Panzer II with schürzen

Construction was pretty much out of the box. I did replace the plastic barrels with RB Model brass barrels. I also drilled out holes in the mesh screen over the muffler. They didn’t come out great, but they look better than just a decal.

My big change was to kit-bash and create schürzen for the vehicle using photo-etch panels from a 1/35 Panzer IV. Of course, I can’t find any documentation that the Germans ever added schürzen to a Panzer II, but it does look cool.

Painting consisted of multiple grey/blue tones from Vallejo Model Air. I did a heavy modulation scheme with this guy by coming in wish a paintbrush and painting extreme highlights for the hinges.

Finally, I did try my hand at figure painting. While this guy is 1/48, he still had some great detail to work with. I added highlights where I could and used a general wash to hit the recesses.

The Panzer II was a mainstay for the early German invasions, particularly France. Unfortunately, it was outdated by the time the war started, so its usefulness quickly diminished.

The 20mm gun did little against enemy armor. The co-axle MG34 was helpful against infantry, but since it was bolted to the turret mantlet, it required turret adjustments to correctly aim.

To my knowledge, the Germans never applied the schürzen side-armor to any Panzer II. While this looks cool, it would have done little to protect the diminutive tank from blasts.