Oh and I just looked at my kit again and remembered the initial reason why i was looking for replacement tracks: My kit doesn't have any tracks! I got it at the second hand corner of my LHs for a pretty decent price (30€ instead of the 55€ retail price) and the guy who sold it apparently used the tracks for something else...

I have been looking a bit further into this Clemens. I have yet to do an early pz IV so wasn't something I had studied much. there does seem to be some confusion. Some say the early tracks are 38cm other 36. One online forum suggested the 40cm tracks are referred to as 38cm because they don't include the track pins. But from what I can gather, there are only 2 sizes of track used. One size from the Ausf A to Ausf E, whether they be called 36 or 38 cm. And then the 40cm tracks from the Ausf F. Overall, I think you should be ok with the 36cm fruils.

Where did you read about the 36cm tracks.

No, you did explain yourself, it was my fault, I should have read it properly.

Its odd that they don't do 38cm tracks. I am just guessing here, but the 2cm difference in 35th is less that 1mm. I would think that the teeth on the sprockets will go in to the holes in the track. If not, it might just be a case of sanding some of the inside of each half of the sprocket, but it should be tiny.

The box of Friul's 36cm tracks (ATL-02) says they are for Pz. III and IVs and were in use from 1938 untill 1941:

The model I'm building with my kit depicts a machine used at Tobruk in April 1941 (turret number 411) if that is of any help...

I believe the very early Pz.IVs used the 36cm tracks. I think i didn't explain my problem well enough though: Friul doesn't make any 38cm tracks, only 36 and 40cm, so I'm stuck with one of those (I really don't want to buy Modellkasten tracks for the same price because I really dislike building those and it simply isn't worth the effort and money IMO. I'll go with those though if there is no alternative...

The referances I have indicate that the Pz IV Ausf F was the first to use the 40cm tracks, increased from the previous 38cm tracks. So this would imply that the Ausf E had 38cm. And I am not aware of any Pz IV's having 36cm tracks. I think you should be safe with the 38's.

Mike: I absolutely love all your scratchbuilt additions! Keep up the good work!

Dan: You got a really nice looking Pz.IV shaping up there!

Matt: Great work on that 109!

I got a question regarding the Pz.IV tracks if you guys don't mind. I'd like to replace the kit tracks with some Friuls, but I can't figure out which ones are supposed to go on there. I'm building Dragon's Ausf.E kit (the 1000+ parts one) and I recall reading somewhere that the E had 38cm tracks. The only problem with that is that Friul doesn't do 38cm tracks. They only have the 36mm and 40cm ones. The owner at my LHS just ordered both for me to choose the right ones when they arrive.

I'm thinking the 36cm tracks are more likely to be correct because they could've been fitted to the tank because of a shortage of 38cm ones? I also think the 40cm tracks required wider sprockets, so those wouldn't even fit?

Dan & Mike: That's a fine a pair of panzers as you're likely to see anywhere!

Dan: Your Tiger looks terrific so far- looking forward to seeing her all finished.

Armor 86: Thanks, nice work on your Panzer IV.  

Thanks Bish.

Matt-Joachim: nice work the 109.

Just sprayed on a coat of Dullocate on my Tiger 1, should be all done on Thursday.

Promised update -- I finished the applique armour around the driver's visor, and while it's not as exact as I would have liked, we're only talking a1mm error in most aspects, and this is as fiddly as I can manage -- it might not look like it but there are 32 pieces of plastic making up this subassembly!

Here are the inner and outer armour layers plus their spacer bar:

The bolt heads don't show up here, they're burned out in the white of the plastic. Now the finished assembly on the model:

The bolts on the outer layer show up, the nine around the edges of the inner layer are fairly invisible here. Oddly enough, fitting the bolt heads turned out to be the easy part of the operation!

The only major detail remaining to build is the jerry can rack, which is a Verlinden etched set, and I'll make a start on that tomorrow. I'm hoping that she'll be ready for paint when my airbrush is returned, and I'll be able to run directly through to the finish more or less without interruption.

Cheers, Mike

Hey Gamera, yeah they're tiny - using the individual track for extra improvised armor protection - the Dragon kit comes with 'DS' track. I'm using the Tristar Panzer IV Road Wheel Set due to the wrong sized kit road wheels (40 cm) - needed 38 cm size road wheels. Completed rear spare road wheel mounts and front mounted spare track and road wheels. Next up tow cables and scratch-building rear hull storage rack. Armor86

Hi guys, I've been working on the laminate armour around the driver's vision slit on the Pz.IV, and I'm hoping to have pictures up tonight of the finished installation. It's been fiddly, I expected it to be an easier scratch-build! After this there's the etched rack to assemble for the rear end, and in a few days my airbrush should be back from servicing, so I'll move ahead and get her into primer at the first chance.

Cheers, M/TB379

Thanks Gamera. My first experiment with shading actually turned out alright.

Dan: All those tiny track links and small parts give me a headache just looking at them!

Matt: Very cool, pre-shading looks great!

Getting there...time to hide some of that shading though!

Here is what I'm trying to replicate: I have the decals to match, so I'll do my best.

i450.photobucket.com/.../BF-109.jpg

The 109 office

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I am DETERMINED to meet the deadline!
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Dan and armor86...thanks you!  They turned out pretty good considering.  I wouldn't recommend any Nitto kits.  

Eagle90

The Tiger is looking really nice Dan, almost there.

Nice work armor, all those lovely little track links. O Joy

Thunderbolt379 - a lot of nice details on your Pz IV 'D' took a closer look on my Dragon Smart Kit and noted the bolts.

Dan Tiger looks great - I always like the finishing touches of applying washes and pigments to get the look of a weather armor vehicle. 

Zvezda1980 - Pz III looks great

Eagle90 - 250 Grief and Kett look great

Ongoing progress photos - finish all the major assembling - left with just the small details, spare track, extra storage rack, spare road wheels, jerry cans ... Armor86

Thunderbolt379:  Nice work on your Panzer IV, lookin' good. Hoping to get one of the varients in the coming months.

Eagle90: Great work on you Kettenkrad & sdkfz 250/3

Yesterday I put on the decals,  I choose number 731 of the 7th Company, sPzAbt 501, Tunisia 1943.  All that' really left is detail painting on the tank crew men, glued on the track cable this morning.  Friday I'll airbrush another light coat of Future, let that dry fro two days then follow it up with Dullecote. Decided not to apply weathering to my tiger, after getting back into the hobby this year I'm a little rusty and just want to get this project finished.  Started construction back in February.   Hoping she'll be all done next Thursday.

Don't worry Dog, its certainly not a competition. Look forward to seeing your pics.

Hi Guys-- I'm still trying to figure out Flickr and getting a pic of my Pz IV F2 posted--- its in the weathering stage now , so I hope to have it posted soon -

It cant really compete w/ some of the phenominal work Ive seen here--- I just wanted to check in -

Regards,

Dog

Some nice work there Mike.

Wow, Mike- that's fantastic. I'd go blind before I even got that many cemented into place.

Update -- my AB is in the workshop now and I'll hopefully have it back in top order next week. Now, I worked up the replacement bolt heads on the Pz.IV and the ones I cut before turned out to be too big! I reset the guillotine without the spacer to get finer slivers and applied them using a tiny brush to dab on liquid glue, then used the tip of a scribing tool to transfer the slivers by moisture. There are 14 inside each fender and the fact is I should have been using .020" rod, not .030", but I'll accept a quarter of a millimetre out! The two boltheads on the barrel cinch were made from the longer slivers as they seem much more prominent.

The next job is to finish the scratch built laminate armour around the driver's slit and do all the bolt detail on that too.

M/TB379

Thanks, Eagle and Jack! Well, the fun will begin today... Also, my airbrush is being couriered to a workshop for some maintenance, it goes this afternoon -- it'll be the first time since I was 16 I don't have an airbrush to hand, it feels kinda strange to contemplate!

M/TB379

Thank you Jack!  Not sure if they are even still around.  The company is Nitto.  The instructions were very hard to follow and not accurate on placement of parts at all!  The fit of the parts was the worst I have run into since getting back into the hobby.  And the decals had to soak for at least 5 minutes before even thinking of coming off the backing!  These were estate sale kits I got, so who knows how old they are or how they were stored.  But I got a lot of good experience and ideas to work with now!

Thanks again!

Eagle90