Looking good so far Ben, I'm glad you like the variation on the Dark Yellow. Some people lighten it with white, but I find it a bit stark and it retains the greenidh cast. 

You know, there are some long-experienced modellers who have problems with Tamiya paint and swear off it and never touch it again. It looks like you've got a feel for it first time up.

The seam on the muffler shouldn't be too hard to clean up. While on the subject of the muffler, at the moment you've got it painted Dark Yellow. While it may have been painted at the factory, this usually burnt off rather quickly after being driven a short distance and the muffler took on a rusty appearance.

Another thing to watch, when you get to that point, is the direction of the tracks. Every now and then we see a Pz.IV based kit posted up and with one track reversed.

Cheers guys,

I'm starting to realise why people don't like these die-cast hulls now! They may give the model a little 'weight' but they don't take paint very well and normal cement doesn't seem to take to them great either!

The road wheels were a pain, especially after painting them and deciding I didn't like the colour and doing the whole lot again!

Phil-Thanks for the paint tip, it's a definate improvement! I've some good colour pictures this time and I've seen how badly the muffler rusts up too-I'll get that sorted at the weathering stage. I think I'll try and drill out the tube too.

As I said before the base looks pretty simple-it's the actual quad gun turret that looks a tad tricky!

I'll have the weekend to get stuck into this one tomorrow so hopefully I'll have some better WIP photos tomorrow.

ATVB

Ben

Hi Phil,

I ended up using a tiny 'dab' of CA applied from the end of a matchstick to adhere parts to the die-cast ALTHOUGH Tamiya do say normal cement will be fine! Yeah righto!

I'm getting these tracks on in a mo so ther'll be some WIP photos later.

ATVB

Ben

Comming along grand there Ben.

Terry.

---

Cheers guys,

Tony; Re the rubber on the road tyres I'm not happy with it at presentit's too light. When I was painting with Humbrol enamels instead of using a matt black for rubber I'd use a very dark grey and it would look perfect. The Tamiya acrylic dark grey is too light imo so tomorrow I'll try the XF-1 Tamiya flat black I picked up today and see how that looks.

I'm loving painting with the Tamiya acrylics-although I'm brush painting all my builds at present I've encountered no problems on this build with the Tamiya stuff. It dries so quickly I love it. When I was using my Humbrol enamels I'd have to do a piece then leave it overnight (at least) before I could carry on.

I've got the four flak guns & all the magazines painted with a coat of black Humbrol metalcoate so tomorrow I'll should have the turret assembled, painted with the base coat and mounted in place. Then it's onto the figures, the cammo scheme and the weathering.

It's been a quick build-too quick really. I'm not rushing it at-all, it's just been a very easy kit to build! The cammo scheme should slow the build up a bit as it will be my first and the figures definately will!

After this one I'll be sticking with 1/35 methinks! Far better value for money and the scope for adding accurate detail and weathering is far greater on the 1/35 stuff. My 1/35 Pershing really is in a different leaque to my previous 1/48 pieces.

ATVB

Ben  

Hey Ben,

She's coming along pretty quickly. I concur with Tony, Tamiya NATO Black is great for the roadwheel tyres. Tamiya Dark Grey (or German grey) is also suitable, as in real-life, the rubber faded quite noticeably. Remember that weathering will darken it down a bit.

It appears your upper hull may not be quite all the way down - there's a noticeable lip in the (last) head-on pic, and if I recall correctly, the front upper hull panel should be flush with the top of the lower hull.

Also, it's worth taking your time and paying a little more attention to cleaning up the parts. I can see a few sprue nubs which could use a bit of attention (lower edge of spare wheel holder, left sprocket wheel, at the 3 o'clock position, right side fender)

Before you move away from the 1/48th kits, take a look at the Hobby Boss T-34 series. These have full interiors (including engine) and are absolutely packed - somewhere in the region of 400 parts. I'm not sure how they're priced over there, but here in Australia they're less than half the price of the Tamiya 1/48th range - I picked up a couple at $16.00 (AUD) each.

Phil_H wrote:

Hey Ben, She's coming along pretty quickly. I concur with Tony, Tamiya NATO Black is great for the roadwheel tyres. Tamiya Dark Grey (or German grey) is also suitable, as in real-life, the rubber faded quite noticeably. Remember that weathering will darken it down a bit. It appears your upper hull may not be quite all the way down - there's a noticeable lip in the (last) head-on pic, and if I recall correctly, the front upper hull panel should be flush with the top of the lower hull. Also, it's worth taking your time and paying a little more attention to cleaning up the parts. I can see a few sprue nubs which could use a bit of attention (lower edge of spare wheel holder, left sprocket wheel, at the 3 o'clock position, right side fender) Before you move away from the 1/48th kits, take a look at the Hobby Boss T-34 series. These have full interiors (including engine) and are absolutely packed - somewhere in the region of 400 parts. I'm not sure how they're priced over there, but here in Australia they're less than half the price of the Tamiya 1/48th range - I picked up a couple at $16.00 (AUD) each.

Cheers Phil,

You are right about the top hull section not sitting flush matey. it is held down using 2 x 2mm screws. I hadn't fixed the screw head covers in place so I removed the screws and spent ages trying to get it flush which I just couldn't do! I might have to do some putty work or something to flush it up maybe? It's definately a fault with the kit.

Another point-when building this kit or a normal Panzer in 1/48 with the L&L tracks DO NOT glue in place the large wheel at the rear. I did and as a result one short section of track is on the pi55 quite badly because the wheel centre wasn't lined up with the other wheels 100%! Next time I'll get the tracks all lined up properly and fix the wheel then. I can live with it as it's out the way, it's one of them live and learn modelling things I suppose.

I'm going to build this turret now-photos later!

ATVB

Ben

Coming along nicely Ben. The metal hull is something I don't care for but your doing a good job with this Pz IV.

Rob

not bad, your builds get better and better, on thing i noticed was the tracks seem too silver and grayish, get some rust on there man!

Brian

She's coming along nicely Ben, Looks like there are no significant problems that you haven't or won't be able to overcome. The seam around the mid-line of the turret looks like it could use a little more work though (look at your last pic).  

Seeing that you're going to be brush painting your camo, I would have considered leaving the tools and accessories off, or not painting them until after the camo was done. Something to think about for your next build.

It's worth remembering that although Tamiya paints "touch dry" very quickly, often in a few minutes, they do take considerably longer to fully ciure It is preferable to leave them at least overnight before overpainting. Though the surface may appear dry, it is actually quite soft and can be easily scratched for the first 4-6 hours after painting.