Im looking to start on a diorama in a few months that i’ve had in may head for years now, base on events that might have took place after Operation sea lion, in the town of deal in Kent(England),after the invasion. my idea is centred on a 1940’s building like say a tea shop or car mechanics, i’m going to have three German panzer’s in it a PzKpfw I Ausf B (SdKfz 101), PzKpfw 38(t) and a PzKpfw II Ausf C (SdKfz 121), my first problem is who does a good kit version of the Pz 38t and the Pz II, i know tamiya do the Pz II but its about 30years old and will need super detailing!!
Tristar’s Pz 38 is the best on the market, though a tad spendy at about $42 US. Dragon is set to release one soon or maybe so. Dragon has a Pz II C., which is a reboxed Alan kit with some Dragon update. Not much out there.
The Tamiya kit is not that bad and works very well and doesn’t require super detailing to be a nice piece.
I don’t know if there were any armor units attached to the infantry during the occupation of the British Channel Islands but that would certainly be an interesting tid bit and would give you the british signs, architecture etc with the german armor.
Thanks for the replies, i haven’t seen the tamiya kit is it new, i’m trying to add a bit of fantasy with the armor, i do no the the german army had a small number of Pz II Ausf A’s converted for amphibious warfare in preparation for Operation sea lion but were never used in action.
the tamiya pzII is a F/G the alan/dragon is a pzII c the biggest difference being the f/g as a square front and the c is rounded, i have just finished building a maquette 38T g and its really not bad once its done although i bet the tristar is a whole lot easier to build and no doubt it will look better the italeri kit is ok but the tracks are awful.
biffa, if you don’t mind me asking, whats the detail like on the maquette 38t. Are the tracks any good, did you add detail yourself or build it straight from the box ? cheers.
THe Panzer III M was a tauchpanzer and was designed with Operation Sealion in mind. This was a Panzer III with a modified exhaust, seals around the guns and turrets rings and intakes, and a snorkel bouy that would trail behind it. These could be driven off a barge and would sink to the bottom with the intent of driving up onto the beach. A gyrocompass helped the driver navigate.
Since Sealion was called off, they were refited with the a tall snorkel from the turret and turned into wading tanks. They were used in Russia to cross the river Bug.
The maquette kit is not bad and has some nice detail. The problem with it is the hull is a four piece build rather than the tub like italeris version. There are some sink marks on the suspension springs that need to be fixed but shouldn’t be too much of a detraction. The scary part of the kit is the indy links for the tracks. Not bad though just tedious and they have an interesting guide horn detail. Other than that it builds up nice.
Maquette produces a 38t’s in A-D, a G and a command version with the radio antennae.
You’re right, biffa-Italeri tracks, every last one of them, are horrendous. How disappointing that they re-released that old Marder kit with the same old cruddy tracks! I actually wrote the company HQ years ago about improving their trscks but never got a reply.
Actually Mike, according to Squadron’s Pz III in Action, 168 Pz III F’s, G’s and H’s, and a number of PzbefWg III Command tanks were converted to the Tauchpanzers. The M version carried a 50 mm L/60 gun and arrived in late 1942, way after Sealion failed.
My bad, thanks Tigerman. I should have checked my references first. And I just picked up the big hardcover Trojca book on the Panzer III. Nice thing, it has the only decent photos of the air bouy and a tauchpanzer being driven off the barge and up onto shore.
I also had a look and they had Pz Kw IV A, B, C, D converted into submersible tanks for operation sea lion, 210 Pz Kw IIIs and Pz Kw IVs were prepared for the operation, plus 52 Pz Kw IIs, formed the equipment for a complete tank division. but was later supplied to the 18th armoured division that made the crossing at the ‘river bug’. got info from my old German tanks of ww2 book ( F.M.von Senger und Etterlin ) but no 38t,s.
Could you consider the Battle of Britain and the failure to gain air superiority part of Sea Lion? Thus without the control of the skies, SeaLion was a failure.[;)]