I'm going to be building a diorama in the next few weeks, and along with a halftrack, I'm looking to find a good (and affordable) Panzer IV ausf h or j to stick on it as well. Any good kits out there that won't drain my wallet? It's going to be my first panzer IV, so I'm not looking for something super intricate.

How experienced a modeller are you? Pz IVHs come in many levels of complexity and accuracy. Where do you see yourself? You say this is your 1st Pz IV. How much experience do you have in general? Then we can give you good suggestions.

A lot also depends on what your budget is. Presummably, you're not willing (or at least desiring) to pay about US$70+ full retail for DML's latest Pz IV Ausf J.

However, if your limit is sub-US$25, then your options are very limited. In between those two limits, there is a lot of ground.

A reasonable answer to your question also depends on how you do your model buying. Are you strictly an "on-line" buyer, would you be going to your LHS and placing a special order for the kit selected, or would you be willing to spend a few weeks shopping around on eBay? Would you be willing to place a "want ad" in the "Buy, Sell or Trade" forum and wait a few weeks to see what develops with that?

Most of the older (less detailed and accurate) and much less expensive options (like the Italeri and Tamiya Pz IV H-J kits) are OOP, and can be hard to find without some effort and time. If you're only willing or able to buy a kit currently in production and avaible, then that also limits your options.

Your budget limit and shopping options along with your skill-level will shape any reasonable and meaningful answer to your question.

Hi If you are quite new to modelling Dragon Pnz IV are very complicated kits. Tamiya's Pnz IV H and J are good kits and not that far of the mark with they detail. Theres plenty about ,do some digging on the web. Hope this helps Geraint

I'm...getting better with each kit. I built a Marder II and a Jagdpanther just recently and those came out great in my opinion. But I'm more or less between beginner and intermediate. I think my lack of patience is a big factor as well. But I'm only 17 so my patience is going to get better. I hope

As for my budget, I'm looking around a $25-$30 dollar kit. I usually buy my kits offline, but I still like going to a local hobby shop. Still considering Dragon's panzer IV, it would be nice to get acquainted with that level of difficulty and detail.

You should be able to find the Tamiya kits in that price range. You should be able to find one of the Italeri kits for about $5-$10 less. (The Italeri kits are not really too bad and were once considered the cutting edge.)

You can get the Academy Pz IV kits for around US$20.

If you're willing to spend some time on eBay or post a wanted ad here, you might get lucky and find one of the DML kits in your $30 price range.

To buy new, you might have to wait for one of Squadron's sales or do some hard on-line shopping and find one of the DML kits for around $35. But, watch out for shipping, which can tack on quite a bit.

Are you a member of an IPMS or AMPS chapter? If you are, you might be able to go in with a buddy or two and split the shipping and save some coin.

For instance, TowerHobbies.com offers quantity discounts that can bring the price down quite a bit on a lot of kits (and not just older stuff), but you might have to buy 4 or 5 examples of the same kit. This is how we purchased the kits we used in our AMPS chapter's last group-build.

Good luck!

I actually got an offer earlier today on a DML panzer IV ausf h for $25, and another for a 25% completed Tamiya one. But I'm going to keep looking a bit longer, if there's a good deal out there I'm bound to find it eventually. If I'm patient enough, which I'm not...