Assembling the German Light Panzer Company

Assembling the German Light Panzer Company with Mark Hazell The Leichte Panzerkompanie was the core of the German armoured divisions, with most Panzer battalions having three or even four of them.  With this varied mix of light tanks, Germany was able unleashed Blitzkrieg upon Europe. Learn more about the German Light Panzer Company here...

The Contents

Firstly, let's take a look at the contents of the German Light Panzer Company army box set; contact the Customer Service team at customerservice@battlefront.co.nz if you have any issues with any of the components.

The Panzerbefehlswagen

The Panzer I

The Panzer II C (early)

The Panzer III E

Also included in the box set are three types of Commander figures.

This army box contains 22 armoured vehicles comprising of mixed platoons of Panzer I and Panzer II tanks along with a platoon of Panzer IIIs and a full platoon of Panzer IIs. Begin by taking your miniatures out of the box and sorting the components so that you check that all the components are correct, once that’s done you can begin cleaning up the components ready for assembly. First, use a hobby knife and hobby files, to clean up any mould marks and flash on the figure as much as possible. There are two things to look for when cleaning up tanks.  Flashing and Mould Lines Flashing is the large thin areas of metal that often form between the Drive sprockets and the road wheels. Sometimes you will also get venting which will be long stringy bits that hang off some of the track sections. It’s very easy to remove this flashing either with a fine file or a sharp knife. Resin Bubbles From time to time you will find a small amount of bubbling under resin mudguards where the tracks connect to the hull of the tank. These need to be carefully filled down so you can have a smooth join between the Hull and the tracks. For more details on preparing miniatures, read Mark's guide here... Once you have cleaned up the components you can start assembling your miniatures.

Assembling the Panzerbefehlswagen

Once all of the components are ready, its time to start assembling.

Next up is the Commander's hatch.

You have two options for the hatch assembly, open or closed.

The open hatch allows you to add a Commander.

Time for the Antenna guard and MG. You will find having a set of tweezers will help you with gluing these two small pieces.

The fully assembled Panzerbefehlswagen.

Assembling the Panzer I

Start with the tracks.

Next up is the turret and the turret hatch. Once again, the hatch can be either open or closed.

If you decide to have the hatch open, you can have it in two positions. Fully open and glued the to the turret deck or half open and glued to the bottom edge of the turret to the hinges. See below for examples. With the hatch open you can again select a Command figure of your choice.

Of course, you can also have the turrent hatch closed.

Assembling the Panzer II C (early)

Let's start with the tracks of the Panzer II C (early).

To make things easy, the tracks have lugs to match the notches in the resin hull. The tracks themselves are also marked with a L and R.

When attaching the main gun, ensure that the 2cm is on the left side if looking at the turret from behind.

Next is the hatch, again you have the option of open or closed. Since the hatch is one piece, it needs to be cut in half using a hobby knife.

When using a closed hatch, be sure to aligned it as shown in the example to the right.

The fully assembled Panzer II C (early).

Assembling the Panzer III E

Attach to tracks, once more ensure that the drive sprocket is facing towards the front of the tank.

Once both tracks are attached. its time to move onto the turret.

The main gun plugs directly into the mantlet of the turret. With the cupola, Evan has made it easy by sculpting a open and closed version. See the examples below.

Don't forget to add a Commander if using the open cupola.

The fully assembled Panzer III E with the open cupola and Command figure.

That’s it your all done. Once all 22 tanks are fully assembled its time to get painting. Find out what colours to paint your Light Panzer Company here... Check out the German Early War Paint Set here... ~ Mark.

Want To Know More About Blitzkrieg?   Over the past few months we have added a massive range of articles about Blitzkrieg to the website, to make it easier for people to find a specific article we have put together this handy place. Find out more about Blitzkrieg and Early-war here...