I love the Panzer II Luchs its one of my favourite tanks from World War II, I have one in world of tanks so I decided I had to get one for Bolt Action, the only problem was how and where. So far Warlord have not released this tank as a resin kit so I had to look elsewhere for my fix. I searched the model shops and spoke with Fog at Wonderland Games to see if there was a 1/48th scale kit. There wasn’t and then I saw a post on the Bolt Action Facebook page talking about a company called Die Waffenkammer who make some very nice resin 1/56th scale vehicles kits.
Some searching on the internet brought me to the website and the first thing I noticed was that they have a lot of excellent scale models of tanks that cover the gaps in the Warlord range and some variants that you might not expect to see. The only down side to Die Waffenkammer is that they are based in Canada, I had a bad experience with customs many years ago when ordering new mountain bike suspension forks from the USA and they were destroyed by customs as the x ray made them look like weapons. This time however all the internet chatter from the UK seemed to indicate that customs wouldn’t be an issue. So I ordered the Luchs with a retail cost of $25 Canadian and $10 shipping which worked out at around £22 which wasn’t bad I thought about the same as a 1/48th kit from the model store. I waited for a few weeks and heard nothing then I saw a post on the companies Facebook page saying that they had electrical supply issues and the casting was behind schedule, I wasn’t overly fussed but I thought I would send off an email to check and my Luchs was still waiting to be cast but I received a refund of the shipping as a good will gesture. Making the Luch cost me only £16. Well yesterday the little box arrived at my house and I thought, hey lets do this un boxing thing right for a change rather than decide to do it, then realise that I have painted it before I got a picture.
This is the box that arrived covered in customs labels.
Some very secure packaging inside.
The tanks box with a highly detailed description label on it.
The bag of extras such as crew and stowage with a very nice component list and some in action photos of the tank.
The gun barrel was wrapped in a foam tube with a little foam rest under it to protect it in transport. This level of detail speaks highly of the companies service that they respect the customers goods in this way.
The main components laid out on the desk.
Now the important part, what I think of it. This tank has some of the sharpest resin casting I have seen for a long time, the detail is perfect with no air bubbles or excess flash. The quality is up there with Games Workshops and Warlords and from a small company that’s incredible to see. The tank goes together nicely and once I find the super glue I will do just that. The cost well £22 for a tank of this quality is nothing in comparison to the money I have spent on other inferior products. I will defiantly be buying again, in fact I have my eye on a few of the other tanks as we speak especially the SdKfz.234/2 (Puma) and a howitzer armed Stug.
