Pz IV shurtzen question

This is a similar problem that I had with the Stug schurzen. The solution I came up with was to install the brackets first and then test-fit the plates as I went along to make sure they lined up properly. I then used scotch tape to hold them together in the proper alignment, airbrushed and camoed the exterior side to get the pattern and then basecoated the interior surface. After all that, they were mounted permanently. You may not be able to exactly do the same with the turret plates but a little modification or adaptation and it should do the trick.

Thanks, Bill. I'll see what happens.

Are we talking PE.

Bill, I presume that the DML schurtzen come in sections - fronts, access doors, rear curve etc. The easiest way I found on my old Tamiya Ausf H was to use a strip of thin cardboard (the type you buy for kids posters and craft projects) and double sided tape. If you cut a strip of cardboard roughly the same height as the schurtzen, you can use one edge of the strip as a guide to get all the schurtzen plates level at the bottom. The double sided tape holds them snug and prevents movement. Glueing them together now is an option, but I chose to do it just before painting - read on.

Glue on the rearmost hangers to the turret. Using the schurtzen as a guide for the correct angle and position of the hangers to make sure the bottom will be level, line them up right, then carefully take away the schurtzen. Leave the hangers to dry over night. Then next day glue on the next forward set of hangers and using the schurtzen again, but with a little blu-tack on the rear hangers to help hold the rear plate in place. Line the second set of hangers up correctly, remove the schurtzen and let dry. Keep doing this and you will end up with the hangers all in the correct place to take the schurtzen at the correct angle and keeping the bottom level.

Then you can paint the turret and brackets and the inside of the schurtzen (still attached to the card board) after droping a tiny bit of cyano into the schurtzen joins if not already glued. Then fit the schurtzen to the hangers, again starting at the rear, using a good cyano making sure it lines up. When the cyano has fully set CAREFULLY remove the cardboard and tape - rest the turret on a cushion or something and hold the section of Schurtzen that you are peeling the tape off, holding each subsequent section as you go. Voila, just paint the outside of the schurtzen then add camo to the vehicle (they were camo'd with the schurtzen in place).

Fidelly but worked a treat. You could probably remove the cardborad and tape before fitting the schurtzen to the hangers, but I didn't think of that until after I glued mine on

QUOTE: Originally posted by tigerman Are we talking PE.

Yep. Although I think the Tamiya may provide plastic pieces, several AM sets out there that better replicate them in PE. The Schurzen plates were only about 5mm in thickness, supposed to be just enough to defeat hollow-charge AT and Panzerfaust/Schreck rounds by having them detonate away from the hull and main armor.

[quote[ just paint the outside of the schurtzen then add camo to the vehicle (they were camo'd with the schurtzen in place).