Greetings all,
First time poster, long time (on again off again) subscriber / reader.
I thought I'd post a few work-in-progress pics of my 1/48 scale Pz. IV S model I'm currently working on. It's a standard Tamiya brand Pz. IV "Wirbelwind" with a CMK-made resin schmalturm turret and photo-etched mesh skirts made my Eduard.
Since this was a paper panzer, I thought it would be a cool model to make. I've given it a late-war camo scheme. I left the turret unpainted. The story goes: this panzer IV was one of the last tanks off the line before the factory shut down or got overrun. At the last minute, the standard pz IV turret was removed, and an unpainted "schmalturm" for a Panther tank was dropped onto the tank.
I'm thinking of doing a diorama for the tank once its done. The premise behind the diorama will be thus: a skeleton crew (a couple tankers) tore out of the factory in this tank, heading for American/British lines, hoping to evade Russian capture. They took as many fuel cans from the factory as they could, and headed out non-stop. I haven't decided what their fate will be yet, i.e. whether the tank breaks down, or they get captured by Russians, or whether they make it to their goal and get picked up by the Western Allies. Time will tell, but I'm open to suggestions.
The model isn't done yet, but major construction and painting is complete. I'm currently in the weathering phase.
You may notice that the rear left mesh skirt is painted in primer red color. Also, the rear two road wheels on that side are also painted in primer. I did this to add some visual interest, and infer that the tank took some damage while still on the line, requiring rapid replacement after the camo paint was applied.
In the following pictures, I've started staging the model as it might look in a diorama. I've turned the turret around backwards, in a gesture of surrender, and put two unpainted figures in the frame. The soldier standing at ground level will be holding a stick with a white flag over his shoulder.
I've done some light weathering at this point, but I'm really not sure how much farther I should go with it since I don't want this tank to have been beaten up too much. I really just want it to have been a means of conveyance for these two soldiers, from the factory to Allied lines.
I'd welcome any advice from the community about what more I could do in terms of weathering the vehicle. I still plan to finish the tracks with some pigments and graphite. I will also add a water can either near the soldiers or along the side with the rest of the fuel/water cans.
I hope you've enjoyed the pics.