contained in two poly bags are 20 small poly caps for attaching the sprockets, Idlers and road wheels to their axles. In the small bag attached to the inside of the box lid is 1 x decal sheet with 3 vehicle options and a small photo etched fret with three small Rhomboid type number plates and two exhaust grill covers one with slots for smoke discharger brackets cut out and the other plain.
Instructions are the usual excellent Tamiya booklet with very clearly printed diagrams and text.
Accuracy
The kit seems to be of all the right proportions and measurements when compared to the reference material I have. The Sprockets have the correct 26 teeth, the commanders turret hatch is the earlier style 2 piece type, the hull features the unmodified round front and both the radio operators escape hatch and the air outlet grill at the rear of the engine deck are of the type fitted to Ausf ,c, A,B & C.
The main KWK30 gun appears to be about 1mm too short compared to my reference material and I have heard this mentioned elsewhere, personally that doesn’t bother me but for those who want to replace the gun I’m sure there is a turned metal one available for this kit.
The commander figure is suitably dressed in early war Panzer uniform and is wearing the large reinforced beret style cap, the Infantry figures are also kitted out in early war style uniforms of field grey tunics with dark green collars and shoulder boards plus grey trousers and jackboots.
Fit
All the major parts that I did a dry run test on fitted very well as one has come to expect from Tamiya. The tracks will go together without a hitch providing you follow the instructions and as the road wheels, sprockets and idlers are all fixed with poly caps they remain moveable and can be taken on and off the model.
It occurred to me that if the return rollers can be temporarily fitted to their axles while the tracks are fitted and glued to the wheels etc. that the whole of the track sections including sprockets, wheels, idlers and return rollers would be detachable in one piece once set and would make painting a lot easier. I have yet to try this though!
The front fender extensions are included in the kit but are not shown in the instructions.
Lastly the etched grills seem to be of stainless steel or nickel and will benefit greatly from being annealed by heating up with a lighter or mini blowtorch until glowing red then left to cool, this will make them much more pliable and easier to shape to fit.
Quality
This is a new tooling from Tamiya and has nothing in common with their ancient Panzer II kit of the old motorised variety. All the parts and details are very crisply moulded and show only minor mould seams, there are the odd shallow ejector pin marks here and there but most of these are hidden on the completed model. The pioneer tools are all well detailed and look good with a very nice early style jack that comes in four separate parts, the retaining clamps are moulded on to the tools and would benefit from adding handles from foil or similar. The front tow rope is moulded onto its retaining bracket and a small inspection hatch all in one piece, while this will look fine when painted if you want to place the tow rope anywhere else on the model then you will have to do some minor kit surgery and make new cable for the ends plus replace the retaining bracket. The main hull and the turret have some very nice weld seams moulded on.
Instructions
Not a lot to say here as Tamiya always produce excellent instruction booklets with their kits, clearly printed with logical sequence blown up diagrams for all the construction steps. There are three vehicle painting and markings options all in plain panzer grey for Tanks seen in Poland September 1939.
Decals
The decals are well printed and clear with good colour and thin carrier film.
Conclusion
Looks like yet another excellent release from Tamiya and though there are other Panzer II’s out at this time this one is different again and is not another case of manufacturers producing the same models at the same time. The inclusion of the commander figure is nice but the addition of three posed infantry figures as well makes this kit even better value for money and with some scenery added would make a very nice little vignette straight from the box.
Highly Recommended.