Jack, Johan, RB, thanks for the encouragement! I'll try not to make a dog's dinner out of this!
Karl, yeah I'm one of those that gets so wrapped up in Group Builds that I forget to come out of the GB cave! I decided it was time to build one for the forum!
Hey Phil! I totally forgot about that Pz III build waaaay back then! Thanks for remembering!! I really enjoyed that GB!
A few words about my building intentions. I have the Tristar kit (non-Tauch) and the Dragon Vorpanzer kit in the stash. From all accounts these two, newer kits build into very detailed and accurate representations of the Ausf. D (Tristar supposedly being more accurate). I could just build one of these if I wanted a really accurate and detailed model. Instead, my intention with this old Tamiya kit is not to correct any major dimensional errors, nor to super detail it. In fact, I'm going to try to not use ANY photo-etch at all, nor any major resin, metal or plastic replacement parts (turret, metal barrels, hull parts, etc). The goal is to simply fix minor errors, clean up gaps and add whatever detail I can using some smaller accessories, spare kit parts and minor scratchbuilding. I do have a ton of rivets, bolts, nuts and other small detail parts sitting around that I might as well use, but as much as possible I want to use just plastic parts.
So lets get going!
After taking a look at the upper hull, I decided it really didn't need much attention until after it was joined to the lower hull, so instead I focused on the turret. Most the turret parts are on one sprue:
As you can see the turret shell is split into two halves. I hope this doesn't cause too much problems. One detail I noticed right away that is missing are the distinctive screwheads recessed into the turret roof. I believe all Pz. IVs had these screwheads.
After removing all the turret shell parts and dryfitting them, the fit is actually pretty good! So I glued the two halves together....the join seam running down the back looks nasty, but I think it will clean up OK. I also added the side hatch hinges, which mount from the inside. The fit here is not so good and will definitely require some filling.
Another view with the side hatch in place and the gaps around the hinges that will need attention.
I dryfitted the cupola parts. The fit was clean with no filling required. There was something odd about the cupola that kept bugging me though.....
So I took a look at some reference pics........
Seems the cupola is missing those rather large conical bolt heads that are present on all Ausf B, C & D cupolas. Also the view slit openings look way to large! I'm going to have to do something about that!
I mulled over how to improve the cupola without putting too much work into it. In the end I decide to use strip styrene to fill in the view slits, flatten out the sharp corner on the armored viewslit plate(s) so I could add the conical bolts, and add some holes.
I have all these rivets, nuts and bolts that I've gathered over the years. All different sizes from Model Kasten (I think), Bronco, CMK and Grandt Line.
For the cupola I used the largest of the brown Model Kasten conical rivets. To remove I just used a sharp Xacto blade to carefully slice them off the sprue.
Sorry, at this point I got so involved with the cupola that I forgot to take more pics until it was done:
I drilled way too deep on the larger holes above the view slits. I'm not sure what those are for, but all the reference photos I have show more of a shallow hole, so I filled with Mr. Surfacer 500 and wiped the excess away with an papertowel moistened with alcohol.
After filling and puttying the hinges. I sanded down the seam on the back and decided to add both the missing weld seam and the bolted strip of metal below the cupola, as seen in the reference photos. The weld seam is just stretched sprue softened with Tamiya Extra Thin Liquid Cement and shaped with a dull knife blade. The bolt strip is just strip styrene with Model Kasten conical rivets. I lost one of the port covers for the rear so I just made two more and detailed with the smallest of the MK rivets.
You can also see that I added the screwheads on the turret roof, but forgot to take photos. I'll get you a closer look in a bit!
The gun, mantlet and front turret plate went together just fine. It just needed some filler around the recuperator assembly and mantlet. The hole for the armored MG sleeve was oversized so I shimmed it with strip styrene and sanded it flush before gluing on the MG. Looks like I missed a couple of spots with the filler.....I'll address that soon!
Whew! That's it for now. I'll have another update soon!