Welcome,

This is my attempt to build an armoured subject almost OOB. I so normally an aircraft builder so this is a little bit of new ground. Not my actual first but not many tracked vehicles under my belt recently. My club, Illawarra Plastic Modellers Association hosts the NSW Scale Model Show each May. We have shamelessly stolen a couple of competition building concepts from our near neighbours ACT Scale Modellers, altered them in name to protect the guilty and added it to our yearly show. In short the Panzer Tracks Trophy for the armour guys. The rules say the nominated kit must be OOB, with after market decals and barrel allowed. This year the nominated kit is the Tamiya 1/48 Panzer IV family. More details can be found at www.ipmamodels.net

I have chosen the 1/48 Tamiya Pzkpfw. IV Aust J (early) with Peddinghaus decals, RB 48B09 main barrel and RB MG 34 co axial and bow guns. Some references are necessary:







The build is fairly straight forward and to be honest the minimal amount of AM allowed is a bit of a blessing. If you have not seen these kits, they have a cast full lower hull and some nicely moulded pieces. They come with four return rollers and the early exhaust, so you are a little restricted in choice for OOB:





Thete is a choice of idler wheels and the road wheels and return rollers were cut from their sprues, held on a cocktail stick and rotated against some 400 grit sandpaper to remove the mould seams and scuff the tyres a bit:





The turret schurzen were partially constructed and test fitted to enable alignment. They would be added later:






The build moved fairly quickly from here on:







Next came painting with RAL 7021 Panzer Grey lower hull and RAL 8012 Red Oxide Brown uppers:















So that's up to date. Fairly happy with the work so far. I still have to draw the line with adding all the tools prior to painting but some of them are there. Next will be the tracks and then the fun stuff....weathering!

Any tips or advice gladly accepted!

Regards,

Looking great so far.

Thanks guys,

A productive morning. Worked on the engine and canopy of the Bf 109E-7, adding PE and some decals to various places. The support brackets were installed once the engine numbers were in place and then some more work on the Panzer IV. The HB pencil weathering was completed on the running gear and tracks:









The hull schurzen supports, which I am not using had raised locating lugs on the hull which I removed:



The spare tracks were fitted to the front of the hull and then I couldn't resist a dry fit photo:







Regards,

Hiya Kent,

Lookin' good! I was just wondering, though, for this version/model of a Panzer IV J, and for being part of "Das Reich", would this have been used on the eastern front, or would it have seen duty on the western front?

Tim

Hi Tim,

Thanks for the feedback. The Peddinghaus details are short on detail and only give the location as France, without an actual date. So I am left to assume it was the Western Front. Sorry I cannot be more accurate.I actuall have a profile from the 1/35 Dragon kit that shows this tank in tri colour scheme in France in 1944.

Regards,

Hey Kent,

Like I said, I was just wondering. I suppose I could do some research and find out where 2nd SS Panzer was throughout its existence. Given the style of houses/buildings on the box art, it looks like it was set in western Europe. I think, too, Das Reich was the unit responsible for a large massacre of civilians in France, as the unit was making its way to Normandy, in the days/weeks after D-day.

Are you going to build a dio around this tank when you're done, or will it just be displayed on its own? Have you built any of Tamiya's 1/35th before? And if so, how does this 1/48th scale compare? The armor models I still have are primarily 1/35th scale.

Hi Tim,

From Wikipedia you are correct in your assertion as "Das Reich" was responsible for a massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane in June 1944 as they moved north to intercept the D Day landings. They had operated in France previously before going to the Eastern Front and being involved at Kharkov in 1943. They were back in France to rest and refit when D Day happened.

I concur with the Western theatre boxtop. This is really one of a very few 1/48 armour kits, purchased specifically for the competition, as I primarily do 1/48 and 1/32 aircraft with a few 1/35 Dragon kits in the stash to build. It won't be going on a diorama, however, I do have a Kubelwagen and a Kettenkrad in 1/48 for some vignettes with aircraft. I have found the engineering and buildability of this kit to be very good, being limited to OOB for the contest.

Regards,

The tracks are on! The lower hull and tracks have been dull coated, the upper awaits decalling, again. Then a wash and dullcoat. This is the first time I have used Peddinghaus decals, they are not complete as in "621" but individual items and apparently require a super glossy base to adhere. My first attempt was an absolute fail! The turret numbers must be cut into individual items and then trimmed as closely as possible. I have lost the 2 SS Pz Div markings so they may be hastily added by hand. Anyway progress has been made and lessons learned! In my excitement I then permanently affixed the upper hull to the lower. I probably should have waited...















Regards,

Welcome back,

I did some work on the exhaust. Mr Surfacer stippled on then Sovereign (WEM) enamel Red Oxide Primer base, Tamiya weathering master Rust, Orange Rust, Burnt Red, Burnt Blue and Soot applied with a damp brush. It looks the part I think:







Regards,

Welcome back,
Well the decals are on....sort of. I resorted to hot, hot water and pressure with a cotton bud followed by a copious serve of Micro Sol, repeated a couple of times and they have settled better after these photos were taken. The 2 SS Panzer markings are hand painted (hardly tell...right?). A wash for the upper deck, turret and surrounds up next:















Regards,

Hi Kent, nice build so far... you asked for feedback, and it is a bit late now for this One thing is that the hangers for the turret armour could have done with being thinned down on the top horizontal runs that connect to the turret, in particular. The turret armour is quite thin already, though thinning the edges down could have made it appear even thinner - photos looking down on the turret show that the turret armour was just thin sheet steel, and with the thin supports, the whole thing should look quite flimsy.

In one of the photos, taken at a low angle, I was wondering if the tracks are all in full contact with the return rollers, and also if the second road wheel on one side was sitting up slightly off the track? Can't really see in the later photos, but that kind of thing will attract the attention of judges!

I guess you got the colour scheme from the Peddinghaus decal sheet - ? Is that the final colour, so grey on the lower hull and primer red on the upper hull? Do they provide a photo?

Cheers, Matthew

Hi Matthew,

Thanks for the feedback. I will check the road wheels. The good thing is that I can use some Tamiya extra thin to ensure the tracks are in contact with the return rollers. Thinning down the supports seems such a simple thing and now you mention it, it smacks one in the face but next time. The scheme is from Peddinghaus, they do not provide photos, only a drawing. It is the first time I have used them and I do not really know their history for accuracy. I do have doubts on the chosen scheme, but I can produce the decal instructions to support it. I did find a three colour scheme for this tank from a Dragon 1/35 boxing, but the unique scheme sort of caught my eye for a first time out.

Thanks for the constructive feedback, I appreciate you taking the time to comment.

Regards,

Cheers, and I forgot to say, in my opinion the exhaust muffler looks great!

Many thanks,

I have had a look at the wheels and they are all ok. The return rollers have been bonded to the upper track return as suggested.

Regards,

Kent

Welcome back,

Well it has been a while! I removed the self painted SS 2 Div markings and got some replacements from Echelon. Not much else done other than once they were replaced a wash of Promodeller dark dirt wash as a start to the weathering:











Regards,

Kent,
Looks great! Definitely has that "rushed-to-the-front" look.

Gaz