Got a chance to do some stuff today. I was trying to figure out how to paint the outer faces of the tires, then I thought a marker or pen might work. Rolled a thin bead of blu tack and smoothed it down nice and thin. Voila. I kept the tires on separate markers so I know which ones are which. Added some more paint to the suspension units with the left over in my palette.



Having a look at what still needed to be done, I though I'd paint the commander's cupola. Checking my refs for colour guides, I noticed the vision block holders aren't quite right. They're missing an extension on the bottom and grab handles. I thinned down the inside ring as far back as I could while leaving just a hint of a rim to help with mounting. If you choose to do this, it would probably be easier to do the thinning before gluing it together. I took some appropriate strip stock and tediously fit each extension. I'll need to go back and do some trimming and so on and add the handles. I also added a holder for the reflective marker on the turret hatch, that still needs a quick trim.




More in a couple of days and I should have the weekend free to go nuts, so hopefully I'll be painting, or ready to paint by next Monday.

Kimmo

I had a day of the fiddlies. Finished up the grab handles on the cupola and painted it up. 10 x 40 thou strip, 15 thou rod, appropriate drill bit and a gentle touch. Went easier than I imagined it would. Glued them in place and trimmed/sanded the ends. Still need to add the vision blocks and do a bit more weathering. I also managed to get the headlights, convoy light, lifting hooks and door stops added. The lifting hooks were a bit of a pain, somewhat misaligned and the turret hooks needed the mounting stubs shaved for a better sit.











More this weekend.

Kimmo

Taking full advantage of bench time I've been adding bits and pieces and some etch. I also scratched a new Notek light, I didn't like the one in the kit. It wasn't molded hollowed out. The basic shape was done with 3 layered pieces and sanded to shape. Thin strip was added to the sides to form the scoop and sanded again. After I was happy with the shape, thin strip was added to form the lip and trimmed and sanded to final shape. Slices of rod to dress up the underside and a piece for the light. I'm rather pleased with myself.









Did some work on the antenna trough, the instructions miss this step. Oopsie. Opened up the back end, placed a cap and some stretched sprue rivets, thinned down the supports a bit. Still needs some work.



I remembered reading about someone using liquid cement to attach pe parts so I give it a go with some smaller pieces. It actually works. Dab some glue where you want the piece to go, place the pe part, run some more glue around it, wait a bit, and press it into the plastic. I think this will only work when you have a flat surface. I used Dragon's pe for the right engine intake covers and Griffon's for the left. I lost 2 Dragon pieces, no spares offered. Griffon does offer a few spares. The Griffon pieces also have a weld pattern etched into them. Nice touch.





More later today or tomorrow.

Kimmo

I must be getting close to painting, the amount of time spent doing little things is increasing dramatically. Got the turret face glued, spare track links done and drilled where needed and figured out the stowage situation. The links weren't as difficult as I'd thought, drilling went smoothly, the only thing that took forever was cutting and gluing rod to represent the track pins.




I fashioned a mounting bar from angle iron for the lower hull front and chopped smaller bits for a hasty field mod look for the glacis run. You get quite a lot of extra links, however, both bags appear to be the same links, so no handed tracks. Don't know if this is an accident or not.




This puppy is starting to take shape.




I have all day tomorrow to put to good use while the ham cooks. I think I'll tackle the mounting clamps for the tools and do up a rack for the jerry cans included in the kit. The cans come with etch inserts to represent the distinctive double weld seam. The bad news is they need to be trimmed a little, a diamond file took care of that rather quickly. Dry fit the can halves, they seem to be slightly different and have good and bad matches.

Now for a few hours of shut eye.

Kimmo

Lots of extra work there, Kimmo. She's coming together nicely.

Thanks Bob. All in the name of good clean fun. The problem with going the extra mile is that you end up going for a bit of a walk about sometimes. Still cheaper and more satisfying than seeing a shrink.

Kimmo

excellent work!

Wow !!!!!!

Thanks guys!

More fiddly stuff, didn't get to the tool clamps as planned. Got a rack of sorts made up for the jerry cans, simply 10 x 40 strip. I figure it's plausible enough. The cans are done up, need some dings and dents.






Got the tools ready for clamps and added a couple of handles to the jack. The tools are a bit of a let down to be honest, the shovel in particular. I replaced it with one from the spares box (actually just the head) and did some reshaping on the axe. The barrel cleaning rods were replaced with brass rod supplied in the Griffon etch set. Closed the rear bin too. Need to add the support strips then it can be mounted to the turret.




One thing I forgot to mention the last time around was I filed the rifling in the barrel down to a more realistic thickness and beveled the edge. Kinda hard to see, it should show up with a little steel paint.



Added some more welds here and there and slapped some paint into corners. That's it for now, next update as soon as possible.

Have a Merry Christmas.

Kimmo

Great progress Kimmo. Inside the cupola look fantastic. Your scratch work is very impressive.

Thanks Frank!

Not much of an update, or rather not much to show for all the time I spent. The etch Dragon provides is adequate for most of the things that need replacing, otherwise I've been using a Griffon set which is actually for the F1, but most of it is still very usable. First off, if you plan on using either of these to do the clamps, be prepared to spend a lot of time and make sure sensitive ears aren't nearby.

I started off by sprucing up the fire extinguisher. I added new ends as the kit parts need to be shaved off. I went a little showy with the valve. I glued lengths of stretched sprue axially on another piece of stretched sprue, gave it some extra glue, pushed and prodded things into alignment and set it aside to dry overnight, then shaved a slice off and mounted it on a shaft. The etch worked well enough. I still think the part is off in at least length (or the etch), but it will do.






I was going to use the Griffon clamps until I discovered that trying to make the hinges work was going to take more time and trouble than it was worth. It can be done, you'll just need some serious patience.




I ended up using the Dragon bits, they were simpler and a little thicker. I'll add a hinge from rod or sprue later along with wing nuts. The smaller clamps still need the locking handles attached. There was no way I was going to get that to work as intended: the clamps have a tiny pin on each side that the locking latch is supposed to slip over and then you squeeze the latch together to hold it in place. Nope. Glue.




The spare track clamps were easy enough.




And here's how she looks as of now. I was hoping to get a coat or two of paint on, but I still need to add a few things and pick up some super glue. Mine's all but dried up and there are some pieces that just need a stronger/quick drying bond than everything else I've been using so far.




Not sure when the next update will be, so stay tuned.

Kimmo

Kimmo, just stumbled on this build, reminded me of my old build when this kit came out. I never went into the level of detail you did but your work is inspiring me to try another!
Here's a link to my build
http://www.armourworkshop.ca/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=185

Thanks James! Yours certainly looks the business and has given me a few ideas on how to proceed. It's nice to see how different people approach the same kits. I hope I can get my jack to fit

It's always a difficult balance between improvement/accuracy and enjoyment. This build sort of took on a life of its own and I'm just having fun doing things I haven't done in years and trying new techniques and materials. I'm just pleased so many people have had a look and the positive comments are an added bonus. I just hope I can do the build justice when I get to painting it up. It will be the first worn desert finish I'll have attempted.

BTW, did you ever figure out how the auxiliary exhaust attached to the rear hull?

Kimmo

You know its been so long since I did that one, I can't even remember what situation you are referring to! Oh well, one of the good things about these online blogs, if they stay up and the picture links still work, one can refer back to them, even years later. I'll give it a read and get back to you when I can. Good luck with the rest of your build.

Hi Kimmo.. I've been watching this one from a far, You're doing an awesome job on the PE .. I got a few of these dragon early Panzer IVs in my stash ..Now I know what I'm up against!!!

Keep up the good work
Rick

Thanks Rick!

A couple of good tweezers and patience is the order of the day. Some of the bends are so tiny you'll definitely want a second pair. Taping stuff to your work bench helps too. The good thing about the Griffon set is that you generally get a few extras to work with.

Kimmo

No bench time as of late, that should change tomorrow. Managed to pick up some super glue as well, overpaid for the smaller bottle, but it probably works out the same in the end with how little I use of it. I managed to snag another project for Armorama so I'll be trying to get as much done as I can in the next week or so before I need to get cracking on the new kit. Hopefully everyone made it through the holidays safely and may this year leave many empty sprues in your boxes.

Kimmo

Got a short session in today, thanks to James' post I immediately checked the jack situation. Sure enough, it's a wee bit over sized. I removed the crank handle and sanded down the gear tooth a little and shaved a little off the foot of the jack and re-profiled the sides. Now there's some wriggle room. I also needed to move the shovel back. The problem with the jack is that it looks to have been designed to fit without the applique armour in place and of course being a little large to begin with doesn't help.




Next up, wiring for the horn and Notek light, again, thanks to James. I sort of wish I hadn't tried to do this the way it's supposed to look. I had originally thought a double strand of phone cable with a wrap would work, then realised the wire was a bit too stiff to make this work properly. The wires need a few bends along the way and trying to guestimate this would have driven me absolutely nuts. In the end, I used .2 mm lead wire (bends beautifully, also snaps very easily) and sort of fudged a cover by curling some foil then poking and prodding it into place. If you decide to add this feature, do it before you attach the headlights. I'd go so far as to say to work out the bend patterns before you glue the horn or Notek in place and drill holes in the appropriate places to help get the wire to stay in place. Any old thin electrical wire should work, as long as it is very flexible. In theory, you can fashion a tube out of foil or heat stretching a straw or hollow tube and then thread the wires in, just remember you're dealing with some tight bends and not much room to work with. I had originally thought of using the sheathing that was on the phone cable, but it was just too thick. One last word on phone cables. The stuff I have is 2 Mbit/s cable, great stuff. Make friends with phone/television/cable techs. They always have bits and pieces of scrap cable they'll be willing to part with.






Last, but not least, I started work on the crew step. Oh boy. I got the pe bent easily enough, and even the indentation for the clamp. When it came time to get this on the hull, that's where I had to call it a day. This is one of those instances where everything is dependent on everything lining up properly and you don't really have a good starting point. To make matters more interesting, the step might be a bit too long. I'll have another stab at it tomorrow. These are from the kit, if they don't work, I'll give the Griffon parts a go. If neither work well enough, I'll make one out of plastic. I don't know why they didn't offer a plastic option for the easily frustrated. Might need to check the sprues carefully.




That's it for now.

Kimmo

Hi Kimmo ...I agree completely that they should have at least given people a choice of plastic or PE.. This is a feature of early PzIVs that we all seem to notice.. I've got an F2 model that I plan to do as a desert cammo and it has step removed for different stowage placement.. so this step will go into one of my early kits.. ..
Can I just say one thing I have been thinking about ... The Gerry can rack you built ... I was thinking that you might want to think of adding a bar in the middle.. so if they only had one can in the rack it would still stay in place ..
keep up the great work .

Rick

The step might not be so bad if there was a little more info on where it goes and how it goes there. A plastic option sure would save a lot of headache. Hmmm..... I might need to do some Sketchup doodling. The rack actually has a bar in the middle at the back, but I see your point. If there was only one can, a bit of rope would no doubt be used. I'll leave it as is, no need to make any extra work at this stage. Thanks for watching and chiming in.

Kimmo

Finally managed to get some bench time in. It was all about the pe. Got the step/track tool assembly figured out. I started off by gluing some 5 thou sheet to the etch pieces. This makes life easier with alignment and gluing. I got lucky with the lower half of the clamp section snapping off, I had suspected that the step was a bit too tall, and so it was.









If you're following along at home, here's how I did this:
1) Glue the top cross member in place. It sits more or less flush with the back of the hull.
2) Tack the vertical upper brace and dry fit the step assembly to see where the upper clamp should sit. Snapping this off might be a more sensible approach from the get go than trying to work it as a one piece deal. I ended up filing a hair off the top after gluing in place.
3) Tack the lower vertical brace, leaving enough of a gap for the step to go into the clamps.
4) Place the track tool in place and hold it down with your thumb and add the step. When the step is in place, slide the lower brace up as far as it goes to trap it. Apply more glue if necessary to the vertical braces.
5) Glue the track tool into place.
6) Add the bottom step mounts, again, glue some 5 thou onto the bottom. You will most likely need to shave off two bolts from the fenders. Do one set at a time, check alignment as you go.
7) Leave everything to set, then run some paint onto the bottom mounts and the clamp/step. That will hold them in place well enough.



Added the top pieces to the tool clamps as well. I may have screwed up somewhere along the line. The clamps for the towing clevises are a bit shallow, so I had to induce a bend in the top strips. Still not sure if they're sitting proud or not. You'll notice I also added a "hinge" by super gluing stretched sprue on the back edge. Close enough I think. Glue over sized lengths, then trim. You might not be able to tell, but wing nuts were glued on as well. Added the spare wheel racks too, with requisite weld beads.







Hopefully I get to do a bit more tomorrow. The plan is to have everything base coated by Friday. I've been told my next project is in the mail and should be here this week.

Kimmo

Short session today. Smoke candle rack in progress, got the mud flaps glued on and started the springs. I coiled some lead wire around a drill bit for the spring, then heated the tips of stretched sprue for the pins. The back springs went ok, the front ones need to be redone. Need to source some electrical wire, lead wire is a bit too soft to work with easily.










That's it for now

Kimmo

Got some more done today, not as much as hoped. Ran into a problem with the front towing shackles. Looks like a bit of a rework is needed. Otherwise, some small details, jack block and the rear deck are done.






Still hoping to get the hull painted tomorrow, the turret will have to wait.

Kimmo

The towing eyes got fixed and chained. The towing bars are actually short, I needed to add a piece on the outside of each from slightly beveled rod. The chains weren't as difficult as expected. I drilled a hole to anchor the top, and filed off the top of the bottom loop to make it slide over the bar. You might think I'm tempting fate adding the chains now, but I figured once I get the paint on, it will help keep it place. As I've mentioned before, Vallejo primer is great in this respect.



Speaking of primer, got the hull coated. Started with straight Panzer Grey and added a couple of drops of Light Grey for the last coat to lighten it up a touch. Now this can sit and cure for a couple of weeks, not that it needs a couple of weeks, that's how long its going to be before I get to it again, maybe longer.





Kind of hard to see in this pic, but the roughed up surface of the jack block came out quite nice. I really need a better camera and lighting.



So, that's that for a few weeks. The postman dropped off a nice little kit for me to fiddle with. And I do mean little, but very nice.

Kimmo

Nice paint job . No brush marks visible . Ran across aber 35a38 it's common elements for a panzer IV e turret in PE , will save a lot of scratch building for the turret . At six bucks was definitely worth the price .