Looks like lots of great starts here!

I better go find the kit that I'll build for this one!


@Antonio; your G rear plate looks like a good clean start indeed - seeing that big exhaust can reminds me...

So, @ALL who find themselves building a IV with one of those large exhaust cans... the stack or pipe was really pretty thin-wall - not that massive-looking pipe we get in these Dragon kits. It will look much better were the hole reamed out and walls thinned a bit. That, and the opening seems to often have been bent, etc.

The IV's are really clanking along!

Bob

Heaven help me, but here's my entry. Dragon Jagdpanzer IV L/70(V) This will be a serious challenge for me. I've done some PE work and I've tackled Friuls before, but I've never done PE this advanced. I'll be practicing my soldering skills on some scrap before I get too deep into this one.

Any general tips on super-detailing with PE?

Overall:


Griffon Model detail set with barrel:


Stacks of PE:


Griffon barrel:


Friuls:


Date stamp:


Wish me luck!

@Chuck - Good Luck, I'm doing the Dragon Hummel (my first Dragon kit) and PE aside Dragon kits just have so much more detail than other brands. I have always been Tamiya fan - because the fit together perfectly and minimal putty.

Cheers

Rob

Couldn't agree more, Rob. Tamiya has consistently good offerings, if somewhat lacking in detail. Dragon has great detail, but unfortunately seems to manage to work a variety of blunders into many of their kits, particularly where the instructions are concerned--at least, that has been my experience.

I've already found some issues with the Hummel--which I am also doing for this campaign--but so far nothing heart-breaking, as I have found in some other DML kits.

Mark i am also in agreement here... Dragon is a strange one ..they do awesome detail but miss the simple things or they make something simple to simple and totally lacking the right detail .
I have a 3n1 Panzer IV Ausf E (6264) and oh momma has it got detail ..even the final drives are detailed inside and out ..perfect for a broken down tank ..yet i have built others and its like its made by someone else and then Dragon put their name on it ..yet its a total Dragon kit ..not like their early SU76 .
But at the end of the day ...its never something that nasty so i will keep buying them and building them .

Phill

Update time ...been kinda busy with work being this close to xmas .. but still managed to get some things done
First off the tracks ..


And the two hundred million little sprues i had to remove the tracks from ...

Before you ask ...yes it did take ages to removed all those 220 links ,6 cuts per track link .. do the math
Now for the end result .



Did a little work on the track guard as well ..give it a more used look and there is more to go on that yet too.

Finally got around to the gun mount and the exhaust too ..




More to follow soon guys

That's coming along well and those tracks look quite nice, I may need to pick up a set.

Kimmo

Kimmo untill a couple of days ago i had never heard of these tracks and when they where handed to me my first thought was " oh crap"
But surprise surprise these went together without a single problem at all ..i didnt need to redrill a single hole and the pins are .3mm brass tubing and they give you plenty of it ..i still have a nice little pile of it left over as it comes in lengths so my .3 mm brass tubing has been resupplied nicely
If you wanna try a set as winter and ost ketten plastic tracks are not that common ..get em mate ..you wont regret it .
They fit the Tamiya drive sprocket perfectly but you will need to file a very small amount of plastic from between the road wheels ,,that took all of 10 mins to fix ..i am most happy with these .

Phill

Phil, you beat me to the tracks! I was finishing off my Panther and have just started on those. I agree, cleaning them up off the sprues is very tedious but the end result is worth it, and they fit both the Tamiya and Dragon late sprockets. Kimmo, well worth it.

Thanks guys, I've been waiting for someone to use these as I keep seeing them on ebay pretty cheap.

Kimmo

update, turret ready...



Turret ready on a Centurion's hull



and on it own hull

Sorry for the "incommunicado" status lately as end of the year projects at work have taken up the bulk of my time. I was able to get some time at the bench this weekend, and get the ambush scheme on my Wirbelwind.





I tried to use German Camo Brown as an overall mist coat to tie in the three colors, soften up the camo lines and knock the yellow down a bit in brightness. I also decided to use the kit supplied tracks, and they have been primed and given the first coat of Metallic Gray.

Looking good, Matt. I like the interior detail.

Here's a progress shot on mine. Slowly pushing through the detail build. Rear plate is done.


Wheels are done.


Had to remove the molded-on sponson gusset plate as it'll be replaced by PE in a later step.




Bending the radio mount brackets, of which there are 8.

Tiny little buggers.

All parts now assembled and primed in grey. Ready to start painting!





Dry fit

Finished up last night. Nothing really major, decided to keep the kit tracks on this one and use my Pz IV Magic Tracks on a possible second build for the campaign.

Weathering was kept to a very minimum, and decal application was pretty straight forward, with only 4 being used.

This is the finished product, which will be the first project I've worked on since January of this year... I'll post one of the last two in the campaign gallery once it's back online.

Finally an update on mine, feeling like an underachiever seeing all the others! Got the lower hull for my Mobelwagen done, and finally finished off my Kaizen tracks and test fitted them. On to the upper hull and gun!

Nice build, Matt. A very clean looking machine, but that is also nice once in a while.

Nice job on the tracks, Colin.

Looking Good, Colin!

Those Kaizen tracks do appear to come out quite nice... think I'll get me a set or 2!

IF you can, at this point, may I suggest that you please take one or 2 links out? That sag looks very dangerous, and Pz IV pics generally show tracks were rather tighter than that! The Pz IV had easy-to-use track-tensioners and crew were doubtless trained to keep stuff fairly snug to avoid the embarrassment of shedding a track in a turn!

Cheers!

Bob

Thanks Bob, I was thinking much the same thing about taking one or two of the links out. Since I finished them I have been looking at reference pics and it would appear that I indeed have too much sag, an easy fix!

Wow, nice subjects and works.

I apply with the Cyberhobby Jagdpanzer IV L/70 V

Regars from the south

Alvaro

Looks like several of us are working on Nashorns or Hummels so I'll through this question out, hopefully to the benefit of all.

I'm struggling with the best way to do the interior of the fighting compartment. If I assemble everything first it looks like it will be a bear to paint, but it doesn't seem like I can easily build the superstructure, paint it, then attach it to the hull like I would do with an Sdkfz 250. the best approach I can think of so far is to paint as many of the pieces as I can, assemble them, and then do a whole bunch of touching up. Anyone got any ideas/experience that might help?

First of all Mark leave out the gun .. the ammo rack mounted on the right hand rear side can be painted with it in place .the bases of the shells can be painted with it in place with ease..the boxes mounted near the gun on the left up front would be better painted outside of the tank then glued in place ..other than that its pretty easy to paint the inside on the fighting compartment on a Hummel ..there aint much in it


Phill

Thanks, Phil.

Yeah, the ammo boxes don't seem to be a big issue. I think I'm mainly concerned with the triangular braces toward the front of the fighting compartment, and especially the MP40 racks attached to them--if I paint those separately I'm not sure I can get them in there once the sides are in place.

From what i can see the best way to get around that problem would be to leave the front of the shields off .. paint the Mp40 and the side frames then glue the front of the shields in ,,one idea is paint the inside of the front pieces then glue them back in place with Tamiya extra thin ..wont knacker the paint and will glue pretty fast if you clean the edges of paint .
Oh same with the rear panel too..there is a Mp 40 there to i think if i remember it right .

Phill

Making progress on my super detail Jagdpanzer IV build. Sloooowly but surely. Exhaust, travel lock, and engine deck tooling all done. Friuls done too. I might yank one link out of the left side tracks as I feel they're a bit too loose.