ARMOR - Pz IV Group Build

Renarts and Edog your builds are looking very nice,can't wait to see them finished..
I've been making steady progres on my Flakpanzer 1V,still no pics yet,no excuses iv'e just been a little slack lately....
Anyway since i started modeling again at the begining of the year i've tried to experiment with new techniqes pulled from the pages of FSM magazine and the Panzer 1V flakpanzer will be painted useing the weathering with salt technique from a previous issue of FSM(Hope it works).............J.S

RAF,
yes, you are right. The part numbers are outlined on the instruction sheet with a mockup of the spurs. I found it annoying myself.

Is it just me or is there no part numbers on the sprues of this
Italeri kit.

Mike great use of PE, really enhances your kit.

Eric, I also like the streaky look. Good idea.

edog thanks for the confimation and the help with the colors. I'm a long way off from paint but I needed to check my colors and see if I need to get to the LHS.

Your paint job looks great gives me somthing to shoot for.

Edog,,, Looking good so far. That shading is great.

WOW! As soon as my new airbrush comes, I am going to try some of that, Post shadeing or preshadeing. It really gives it a nice effect. Good loooking build edog.

RAF, you are correct about the vision slits. Sorry about all the confusion, but most of the diagrams I have show the vision slit filled, while all the photos show that the right one is not filled. Good job picking up my mistake!!

As far as a color, Tamiya makes German Gray. As I understand it, Tamiya has very accurate colors.

Here is a quick preview of how I am painting mine. The base is MM medium gray, but it is a little too blue for my taste. If I had it to do over again I would go with light ghost gray for the base. Then I post shaded with Tamiya German Grey and ran streaks up and down till I achieved the desired effect. I really think this can give a lot of depth to an otherwise boring paint job.




Good luck with your build and keep us updated!

edog- I was going through your "short" list and checking it with what little refrence I have of F1s. My question is you said that the turret vision slits need to be filled, but from what I saw only the slit on the left side needs to be filled. Now I think I only have 1 or 2 pic of the right side and I think they 're both of the same tank, so I look to you to confirm or deny what I've seen. ( sorry, anyone else feel free to chime in too.)

I'm planing on painting in panzer gray, what color should I use. I normally use MM or Tamiya.

thanks for the help.

renarts,

good to see some progress. The build looks very clean so far. Keep up the good work!

Looking good Mike,,,,,, looking good. Hey how did you end up making the Dampers?? got a pic????? Would love to see it if you do.

Been spending most my time lately working on my IVJ. The D is on the back burner for now. Both will be on the back burner in two days due to me going away on my two weeks of National Guard time. I will be taking 2 Braille scale models with me. My 2 weeks will really be testing my endurance. I will be staying at the Kansas City Airport Hilton. Hopefully my roomate can tolerate the smell of super glue and paint.

I have a Tiger and Jagdpanzer IV. So I geuss you could say I will still be working within the build just not on the models I told you I was starting with. Will be taking my Laptop and dig camera with me so I will do my best to keep you posted while I'm there.

renarts,

Looking very nice. Sometimes slower is better because you have the chance to take a break between modeling sessions. BTW, you've got to love that PE. It really brings out the details.

Enjoy your modeling...

current progress.

Very busy with work so my build time has been limited. I continue to endeavor to percivere....

RAF,

the list is ONLY for the F1. So you should be ok. Oh, and you are added to the list.

Edog you can add me to the list now that I've got my Italeri Pz IV.
I plan on doing the F1 and I've reviewed your "short" list of problems if some of these aren't for the F1 let me know.(other then the fender support & the cleaning rod) Tonight I'll sit down with my reference books and look through my spare parts & PE and see what extra stuff I've got left over from my Dragon Ausf J that I can use.
I'll have more questions later.

Great work Eric. Love the DML dampers - much better than Tamiya's (just had to throw that in)

Nice looking F2, edog. Can't wait to see her with some paint. I wouldn't be surprised if my Dragon G has similar inaccuracies, but since I decided to build mine OOTB as well, I really didn't research the model that heavily.

Just put the decals on my build and have been slowly getting detail painting done.

Enjoy your modeling...

I wish I could get a straight and clean build like that edog. I ALWAYS seem to screw something up. Must be lack of experience.

I got a lot done on my part today. Road wheels complete! Wow, there are a lot! Tools and tracks were painted and drybrushed. I will give the tracks a wash of rust and steel. I also have to finish the last figure. I hope to be done by tuesday.

Yesterday, I put a first coat of paint on both my Dragon and Italeri Pz IVs.

The Dragon kit was very detailed, but some of the detail was just plain wrong.

• From what I can gather, there should be signal ports on the driver and radio man's hatches.


• A late F2 would not have had vision ports on the side of the turret.


• There also should NOT be a cooling water exchanging port. (This is the little circular cover right above the trailer hitch)


• If you leave the water port, there should be bosch lights and the double baffle muzzle break on the gun. This would make the tank a Pz IV G.

I think all the above mentioned problems stem from Dragon using spurs from other kits to complete this model. So, instead of fighting the kit, I built it almost out of the box. The only things I omitted were the vision ports on the side of the turret. I did have a problem fitting the upper and lower hulls together because the top deck was warped. There is also a slight gap between the fenders in the front and the hull. Other than that, there were no complaints. The Dragon kit is VERY GOOD!!!

So far, I would suggest the Dragon kit over the Italeri kit because there is a LOT of extra detail included. The on vehicle tools for the Dragon kit are also exceptional. In particular, I really liked the 6 piece jack.

Here is the Dragon F2 kit before the first coat of paint:


I hope everyone is enjoying their builds. Good luck!!

Peter thanks for those sites they were perfect for what I needed for my IV J Interior.

Progress on my D has been slow. My Son is down for the summer and I have been helping him with his model. He is building a monster truck,, And we are having fun putting it together.

Thanks for answering my questions fellas,that fills in the blanks..
And thanks Petbat for the websites i need to do some reading on armoured warfare to get up to speed...
I was reading the other day about the Hitler Jugend all young and fanatical apparently.
Thanks again,cheers J.S

Those are some nice tanks. Thanks for the link Peter.

I, Finally sparyed some paint tonight. THe model has been wainting for aboout a week for this! I should be finishing up pretty soon.

For anyone interested in internal and external pics of Munster's restored Panzer IV Ausf G, go to:
http://www.rommelkiste.de/panzer4/index.html

More pics of the damper too!

The site also has pics of the restored Panzer IIIM, Krupp Protze, S-Tank 103B and Late model Brummbar.
http://www.rommelkiste.de/panzer3/index.html
http://www.rommelkiste.de/Fahrzeuge/fahrzeuge.html

Js, if you want to know a bit about GD see these sites:
http://www.achtungpanzer.com/pzdiv2.htm
http://www.grossdeutschland.com/history.htm http://members.shaw.ca/grossdeutschland/

Robert is right, the helmet belongs to the Grossdeutschland.

Hello again everyone and thanks for your comments.

rebelreenactor - I'll be painting the wheels and tracks very, very carefully. He, he! Seriously, I've gotten pretty good at getting in there with a 20/0 or 12/0 detail brush without too much difficulty.

tigerman - The schurzen are provided in the kit as clear plastic. Pretty nice, too.

J.S. - Normally I will paint a tank in subassemblies, but with this kit I've decided to basically complete the assembly before painting. It this case the individual track links and just the way the kit builds up dictated that this would probably be the easiest way to go. Now for your question:

Your Flakpanzer belongs to the Panzer Grenadier Division "Grossdeutschland" (as Kenneth said, indicated by the white helmet). However, I haven't been able to locate any information that would give me an indication of a date other than common knowledge.

Grossdeutschland fought nearly the entire war on the Eastern Front and many units on this front employed a three color camo scheme from 1943 through 1944. However, from late 1944 onward, many units abandoned this scheme as supplies dwindled. Since the 105 Wirblewinds were produced from May - Nov 1944, this would support the paint scheme.

Since Wirblewind deployment was gererally limited to the major Panzer Grenadier Divisions and the SS Panzer Divisions, you could build this kit as being assigned to any of these units from June 1944 onwards.

I hope some of this helps.

Enjoy your modeling...

JS, The emblem on the fender if I can see it right is basically the sign for mobile AA. Each type of unit had a symbol. I am at work so I don't have my books with me or i'd give you more info.. The helmet is i belive the specific unit marking but again without checking it out then i'd be lying.... I'll check tonight and get back to you if no one else chimes in....

Later

Ok fellas i've cut this photo from the box and scanned it in an effort to get an ID on this Flakpanzer 1V,i chose this pic cause you can see two markings on the front of the hull,neither of these markings were supplied on the decal sheet and the instructions make no mention of unit or theater.



The pics not that good because the box is a little bent but if any of you learned gentlemen recognise the markings i'd appreciate it if you could give a clueless bugger a helping hand.
Cheers J.S
BTW Lookin good Foster,do you paint all the colors while the AFV is in such a completed state

I will be putting on my panzer gray tommorrow. I hope.

I had the same Question.