Hi Greg, looking good, and nice to see someone else also doing some scratch building...

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... speaking of which, I think I'm done in that department - at least enough to start throwing paint on this thing.

I've raised the rear tool box to make room for the deep wading gear, of which I completely scratched based from what I could make out in period photos.

The turret needed some changes:

1.) removal of the gun port, which was pretty straight forward grinding and then puttied over.

2.) cast turret cheek armour.  Did this with first layering 3 sections of .010" plastic sheet, and then puttied over and smoothed out.

The footman loops are really small.  Found best way to hold them was with a section of rolled Tamiya tape (sticky side out).  Another piece of tape on the turret helped with the placement.

Next up is paint, but will add some more spare track, towing cable and a few fuel cans afterwards.

regards,

Jack

Jack: thanks for the compliment.  The Firefly looks great!

On a related note, it took me almost a month to build up the cheek armor on an -A3 Sherman....kind of burned me out on it too.

Thank you, Greg.

Yes, the cast cheek armour was something stumbled upon after noticing there was no sign of the pistol port in my reference photo.  Upon further reading, I learned that this usually  meant the cheek armour was added during the casting process.  It really isn't noticeable, except at the bottom.

I was lucky to fine this diagram, though intended for a 1/35 build, and a decent photo to give a general idea of the look to go for.

I used three separate sheets of styrene so it would be more pliable around the curves of the turret.  Each piece was cut smaller than the previous, though they all share the same bottom edge to form the distinct lip.  Also, each section of sheet was sanded slightly before another was added on top, as .030 inches is the suggested thickness for  1/35 scale.  The third and final layer roughly represents the flat portion.

regards,

Jack

Nice work there guys, both of those are looking great.

Greg: Looks good! Lots of detail for a small vehicle.

Jack: Wow, nice work! I wouldn't know where to begin on modifications like that.

Greg: Looking really good indeed!

Jack: That is simply amazing! You did a great job on modifying and detailling that kit! Kudos to you for all of that!

Bish, Gamera & SS: thanks for your kind words.

Jack: that's the same info I used for my A3 turret - here's a pic

Greg: that's some impressive work there too!

Thank you, sir!

Bish, Panzer IV Ausf. J was assigned to the 12th Regiment, SS Division, were they in Normandy? I know they were assigned to France but were they one of the units "held back" and not in the area?

Bish doing more research, I think the 116th was involved in the Normandy defense. I might add the Panzer IV Ausf. J  to the build, I have one on the shelf.

At 1000 hours on 7 June, Kurt Meyer's 25th SS Panzergrenadier Regiment, along with 50 Panzer IV tanks of the 2nd Battalion of Max Wünsche's 12th SS Panzer Regiment, arrived and moved into position north west of Caen.[10] Supported by a battalion of artillery (3rd Battalion, 12th SS Panzer Regiment), this battle group was ordered to crush the advancing Canadian infantry and tanks and drive through to the coast, still only a few miles away (wikipedia)

jibber, the 116th arrived after the end of June, so were to late for this GB. The 12th SS Pz Regt belong to the 12th SS Pz Div HitlerJugend and did indeed take part. The Pz IV Ausf J I am doing has that units markings, but there's always room for another. Which kit do you have.

Dragon 6080 but I may pick another, seems I have a habit to overlap others.

Wayne thanks, both of you are a wealth of knowledge.

Bish, Gamera, and Schatten -  thanks for the comments .

Greg, your turret cheek looks spot on, is the red a primer or putty colour?

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I can also confirm that elements of the 12SS Panzer Division arrived on the scene quite early, as the Firefly I am portraying was knocked out by them on the afternoon of June 7th, 1944.  It was a meeting engagement as both sides were offensively minded.

Writings of the action confirm that the 5th and 6th companies of the Panzer battalion were present, though a video I had posted back a few pages, also shows a vehicle numbered in the 400 range.  Panzer IV's are seen in the video clip, but I can't confirm if the J version was present.  The unit as a whole was created in late 1943, and not having seen action until now , I am just guessing that the balance of their Panzer IV inventory was the H model.

Some stills from the mentioned film:

?id=63043&num=315&size=still

?id=63043&num=318&size=still

?id=63043&num=344&size=still

?id=63043&num=365&size=still

regards,

Jack

Its no problem over lapping jibber. I am doing the Tamiya kit with AM decals, so will be nice to compare.

Well, I do have a large pile of reference books on German armour, and earlier this year I read Kurt Meyer's Grenadiers. I also have Herbert Meyer's two volumes on the 12th SS but not read that yet.

That turret looks great Greg.

I've finally got back to my 1/72 Tiffie. Here is a photo with primer on.

Cheers

Tony

Bish if you would be so kind as to pencil me in for Dragon's kit #6080, Panzer IV, Ausf. J of the 12th SS Division. That clears a spot on the shelf. Thanks

No problem, will do. Out of interest, what's the turret number with that kit. Are you planning on doing any figures with it, as that unit had some rather unique uniforms.

Tony, that's looking really nice. Good to see it back.

jgeratic

Greg, your turret cheek looks spot on, is the red a primer or putty colour?

Thank you, Jack.  I used two putties to build up the cheek armor.  The red is Testors Red Putty which they no long market - I believe it's an auto putty. The grey is Tamiya modelling putty.

The putties were used over Evergreen strip and used to fill gaps and to shape the cast in armor.

jibber, slight problem.I was just doing some checking as I noticed that kit is a late production Ausf J. I hadn't realised before, but the Ausf J didn't enter production until June 44, so could not have been in Normandy in time. And the late production that your kit represents was even later than June.

It also means that by build is no good for this GB. What through me off was that the markings come from a Bison set for Pz's in the Bocage. And I have found a pic of my build which is clearly late in the year. That will teach me for trusting decals.

So now I am not even sure what I will build. Going to have to do some checking.

Bish

jibber, slight problem.I was just doing some checking as I noticed that kit is a late production Ausf J. I hadn't realised before, but the Ausf J didn't enter production until June 44, so could not have been in Normandy in time. And the late production that your kit represents was even later than June.

It also means that by build is no good for this GB. What through me off was that the markings come from a Bison set for Pz's in the Bocage. And I have found a pic of my build which is clearly late in the year. That will teach me for trusting decals.

So now I am not even sure what I will build. Going to have to do some checking.

If you're up to some scratch building, can always backdate to the "H" model.  Definitely check your kit box, you might actually have the pieces there if they used sprues from an original Panzer IVH kit issue.

I'm kind of bummed myself.  The specific Firefly I had chosen  was due to it's nickname on the hull, but have discovered none of the colourful markings are present (Maple Leaf emblem and the AOS sign). The vehicle was so new to the Sherbrooke Fusilier regiment, that they hadn't had time to put them on.   Funny that, to go ahead and  apply these markings anyways would then be considered artistic license.

regards,

Jack

Bish I'm ok with it, thanks.

Jack, thanks for the info. But I have specific markings in mind for that kit. I will get an H at some point. I was checking through my builds and I have a couple of other options. I think I am going to go with a Panther in 9th SS markings. I checked last night and they just made it to the front in time for the GB.

Tony: Nice work there on the Typhoon, I love that aircraft!

Jack: Well, considering half the stuff we do like pre-shading and colour modulation are artistic license I wouldn't worry about it too much!

Jibber & Bish: Hope you guys get those straightened out - they sound like really cool panzers- hate to see them disqualified.

Well, my Auf J is defiantly out, I have a dio planned for it and don't really want to change the markings or anything else. And closer study of a photo I have of the tank clear shows it is later in the year.

But this will be a good chance for me to build a proper panther and the Pz IV will fit another GB for next year.

I'm always happy to see a Pz IV Bish, I guess I'll have to wait for yours. The Panther will be good too though.

I sprayed the white for the invasion stripes on my Tiffie, but then decided that the leading edges were not up to scratch. Fixed it but broke one of the cannons, which I will fix later on.

Cheers

Tony

Tony: She looks good! Gosh I HATE spraying white on anything. Good catch with the leading edges- much easier to fix now than with the invasion strips and camo applied.

Tony - that Tiffie is looking rather fine there, appears we are both sort of at the same stage of our respective builds.

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After spraying on some diluted surfacer, the cast look of the turret and transmission seemed to be all but lost.  So I brushed on some  surfacer, and while still wet tried the stipple method with an old synthetic brush.   The result resembled more 'sand in paint' finish, so tried some foam from a sanding stick (that's the blue thingy in the pic.)

It looked better, but after all surfaces were done, I brushed it over with lacquer thinner, followed with some gentle sanding.  With these enlarged views, some clean up on other surfaces is required.

regards,

Jack