Revell Spähpanzer 2 "Luchs" Part I

In need of a little confidence booster, I headed back to the hobby shop...

I don't know why, but I'm a big fan of armored cars. I'm gonna buy an old Daimler Ferret some day and restore it. In the meantime, I wanted a model that doesn't look like crap before I even put it together. I remember Revell models being pretty good from when I was young(er), so when I saw their 1/72 Spähpanzer 2 "Luchs" armored car, I grabbed it. In addition to looking cool on the cover, it's also got KFOR markings -- a military operation I can get behind.

This is a beautifully crafted model that went together like a dream. To avoid the problems I had on the EC-121 with the extra-thin cement, I picked up some thicker Humbrol Precision Poly Cement with the needle tip. It's still thinner than the Testor's tube glue, but it works great. There weren't even any gaps or seams to be filled with putty.

The only assembly problem I had was with the turret-mounted machine gun. I got the ring mount on wrong (it just occurred to me that doesn't matter since the gun can rotate to any position around the ring), but more importantly, I had the pistol grip resting on the gun support rather than the barrel. I really want to blame the instructions, but they're pretty clear. Blur.

Speaking of which, I'll never do another 1/72 scale vehicle. They're just too small. I'm convinced I need glasses now. The incredibly detailed undercarriage was a particular challenge. The parts are so small, I had to use tweezers to get 'em in place because my fingers are too big. And half the time my vision was so blurry, I was just guessing on the placement. Here's a pic to give you an idea of the scale.

Wanna see something crazy? I have an old issue of Military In Scale where this guy actually drills out and pins the axels so the wheels turn just like on the real thing. He also punches out and attaches tiny little bolt heads. In 1/72 scale, that's just fuckin crazy. [Sorry about the blur.]

Oh, and I broke one of the teeny-tiny grab handles in half while cutting it off the sprue. I glumly poked at the pieces for a couple days and even toyed with the idea of leaving it off. In the end, I said 'what the hell' and glued both halves on, then dropped a big gob o' glue right in the center. I scraped some of the excess glue off after it dried and it looked pretty good. I don't even know what the drama was about now. It's funny what you obsess over when you're being creative.

Anyhow, so far, so good. Now for some paint...

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