Morning briefing,
Normandy early August 1944

Models: Werner Kampfhofer
Photos: Wolfram Bradac
Kits 1/35: Recce tank Luchs Techmod, VW Kuebelwagen Italerie

Quick menu
Introduction  Historical/ technical background  Assembling the Luchs  Assembling the Kuebelwagen  The Diorama  The paintwork  The figures  Result  Gallery

Introduction

When I started to build the Luchs from Techmod at the end of 2002, I was right aware of the flaws of this model, but Heinrich Z., who ordered this diorama for his private museum, gave me the instruction not to alter too much.

Therefore this model was more or less built straight from the box. The same is for the VW-Kuebelwagen from Italeri.

Historical/technical background

The Luchs, SdKfz 123, is one of the many attempts to design a proper reconnaissance vehicle. With a production of 100 pieces he came beyond the prototype existence, for systematic equipment that was too few vehicles however. They were only fielded from 1943 onwards. Most tanks were used at the eastern front, in the west there were only 26 vehicles with the 1.Kp./Pz.Aufkl.Abt.9 of the 9th Armoured division (conditions: 1. July 1944). Till the end of August 1944 all these vehicles were lost.

Technical data:

• use: Reconnaissance vehicle
• crew: 4 men (commander, driver, gunner and radio operator)
• length: 4630 mm, width: 2480 mm, height: 2210 mm, weight: 13,000kg
• armament: 2 cm KwK 38; 7,92 mm MG 34
• ammunition supply: 264 rounds 2cm
• radio communication: radio set "F" and Fu.12 for command vehicles
• armour: between 10 mm and 30 mm
• engine: Maybach HL66, 180 PS
• range (street): 290km
• range (terrain): 175 km max
• max speed: 60 km/h

Assembling the Luchs (Techmod Nr.: 3004)

Relatively at the same time two companies issued 1/35 scale models in the year of 1998: Techmod and ICM. Both were rather unknown and therefore one had difficulties to decide which one is to prefer.

As the Techmod kit was quite cheap (12.- €). Although the white plastic is hard to get used to the kit comes with single track links, a frame for the air intake grid, a synthetic rope, beautiful details and an easy to understand assembly guide. Also counting to the advantages is the good fitting parts that cause nearly no filling and sanding work. Furthermore the parts were surprisingly easy to prepare for assembly as I feared that because of the unusual white plastic.

Due to the white material the finished model looks like a Vacu kit and one puzzle, if the model will ever become similar to the real vehicle. Welding seams were represented with a temperature-controlled soldering iron. The lattices for the exhausts developed from gauze. Now however to the less pleasing results:

• The vehicle tools are not complete. As the ones that were at hand were awful, that doesn´t bother at all and I took those from the Tamiya Panzer IV tool sets (approx. 7.- €). The positioning was eased by the help of the book "Luchs", Museum Ordnance special No. 22.
  One could also use the add-on set for the Luchs. MR 35100 (21.- €). That contains besides the tools an upper part of the tank hull, final drive and so on. I took no tool mounts but only self-made clamps from bent wire. All kit items without mounts received ones from aluminum foil. After all I regret not to have used PE-parts for the lock of the stowing boxes.
  
  
• Turret: the width of the superstructure is 4mm to narrow. As a remedy one can buy the MR No. 3599 (early version, 14,50.-€) or MR No. 35104 (late version, 16.-€), make a completely new scratch-built turret or make an improvisation.

  As a reference for scratching we are glad to have a plan from Tony Greenland with dimensions. This plan derived from a still existing Luchs and was provided by Heiner Duske. Generally speaking, one only needs to cut off the back half of the turret and rebuild it by one selves. Those who refuse to buy a MR turret, should make this improvisation:

  Comparing the early and late type original backdoors of the turret brings us to the conclusion that both are too close to the edges of the turret. I decided to choose the early door-version and to fix it laterally shifted.

  As the rear armour plate of the kit has an opening to be able to show the hatch also in opened condition, I inserted a sheet of plastic and glued a new self-made hatch onto the rear side of the turret, but this time 2mm shifted to the left compared to the assembly instructions of the kit.
  
  

• Sprocket wheels and tracks: unbelievable but true the Techmod kit has a 24 toothed wheel while the original only has 23! Normally this fault costs the modeller some amount to correct. Friulmodelismo ATL 36 (30.-€) put those wheels in its kit-box, but I didn´t have it at hand. Since me didn´t want to suffer from additional work dealing with the sprocket wheels, I continued according to the assembly instructions. I took the Modellkasten set SK-51 (~ 25.- euro;), which unfortunately omitted the proper sprocket wheels.

  The tracks were easily to assemble. I made enlarged the holes where the track pins should be inserted. This prominent detail was not represented at the Techmod kit.

Kübelwagen, Heller 81106

This is nothing but the old Italeri kit Nr. 312 in a new box for more money. In former days the only useable kit of this type in 1:35 scale, it lost this advantage to Tamiya and Hasegawa, which are better in details and more accurate.

Especially the interior is poorly designed and sometimes wrong, as with the transverse bar behind the driver. So I used the canvas and some crew items to cover these mistakes. Aluminium foil and wire provided the straps and their mounts for the canvas.

Diorama

Farm Ruin, Plus Model 204-102

I completed the "ruin" into a normal house by a scratch-made roof framing from balsa wood and roof tiles from a vacu plate.

The left wall is a part from a railway model company named Busch. As this item had a lot of bubbles, I attached a coat of diluted gypsum. Also the interlocks of the house parts were treated similar and thus filled and straightened. The toilet is from Diotech company, the barrow is from MK35. As the farmyard is quite large I took a picture frame of 50cm length and 40cm width as a diorama base. Then I added a Styrofoam plate of 2cm thickness, which was treated with a pyro-engraver where the farm and the walls should be placed.

The rest of the body was formed unevenly. On top of that structure I put some pre coloured sand mixed with wallpaper glue. When this mixture was near to be dried out, I took off the still unpainted farm and the walls. Unfortunately the pre colouring didn´t work proper, so I had to use my airgun anyway.

Plants

After inserting the buildings, I had to plant. One can imagine that during wartime the inhabitants do usually not take care of the garden as well as in peacetime. So I wanted to resemble the garden quite untidy. Short grass was attached by means of white glue on which I sprinkled Static Grass.

To achieve the best effect, one should stow away the grass into an old plastic canteen with a 3mm hole bored into the cup and blow it out onto the diorama by pressing the canteen. When the glue had been dried, I painted it together with the base.

After this the weeds were added. Best for this purpose is a kind of moss, which is used by people in Austria during Sylvester when they wish themselves good luck. It comes in two sizes and I always take the smaller ones, but I let them grow further at home, until those attractive small flies come out...

I cut the plants right above the ground and insert it into dehydrogenation salt. After a week or so the plant had been shrunk to halve of its former size but keeps its shape. One can also let the moss dry out naturally, but the even forms of the originals get a little bit lost. One tip: after new year the good-luck-plant-items are much cheaper!

As I made bad experiences with plants, whose colours faded after fixing, I painted them previous to that step. The colour is "Tannengruen" (fir green) 645 from Decofin Wood/Stone. This colour is normally used for painting stones and therefore doesn´t affect the moss as strong as Gunze or Tamiya products. The white glue again helped fixing the moss onto the diorama. The tree is a piece of a twig. The leaves are from a so called Bubikopf plant (Soleirolia soleirolii). The only disadvantage is that the plant disintegrates when it is dried. Therefore I keep it in a box and twist the white glue moistened twig in this box till sufficient leaves are stuck on it. The colouring is done by means of oil colours.

The flowers are "Gypsophilia paniculata". This is the plant that is usually added to a rose bouquet to boost its extent.

For this diorama I took only small and halve or totally opened buds. A drop of diluted oil colour on top of the buds give them the right "touch" and some gloss coat freshens up the overall impression. The stems are kept untreated.

Behind the wall there is a line of bushes from MK35 (A005, bunch of dried flowers). Unfortunately the picture on the package is much better than the real product. But for my purposes it was just sufficient. Again fir green was used for colouring this product.

The dry grass in the barrows derived from the sea, namely from the Greek island Aegina. At a first glimpse one could confound it with a heap of tar, but it is actually sea grass just as small as a thumbnail. I found out, that one can crush these balls and divide them into straw like stems, so I started collecting instead of relaxing...

As I saw these grass type also from a Spanish firm X-Project, I suppose there must be some more nice holiday resorts than Aegina where one can find this plant (a good chance to calm down your "better halves" after straining modelling evenings instead of...). The chopped wood derived from several small twigs. The rust on the gutter was made by means of "Dust and Rust"

The painting

Luchs

The airgun was used for the base colour Tamiya flat black (XF-1). Afterwards I checked if there were any glue spots or gaps still ignored. The camouflage was applied with Tamiya desert yellow (XF-59), so that one can see through to the black base colour at edges and recesses. That was followed by a further coat of sand yellow, lightened with Tamiya buff (XF-57), a washing The green spots are Tamiya deep green (XF-57).

The places where the turret numbers were to be placed, I sprayed Gunze Sangyo gloss (H30). After applying the decals I again took a gloss coat to seal everything and avoid the shining of the decals and afterwards Gunze flat clear (H20).

Not before now the tools, tracks and gun were painted with enamels. A washing with diluted black and brown (oil colours: burnt umbra and black). This also enhanced the appearance of the weld seams especially after highlighting them by means of a slight dry brushing with a flesh tone oil colour.

The running gear and the parts above the fenders got a slight cover of a diluted mix of oil colours (burnt sienna light ochre and a dash of Vandyck brown) Streaks were made by leading the strokes of the wet brush downwards.

Kübelwagen

It was painted like the Luchs, but to get some kind of difference, I mixed lighter shades of sand yellow and green. As the Kuebelwagen should resemble a more worn out vehicle, a lot of scratches were made with a soft pencil and a coal pen. Also the dust coats were applied much heavier compared to the tank.

Farmhouse / walls

The house consists of gypsum. To reduce the absorbency, I seal the surface with two coats of white acrylic lacquer. This happened also to the wall from the Busch company. Then a base of black started the further stages of painting, which were performed similar to the vehicles.

Figures

In use were figures from Dragon (6110), Verlinden and two copies that I got from the Czech Republic. The Verlinden figures got new heads. Especially the copies caused a lot of work, as there were many bubbles and gaps to fill out.

Painting

A base of black Tamiya colour (XF-1) was followed by a flesh tone (Tamiya XF-15) for the skin areas. Grundiert wurde mit Tamiya schwarz, XF-1 und nach der üblichen Verarbeitungskontrolle spritzte ich die Hautflächen. Then I sealed this with Gunze Sangyo (H20).Now Uniform and equipment got their colours with enamels.

Then I finished the skin parts by means of Windsor and Newton oil colours. Here I took Cadmium red, Cadmium yellow and Titanium white, which gives a good flesh tone. But this first cote has to be removed immediately. What remains in the recesses is good for further blending and shading processes.

To get good results, one should take lighter and darker shades of the base colour and blended into each other. Titanium white is used to set highlights at chin, nose, cheeks and is also blended with the base. Now it´s the time for finishing the eyes. Single coloured uniforms and equipment is shaded by a base coat made of oil colours. "Boheminan earth" is quite a good choice. Mixing a darker brown and painting the shades with it and a lighter brown for the rims makes it close to reality. I personally do not use extreme highlighting as this is a kind of "fashion ".

After all the details I covered the figures with a dull coat from Gunze Sangyo (H20). But unfortunately most of those details vanished because of this. So one still is doubting, if one should drop the coating and let the oils dry out by themselves or if there exists a neutral varnish.

Result

Frankly spoken: who would have checked the flaws of this Techmod-Luchs model? So all of you that can go with these faults may enjoy this kit.

All of you, who want to have a real accurate vehicle, have to spend a lot of money and labour. At least the tracks and the sprocket wheel have to be bought.

After the ICM kit is said to have also problems with its accuracy, the new model from Tasca/Bego is going to get more and more interesting, although it is rather expensive (49.- €). But this kit has no metal or single track links, but one made of vinyl.

Reference material

• Luchs, "Panzerspähwagen II, Sd.Kfz. 123"; Museum Ordnance Special No. 22 Tech Intell, Vol.2; Darlington Productions Inc.
  
• KIT: "Les Panzers en Lorraine"; Editions Heimdahl
  
• "Waffen SS (2) From Glory to Defeat 1943-1945"; Concord Publications
  
• "VW Kübelwagen in Detail"; WWP


• Internet

---

  Click on the thumbnails to enlarge! Pictures open in new window.