Panzer II build - 3rd installment

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Framing and Skinning the Turret

After cutting out the turret frame pieces, I measured them carefully against the skin to make sure everything would fit properly (I learned my lesson from the hull). Sure enough, a small amount of trimming was required on the frame top part 18. The rest of the frame pieces were all fine as is, so I glued them together in order by part number.

The turret ring is made up of 3 pieces, 23 and 23A. For ease of assembly, I cut the center out of one of the 23A pieces, making a donut. I glued this piece to part 23 first, and then when I attached the 2nd piece 23A the hole provided easy access for glue application.

The gun mantlet is made up of 3 main pieces, 20 and two 20A's plus a couple of detail pieces. Part 20 needed to be rolled into a cylinder. It is oriented 90 degrees out on the paper so that it had to be rolled against the grain. Not an ideal situation, but since the tube wasn't too tight I was able to roll it relatively smoothly. The end pieces 20A were glued to 1mm cardstock, drilled out to accept a rod, part VI, carefully cut out, dry fitted into the cylinder 20, and finally glued into either end. The detail pieces were curved and then glued to the cylinder to complete this sub assembly. The gun mantlet revolves around a metal rod, and needs to be installed into the front of the turret before the skin goes on.




I scored and cut out the skin, doubling the width of the printed glue tabs. Since the frame is hollow on the sides, I decided to detail the sides of the skin with the hatches and viewing ports parts 48 and 49 first. I have found that unsupported card will sag or stretch when trying to add details later. The red in the numerals is not registered properly with the white surround, so the colors on the hatches and viewing ports don't line up; something else to fix later with paint.




After dry fitting, I beveled the bottom of the frame piece 14 to match the angle of the the skin. I folded and glued up the skin, and laid it over the frame - nice fit. Once assured of a good fit, I glued it to the frame. The front skin, piece 22 needs to be bent upwards and curled, so I scored it from the back of the paper for neatness. I glued this piece from the center out, snugging it up under the gun mantlet, and when dry, curled it up and over the front of the hull. The bottom was oversized, and I trimmed off a good 1/16" off the edge after gluing.

The cannon, part 59 was oriented against the grain of the paper and was pretty much impossible to roll smoothly into a tight cylinder. I don't know why kit manufacturers don't pay more attention to how the parts are laid out on the paper. I had to make a new piece, oriented with the grain of the cardstock. The end of the cannon, part 59A was rolled into a cone shape and glued to the end. I detailed the cannon barrel at both ends with some thin strips of regular loose leaf paper rolled around until I was happy with the thickness. I then painted the cannon grey to match the rest of the model.

Finally, I drilled out a hole in the front of the mantlet to accomodate the machine gun (made of brass rod with paper detail strips), and glued on the main gun barrel. After touching up with paint, I'm pretty happy with the finished turret. No "woulda, coulda, shoulda" this time - I can't think of anything I'd do differently.




Next installment: the dreaded suspension and wheels
 
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