Dragon's (when they were producing good kits!) Pz lV, pretty well OOB.





The winter camoflage, lacking anything better, the crew has just scribbled chalk (no doubt liberated from a nearby school) all over the vehicle.

Looks really good, Biggles!! Your notion as to how the "winter" camo was accomplished is an interesting idea. Shows once again how necessity is the mother of invention.

I like it a lot! Unique and convincing execution of your chalk concept. Different from the norm is a plus!

Leo,

Nice job on the Panzer IV and rather unique camouflage. It looks or reminds me of a picture in the Panzer Colors book. Using chalk was not that uncommon during the first winter on the Eastern front. What did you use for the chalk camo (a chalk pencil?)? I notice that you replaced the handles above the turret side doors with brass wire, great job. You are also correct in saying that it was made during Dragon’s high time. Thanks for sharing!

Cheers,
Jan

Nice. So was it done with a white pencil crayon? There is a photo of one like this in something like Panzer Colors I think.

Yes, I used the example in Panzer Colors as inspiration. I used a Prismacolor white pencil for the 'chalk'. It's sad (and infuriating) to see how Dragon has descended into this current quality slump, as compared to their excellent kits of only a few years ago.

As long as the topic of Dragon quality is up, does anyone have any feedback on the quality of their current Panzers, which tend to be tweaks and variants on older kits?

There is a thread nearby dealing with Dragon Tiger H2; a new release from DML. Apparently the inner run of roadwheels are joined together in a row! Actually an improvement meant to please the whiners who constantly complain about "over-engineering", and "high parts count"!

Actually, this feature is designed to help those who have problems with the spacing, alignment and getting the road wheels to sit properly on the tracks.

Cheers,

Ohhh...quite a feature! Now they'll have to do the outer most row of wheels the same way for people like me who can't get any of the wheels to line up!

Well the Dragon engineers/designers already have that covered.

Looks like they are one step ahead.



Cheers,

I understand the "why" factor when you get a 9 part assembly that could be just as detailed with 3-4 parts. But I miss the individual link tracks and just wouldn't buy a 1/35 or larger kit if the wheels weren't separate. And considering the "over"-pricing of their recent kits, it doesn't seem wrong to expect some "over"-engineering.

First Dragon eliminates 'Magic Tracks', then the PE disappears, and now this! What does Dragon have in store for us down the road? Hint: They did a lot of Disney licenced figures/toys; Marvel action figures; and most recently - bobble-heads!

Maybe they figured that with so many other comparable and sometimes even better quality producers now; Meng, MiniArt, Bronco, Riich, and apologies to any I've left out, the competition in 1/35 military cut too far into profit margins to be worth serious investment.

Looks very nice, sadly the PIV series is a bit hard to get here. The price for these kits are deafening.
Are they out of production ?

thanks for the data on the use of a Prismcolor pencil. Well done kit