Charles B. Payne, Jr., IPMS 25274

The beginning of 2004 saw the announcement for a new kit of the Panzer II,Ausf L in 1:35 scale by Tasca. The PzkPfw II Ausf L was a long delayed reconnaissance version of the already obsolete light tank which did not begin service until 1943. Tasca was a new Japanese company to me. This last variant of the Panzer II light tank has appeared twice in kits by Techmod and ICM There is considerable variation in these two kits which have been reviewed elsewhere (1). Having seen a review of the Tasca kit, (2) I thought I’d give this version a try and was pleasantly surprised. Although the instructions are in Japanese there are English clues interspersed at critical points. The illustrations are generally straight forward. As in Eastern European kits, the body is constructed of separate panels which must be carefully located and squared.

The shock absorbers, road wheels, driving sprocket and idler wheel are next completed. There are hard, plastic rings provided rather than the more familiar poly-caps provided for the wheels and these work if care is taken in locating them in the wheels and in insertion later. Torsion bars are provided just as in the prototype (Fig.1) and these work also. The most unclear locating directions are those for the rear idlers. There are clever locating hubs for the axle stubs (parts B 49) but it is unclear where the torsion arms attached to the stubs (Parts B 36) are glued internally if, indeed, they are to be glued at all. . Not having any intention of trying to have the suspension work, I glued them down to the hull floor but without an instructional tran-slation you’re on your own. In any case, this seemed to work.

The hull and suspension were completed and painted in the German three color scheme of sand, dunkelgrun and rotbraun.. I next painted and added the tracks. (fig. 2). To replicate the sag of the tracks onto the interleaved suspension, two wires were inserted horizontally through the chassis and painted matte black. They held the tracks over the first, second and fourth  suspen-sion wheels. The upper hull was com-pleted without incident. Fine photo-etched screens are provided for the engine air-intakes. These are easily shaped by rolling them slightly over a hobby knife handle. Construc-tion is generally straightforward. All grab handles were replaced with fine wire throughout the hull and turret. The holders for mounting the jack are quite fiddly and require considerable care both in locating on the hull and also in inserting the multi-piece jack in place. I airbrushed the upper hull before adding the tools. (Fig. 3)

Construction of the turret is easy except for the internal mount for the gun. Part C26 was far too long to accept the plastic grommets (P1) and end caps C34 and still fit inside the internal mantlet, C23. It was short-ened to fit, the elevation features of the mantlet were ignored and the machine gun and 20mm cannon breech were glued in place (Fig. 4) in order to fit into the turret. The turret, gas can holders and driver figure were then completed. The figure was finished with oils and mounted in the open hatch. Tasca furnishes a novel cone over which to bend the fine wire "crowsfoot" antenna which is supplied. A craft plaque base was stained, varnished and, with a brass plate added, the tank was available for display (Fig 5). The result closely resembled the example of the tank preserved in the Tank Museum, Bovington, England which probably served as the example for the kit.(3) Except for the internal gun mantlet problem, this is a pleasant kit to build and will produce an excellent model if care is taken in construction. Not having built the older kits, I can make no comment but from the written reviews, this sounds like a winner.

1. Panzer II Lynx: Side-by-side Techmod and ICM .Boresight Vol. 6 (6), Nov. 1998.
2. Workbench Review: Finescale Modeler Vol.22 (2) Feb. 2004
3. http://ampsnz.hobbyvista.com/realafvs/WWII/German/Tank/Luchs/Luchs.htm