#6 OLD Tamiya Panzer IV Ausf H WIP- COMPLETED!

Mac- Many thanks!  I have been to Buffalo last July to see my parents and family.  I didn't have the chance to visit Ace Hobby in Niagara Falls that I have been hearing about.  Maybe next time!  Which shop do you like to shop in Buffalo other than one I have been to next to Galleria Mall?

Treadwell- I do remember seeing your outstanding work when I joined two years ago.  Am looking forward to the BITW GB but first I need to build my StuG III.  If you want to look at my WIP, you can see them at my photobucket account... plenty of pictures in there.

http://s713.photobucket.com/albums/ww137/aleffler/Panzer%20IV%20Ausf%20H/#!cpZZ1QQtppZZ20 

Thanks for taking your time!  And did I ever tell you how much I love your avatar lady...

Anthony- Glad you liked my build!  We have gone long way since my first GB we were in together 8 Wheel if I am correct.

          Cheers Andy,,,  see you in the pz III GB

Fantastic outcome Andy,your work is getting better and better

Hi Andy, I didn't really know you until I met you in our shared GB....to bad for me.. I almost missed this exceptional build !  Excellent results!..., I am going back to page # 1 and read the whole thing.

Super job

tread

Eric Von Manstein- Thank you very much for the compliment!  Getting one from a field marshall is truly a big honor.  Does it means I will get a badge from you finally?   Like I said, I learned great deal from you guys here in FSM after years of lurking.

Bill- I know it is not a 1/48 or 1/72 scale but its as old as many kits in your stash.  Safe to say you will see me more in Pz III GB soon... I still have several figures to finish.  Glad you stopped by! 

KY Colonel- Thanks for dropping by!  It looks like many of us have built this kit years ago.  I did the same when I was maybe 14 or 15 years old... see below.  

It survived the "Massacre of North Tonawanda" when my mother got rid of my built models several years after I moved out.  Few kits were inside unmarked box in the basement... I have it sitting on not far from my work bench as a reminder of my childhood. 

WOW!   Outstanding build!  Weathering looks top notch! 

Doogs- I won't be surprised if there will be another Pz IV GB.  They had one last year... just look out for the 1,000 wheels GB badge some guys are still wearing with pride.  Dupes led that GB... maybe when timing is right he will lead one again.

Detailfreak- Always good hearing from you my friend!  Thanks for the nice words.  Can't wait to build your kit next... Imperial StuG III Ausf F/8.  I might name it 'Greg'. 

Bill- Along with many virtual I have sent over, I wouldn't have done better without your help and tips shared by other masters here in FSM.  Here's my another ... hope you are not driving tonight. 

Good job!! I enjoyed going though your build of an "old model". I build that one years ago and mine never came close to how yous came out.

Andy,,,       Fantastic job!  It sure did turn out great...  quite the tribute to the old kit to boot.

Thanks very much for sharing

Some of the best looking armor I've seen in here in a long time...weathering, IMO, is perfect......

I do hope that the tiny base she is sitting on was just a temporary platform for pics...

Outstanding work on this one Andy! No worries on the "owed" count front...that's what the forums are all about.

                          Andy,the old Tamiya H is a testament to your ever improving skills as a modeler.Don't sweat those little things,trying to fix them could go the wrong way. Set her on a shelf and show it off my friend.

                                                      Greg"Detailfreak"Rowley

deafpanzer

Doogs- It was fun building our Pz IVs for Ostfront GB.  Hope we can do it again.  I have signed up for Blitz in the West GB Eric (Tigerman) is leading.  Will think about entering it at a local contest... normally I just do it for fun.  Thanks again! 

You know, when Pz.III ends, I think an Official Pz.IV and Variants would be a perfect follow-up... 

Well...it would be if anybody made any Panzer IV kits. You'd think Dragon would at least have a few...

Doogs- It was fun building our Pz IVs for Ostfront GB.  Hope we can do it again.  I have signed up for Blitz in the West GB Eric (Tigerman) is leading.  Will think about entering it at a local contest... normally I just do it for fun.  Thanks again! 

Tigerman- Thank you Eric!  I do recall you are only few years older than this kit.   You might think I am crazy... I have been thinking about doing one of those crazy French camo scheme on my Char B1 for your GB.

DM- Exactly!  Good thing because of the brackets, the skirts were not laying flat as it tilted a bit toward to the bottom part leaving the top part to dry faster.  I think this is what caused this.  Still learning and forums here are still the best place for me... thanks for dropping by!

John- Hey my Hoosier buddy!  Glad you liked it.  I might enter it at the show only if you do the same with your Jagd!   Knowing myself, modeling is a fun hobby not a competition for me but I will think about it.  I forgot what are the prizes if somebody wins at the contests... nice looking ladies in bikinis presenting me an award or something like that?    No, maybe an old overweight man blowing me a kiss instead of ladies?   

TD- Thanks man! Maybe a 3-D computer screen would be next... there are 3-D TVs out there now.   

Looks like that Panzer is ready to trundle right off the screen!Excellant job!

That is definitely going to have to be in the show at Indy next year Andy. You have done a great job on it!

Too bad this didn't happen on the bottom portion of the skirts.

This is what I call a "happy accident". Remember how you did it as it could be a valuable effect for a later project.

You're really doing a fine job on this build Andy.

I'm still older then that kit Andy.

It's been an enjoyable WIP to follow Andy, and the best way to sum up that camo job is to quote Darrell Sheets from Storage Wars, "Now that's the wow factor!"

Super build bud.

Andy - LOVE IT! Dig the entire thing, and know the distance between the old Tamiya kit and the newer Dragons in terms of detail, yours would fool anybody, in my opinion. Enter this sucker in a contest STAT!

Bill- THANK YOU SO MUCH! Yes, damp q-tip did the trick. Whew!  Looks like I owe you another   I hope you remember how many I owe you because I lost count long time ago...

Terry- You are way too nice!   I'd love to build another old kit again... maybe not for a while after doing Italeri M24 and this kit.  Thank you for dropping by!

Guys- I am happy to call this done.  I present you Tamiya Panzer IV Ausf H that was first released 36 years ago back in 1975.  Hope this doesn't make you feel that old, huh?

Closer shots of the skirts...

Inside the skirts...

I sure had too much fun building this old kit except for the tracks like I mentioned earlier.  I find hard to believe I was only five years old when this kit first came out. 

Thank you for your comments and feedback you have shared earlier during my build. 

Hi, Andy looking cool real cool. as an all rounder I think you have surpassed what I believe should be expected from these older kits, I know they were the only game in town for a long time and well you have done a superb job.

Terry.

Top lights are indeed green Andy as your second pic indicates.

The tide marks you have on the top of the schurzen can likely be easily fixed using a dampened wet (water) q-tip to remove and/or blend away the tide marks (assuming you haven't already fixed them in position with thinner that is).

Not sure why exactly you got those tide marks other than probably due to gravity and/or slight "tooth" in those areas that just pulled the pigments in as the water you used dried.

Hi again!  I googled for convoy light and found this picture of actual item... it looks more of black than dark green.  I can get away by applying raw umber instead of painting green.

If the lights were on, it would look like this...

Guys- Again thanks for your comments.  I am almost done with it... I only need to do TWO MORE things then I am going to call this done.  Of course I still have to work on the figures for this. 

I am experiencing brain f@rt right now.  I believe its green for the convoy lights on the left fender.   My reference books didn't say what color and all color pictures in the books were missing this set. 

I applied MIG pigments to the panzer... mixture of Europe dust and rubble.  I wanted lighter tone just like shown in the picture. 

 Everything went good except for the exterior part of skirts and I am now concerned because I am not sure how to fix this.  You can see where MIG pigment dried or didn't blend well at the top of skirts.

I was aiming to have heavier dust and dirt at the bottom of skirts.  I mixed MIG pigment with filtered water and a drop of dish soap.  Maybe I added too much soap causing this?

 I found this strange because I didn't have any issue on the interior side of skirts as you can see below.

How would you have this fixed?  I was thinking about applying very light coat of MIG Thinner or Fixer to make the streaks go away? Or dry brush using MIG Thinner or Fixer?  HELP! 

Thanks again for looking...

Bill- I didn't realize MK doesn't offer Winterketten tracks... maybe I will just grab the Magic Track set from my Pz III Ausf N Dragon kit this time.  Thanks for letting me know.

Psstoff- I have to say that I learned a great deal this time using the brown wash.  In the future I would make sure that dunky and dark green are lighter since they will go dark after the washing job.  Don't forget to allow the washes dry for at least 15-30 minutes then use a thinner and big flat brush to make streaks.  Again thanks for stopping by!

Marc- Great to have you back!  Wondered about you recently.  Congrats abt your Marder in recent FSM issue!  Now I want to watch Wayne's World with my boys... I don't think they have seen it.   Thanks for the comment!

Doog- You are way too nice!  I showed my wife what you said... she have seen your articles and work in FSM.  She gave me a kiss... I was hoping for more!  Maybe next time? 

If I had to do it again, I would have ordered the spockets and idlers upgrade set from MK or something like that.  But I was trying to cut down on the spending $$$ part.  Thanks again for taking your time. 

Kenny- I think I am a big fan of Pz IVs now... you can always read more of my work in Ostfront GB.  Thanks for dropping by!

Excellent.  I'm building the Acedamy/Tamiya and I hope it turns out as good as yours ( I doubt it )...cheers....Kenny

A tremendous tribute to an OLD kit, and a testament to your skill as a modeler---it looks excellent, really!

I really like the light rust and metallic look to the muffler. The camo is gorgeous, and I really can't see anything to criticize!?

BTW< I had some problems with the Modelkasten tracks too, on my M48. They're delicate buggers. You really have to be careful with them!

For Pz IV's, I would just appropriate a Dragon/DML Pz IV indy plastic links set. You might have to do a little work to the idlers though? I think that at least one company also makes a suspension set with idlers and drive sprockets?

ANyhoo--it looks great!

Had some catchin' up to do on this thread.  You are headed for a double SCHWING on this one Andy.

Thanks Andy! That's something I've been thinking of how to accomplish. I've never really done, IMO, a good wash that creates nice streaking and effect. Just darkens my model.

Progress is slowing down on my Tiger now that school's started and I'm filling out college apps, but hopefully I'll get the pattern done as soon as this hurricane passes... early next week.

Andy,

So far as I know, MK doesn't offer a set of Winterketten tracks but Fruil does.