Objective
My plan is to have a machine that fought in the fall of 1944 (late October) This will entail trying to sort out the differences between a late and mid production Ausf J because the kit I’ll use for the base will be the old Dragon 1/35 #6022, released in 1994. This was the original release of the Dragon Ausf J, which was for the late production variant.



There is not an over abundance of information about this kit on the internet. It has taken weeks of searching every forum I could to find what I have about it. None of the following is of my own findings, but that of fellow modelers with more resources to their disposal. I am just trying to convey the main consensus of opinion.

The findings

It is likely that the kit was based on an incorrect Museum Pz. Kpfw IV J reconstruction, which had incorrect fabrication of different features. It was unfortunate that Dragon picked this machine as the basis for their design of the kit.

The Turret


There is a multi-bolted ring, like the commander's hatch of a Jagdtiger, on the museum specimen between the commander's cupola and the turret-roof. Some where along the line this tank must have had its cupola removed and reinstalled using that bolted spacing ring. The cupola has been welded on to the spacing ring, the welds of which do not appear to match any other weld marks on the tank. Dragon followed suit with this odd set up, making the copula sit high on top of the turret in a strange looking manner. Speaking of welding seams, the kit lacks even rudimentary weld details anywhere. The kit’s cupola was molded with the vision ports closed, this is not necessarily wrong, but it is more common to see them open. The hatch is also of the late swiveling style which I’ll need to convert to the hinged type. The side doors are solid one piece non opening affairs. I am not too concerned by this, because if opened, I’d need to detail the turret interior. The kit’s overall turret base length is about right, but the angle of the side plates, with the side hatch openings, and the curved rear plate is too far forward. This throws the other angles off. It is possible that the turret shell is a bit too tall as well, and the turret kasten (storage bin) may be under scale. The last two I am not going to mess with since the turret armor will not give a clear view of the turret anyway.

The Hull
The first all-original kit from DML (6022) had problems with the hull.

The Upper Hull


The driver’s and co-driver’s hatches are too far forward on the kit part when compared with the drawings in Panzer Tracts 4-60, assuming the drawings are right.
The front armor panel was a scale 20 mm thick instead of 80 mm. The hull machine gun mount is poor but it’ll do for my needs. The driver’s vision port is closed, like the copula ports, this is not commonly seen.

The Lower Hull


There' is a scale problem with the forward superstructure deck. The access hatch plates do not look to be in scale. The hinges for the final drive access hatches look too small. On the plus side the kit does offer the choice of using handles on the final drive access plates, as seen on very late production runs, or the vent hoods that are more common. The hoods are not mentioned in the instructions but they are in the kit. The shape of the mudguards are said to be based on the incorrect museum restoration, so the shape was wrong. The fender tread plate starts too far aft.



To try and fix some of these issues, Shanghai Dragon then mated their parts with the lower hull and mudguards from the Gunze Sangyo Panzer IV, the kit then became 6080. This “new” kit’s lower hull was a little better detailed and corrected the some of the shape issues. It was a great improvement, but the upper hull parts and turret were largely unchanged.

Conclusions to Plan
There may be more but these are the most talked about issues that this kit has without going into the limitations of molding techniques of the era that it was produced.

At this point one might ask why go to all the trouble of building this kit since the arrival of the new “Smart Kit” or Tamiya’s Ausf J? The answer is simple, this is what I have and could afford at this moment in time. Trust me… I would much rather have the Smart Kit.


Pressing on with this project. I will try to make improvements in the kits appearance, not corrections to flaws. I have no drawings or books to work from so all of my references will be taken from the internet.

The front lower hull I have built up with sheet stock to give it the 80mm armor plate.




I think this looks much better.

I cut out the added plate on top of the turret.




Now the copula doesn’t look odd sitting up so high on the turret.

I have made a new top deck for the forward upper hull.


Now… Dare I go through with it? If I do the next part there will be no turning back… *GULP!*

Well that’s it for now… Let me know what you think, save for the cracks on my sanity.

Dave Shaw

I don't have a clue in what the heck I’m doing but I am doing it.




Well I got the new deck on, got a little clean up to do yet.


I started to add weld seams.




I modified the first fender. Here you cans see the difference.


I have re-scribed the brake access plates, still not finished.



Once I get the front of the hull done I should be able to make some real progress.

Dave Shaw

I’m slowly gaining ground.


I have just about got the front deck to where I want it. I have the plates rescribed and the bolts on the transmission plate.


I cut the barrel of the gun tube and extended it with plastic rod and built it up with Milliput. I lightly chucked it in my cordless drill and turned it down with sandpaper.


I drilled out the base of the gun tube so now the gun tube it self slides into it as it should.


I’ve been adding more weld seams. I think I done adding them to the turret.


I have added bolts to the outside of the ring around the copula.


Though I have no plans to overhaul the turret itself I am going to have a go at the turret armor. Just getting started here.


That’s it for now, I think It’s starting to look more like a Panzer now. Let me know what you think…

Dave Shaw

That's impressive so far, looking good. I admire your dedication to tackling the modifications.

Looking good and a very good introduction for the model you are building, and you supplied some good background information on both the kit and vehicle it was modelled on.

looking good,

Thanks, fellas,

Yeah Darren, I was just trying to show the next poor soul who ends up with one of these kits what they are in for all in one stop if they do a web search for it. Hope that it can help some one down the road out. My best advice would be spend the extra money and get the new kit.

Dave

Anyone who goes to all that trouble to make the correct kit, my hat is off to you. Neat little tidbit of history you gave. Nothing like working with some of dragons older kits and find all those imperfections. By the time you are done you will have accomplished something that I would never try. Your doing good.

Masochistic, Dave ... but impressive nonetheless!

I admire your perseverance, and it's coming together very nicely. And at least no-one can accuse you of being lazy and going for the easy option. Stick with it - looking forward to seeing the end result.

- Steve

It’s all in for the front deck now. The only thing left that I can do is paint it and hope for the best.
I am an FNG when it comes to PE, I gotta hand it to all you guys that live by the stuff. Geez, is it fiddly.


I didn’t like that the driver’s vision block was closed so I had to open it.


I grinded out the back side of the MG mount with a round stone bit to fit a small plastic bead in place for the ball mount. I also had to add a shim to the front armor to get the 80mm of armor and I also had to shim the bottom of the plate as well.




I got the rear turret armor brackets done so I just had to add the armor…


… The armor being so thin got melted by the cement (too much) so that’s the putty drying there on the back.

Maybe I’ll get to the track by next week.

Dave Shaw

Not too much to update, I have been cleaning up the wheels and track shoes… no fun. These are not the magic tracks. These had to be cut from the sprues. Chalk up another point for modern conveniences.

My evil plan was to temporarily fix the wheels in place with blue tack. This seems to have worked okay. I still can remove the tracks and wheels to paint.


I didn’t have the rear turret armor on straight so I removed it. I’ll make a simple jig to keep it level when I reattach it and the other armor. I think it may be better to leave off the armor until after paint, since I will be doing the soft edge ambush scheme.




To break up the monotony of that task I have added the rain gutters fashioned from thick foil, the screw heads on the turret. I still need to come up with the grab handles.




I have also added a lot of bolt heads, knocking a few off as I go.

I can say one thing… this is the last time I’ll do such things to a kit if there is a better offering already available. I guess I can just say that I am getting some good training in on scratch detailing. I am about ready to just wrap up, with what I’ve got going, before I run out of steam with this project.


I know my little Ausf J is far from perfect but at least once it is done, it might make a modeler experienced with the Ausf J’s have to take a closer look to see which kit it was.

Dave Shaw

oh my god...

just picked up the rereleased DML Sherman Vc with Brit Paras (orange box special deal), after building up their newer Sherman III (as a Lend Lease Soviet)... even that older Firefly pales next to DML's newer Shermy! Couldn't believe it, and now understand why there were a bunch of the older kits released with figure sets as a 'Good Deal'! (I also got the JS1/2 (came with the Soviet Motor Troops), and am looking forward to blanking off the hull sponsons.... lol)

Thank-you for good progress pictures, and meticulous research. The Mark IV seems formidable and beautiful in your pictures from ground level. Please follow up with images of the painted machine.

By now the question has to be, “Has he come to his senses and given up on this silly endeavor?” The answer of course is… NOPE! I have slowed down as life has gotten in the way of my modeling but I have tried to squeeze in a bit here and there.





Could there be painting in the near future? Since the last update some of what I have done has gone according to plan, some hasn’t. I got the hull armor brackets on without much trouble, it was just time consuming. The tools were no problem. I probably spent the most time doing clean up of the fore mentioned items.



I didn’t like the angle of the front turret armor brackets so I tore those off and repositioned them. I was going to try and modify the commander’s hatch to the earlier flip type but thought I have to get this thing off of my bench and on a shelf. I wanted a machine that would have been built before the Battle of Aachen but just had to let that go.





I have also been adding bolt heads everywhere. Not that it is a hard task, but punching them all out is tedious.



Yes, I am getting closer to painting. I am so close I can taste it. I did have to do a little painting, if you want to count the base coat on the tracks.



The next post should show the painting stage. The turret armor is only tacked on right now for the update, they still can be removed for painting.

Dave Shaw

Tracks are on backwards, btw

I did not want to say anything.. luckily they can be removed and changed over.. I hope..

Good luck Dave! You have done a marvellous job so far.. But in my case time is worth money so I built the smart kit instead..

... and just like that, the project heads for the Closet of Doom. After a failed miserable attempt at fixing the tracks, the panzer is trackless. There was no way I could have lived with backwards track staring me in the face every time I looked at it.

*sigh*

If there is a bright side to this it is you can bet your life I will NEVER make that mistake again.

Dave Shaw out.

Its not a total loss, as you can still get AM tracks for this kit.

Sorry to hear of your misfortunes. We've all been there (must i bring up my T-34 incident? darn thing still mocks me every time i open that cabinet....)

You can probably snag a set of Dragon Magic Tracks from the new Panzer IV Ausf. J kit cheaply from someone who opted to use Friuls.

a year or so ago I got on a MK. IV buying binge, and yes I have that same kit. So after reading this, I'll just change my name to "poor soul!" !!!!

Been following your build and I'm starting to see that I've got a lot work to do with this kit!
gary

My problem is I can not see paying twice what I paid for the kit on aftermarket track. How could I justify that when this model lacks the detail in other areas, even after all I have tried to do, it would kind of be like putting the most expensive highest performance racing tires on a Yugo. Sure it can be done but why do it?

That was before I found the affordable Tristar workable tracks. They are just what I need to keep going. They are mid production with open horns but what would be wrong with that? I got them ordered from Lucky Model yesterday so I should have the tank painted by the time they get here.

I can’t say that I am looking forward to getting the new track cleaned up and ready to go, but at least this project has been saved right from the very jaws of the closet of doom!

Oh and Gary, you poor soul, it really has not been too bad. Just make sure you have plenty of time. A new “smart kit” in the stash wouldn’t hurt as a good reference either. Good luck my friend.

Dave Shaw

well I've always been a lover of pain (no whips and chains please!). With the tracks being backwards, I hear and see this on a regular basis. So don't feel too bad about it. But if it makes you feel better, there's more than one photo out there of a german track being backwards on the real thing! Seems like one of the museums has the tracks backwards as well on one.

As for not being right, I'm doing the data right now for a modern kit that is getting a lot of looks these days. I see a completely new lower hull (and you know what fun that is), and enough cast resin to get me high for six months! Looks like I'm going to be casting a completely new track as well as scratch building the hull half. Maybe I do love whips and chains!!
gary

Now I’m seeing spots before my eyes!

This will be just a sneak peek with the paint job. Now that I have the base on, I need to fix a few things that broke loose before I can seal it up then get the wash on.





I know I probably should have assembled the skirts before painting so I wouldn’t have to reload each color in the old airbrush again but I just couldn’t wait anymore.





I still have not gotten the replacement track from Lucky Model yet. I am not too worried about that yet as I still have a way to go with painting and weathering.





So how do we like the ambush scheme? I don’t think I like it but it just says late war panzer to me.

Dave Shaw

Okay, this will likely be the last update before I finish the thing once and for all.

I won’t bore anyone with commentary about what has been done this time and just let the pictures do the talking.















Now the fun part, I get to dirty it up!

Dave Shaw

Great so far killer build and paint job