DML #6540 Flakpanzer IV Wirbelwind COMPLETE Pics p.17

Bill - Measure twice and cut once....if you fail to plan you plan to fail

In other words it was best you took your time and thought out the assembly. It may have taken longer but it was worth it.

Rounds Complete!!

Thanks Mike! I'm always overly optimistic it seems when it comes to estimating the amount of time it takes to get to a certain point in a build. My wife always laughs at me when I say "I thought I'd get to X point today" as it seems to happen with regular frequency. Slow and steady, eventually this one will get built which is the key point in the end.

Bill, the zimm is really looking GREAT!   I wish I can use that resin zimm AM on very old Tamiya Pz IV Ausf H kit that I started building last night for Ostfront GB.  According to my research, all Ausf H had zimm so I can't away with it.  Because it was only $7 I bought via eBay as part of a huge stash for a very good deal, I am going to try zimm putty as suggested by others.  I am going to use this thread as one of references to apply zimm.  Maybe not exactly... I found a picture in Achtung Panzer and it showed no zimm on the top where driver hatch is but I will make sure it is not a bad picture or something like that.  Of course, I plan to check your website to see if you have done a PzIV Ausf H too.

Looking forward to your next update!

Thanks Andy! There was about 1 month where H's were in production before the intro of zim so you do have a tiny bit of leeway depending on the zim question. Considering how cheaply you got the kit, I'd say it's a good candidate for you to try DIY zim for sure. As for the zim on the hull roof and crew hatches, it wasn't something that was done on all Hs so you will see some with it and some without...there was a lot of variation done when it comes to zim, for example you can also see Hs with zim on the schurzen plates! I haven't yet built a straight Pz IV H yet but do have the DML kit in the stash and will get to it someday.

Looking good Bill. Love those Atak zim sets!

When I started mine, there wasn't a dedicated sheet for the Wirblewind yet, so I used a set for the Pz. IV ausf. H thinking that it would have been built on an older chassis. Looking at your build it's interesting to see the zim has been applied to the horizontal surface above the driver's area. I wonder if that was a common procedure for Wirblewinds. I'll have to look at my Nuts and Bolts issue on the Wirblewind to see if I can get away with no zim on the top of the driver's compartment.

Nate

Thanks Nate!

The zim question for the hull roof has to do with the way zim was applied throughout the life-span of the IV-H chassis that were used and not with the Wirbelwind itself. Since the base chassis used were IV-Gs, Hs, and even a few Js, the presence of zim to begin with was non-standard as the Wirbelwinds weren't a factory-produced vehicle but instead were assembled at field workshops at Sagan. This means that individual Wirbelwinds had zim only if the base vehicle that was being worked on also had it. This of course provides for a lot of variety potential for the individual builder depending on what you want to do. I personally thought the zim on the hull roof was something "different" and decided to go that route with mine but it's far from a "universal" thing for H-hulled Wirbelwinds. HTH!

Good to see you back at it again.

I just have one question if you don't mind; maybe I misread but you mentioned airbrushing gunmetal over the rubber portions of the roadwheels. Can you give a bit more detail there, if you don't mind...

Thanks Zoran! The way I paint road wheels is that I will lay down a primer coat of MM enamel Italian Dark Brown by airbrush, then airbrush MM enamel Gunmetal (not the metalizer variety, it's a standard paint color), then use the circle template to paint the hubs. I've found that the MM enamel Gunmetal paint color is a nice approximation for "rubber" once combined with the usual weathering techniques I employ. HTH!

Thanks for the info Bill; that clears it up. I had, incorrectly, assumed that the gunmetal was in fact a paint with metal flake to it, thus my confusion.

That Zim really kicks it up a notch. Graet work Bill!

Thanks PJ, glad to have you along for the ride!

Such a really interesting work! .... excellent attention to details ... great!

Cool looking hull, Bill. A good idea to zimm the top and bottom separately before adding the top. I woulda put them together and THEN zimmed 'em, but it makes more sense to do it your way for trimming and whatnot.

I wish I even had time to sit at the bench lately--I'm in the middle of packing up my entire apartment and about 120 built models to move to North Carolina in late June. No time to model!

the doog

I'm in the middle of packing up my entire apartment and about 120 built models to move to North Carolina in late June. No time to model!

Jose Luis, thanks as always for the comments!

Karl, now that ranks as a serious undertaking IMHO...talk about a delicate job of packing! Good luck with the move!

Hey Bill

Somehow I had missed the start of this, so I am a little glad that you have taken longer than you usually do to finish up!

The big problem is that your buildup of this kit makes me want to rush out and buy one! Damn fine job, sir! Damn fine!!!

Looking real good so far Bill,

PS: it seems like evey mag I pick up has one of your articles !!Caught you Jagdpanther in Scale Military Modeler,I remember that one here,it was a great build and a good article.

Thanks Boyd, appreciate the comments. Now that DML has released a G-hull Wirbelwind, you have even more options out there depending on which way you want to go...1 kit or 2!

Steve, the paparazzi smiley made my day, thanks!

Anthony, thanks for the comments both for this build and for the JP. That particular build was the last one that will be published for a while due to my much-decreased output volume combined with the "burn out" issue that comes with the stress of working/writing for publication. For now I'm just enjoying the simple aspects of building and taking it one step at a time.

wbill76

Thanks Boyd, appreciate the comments. Now that DML has released a G-hull Wirbelwind, you have even more options out there depending on which way you want to go...1 kit or 2!

What??!!  They have TWO Whirbelwinds now?? What are the kit numbers? Do you happen to know?

There's kit #6540 (H hull) which I'm building now and the G hull is kit #6342. Ironically from a numbering standpoint, 6540 is the earlier release by 2 years. HTH!

Bill

You are a priceless font of information...

Hey Bill,

Loking good! VERY good

I love the work you do with the ATAK Zim sets. I'm hoping to build a StuG IV soon and was looking at the newer Dragon StuG IV with the Zim but I'm now very tempted to buy the un-zimmed kit and the ATAK Zim set as the pre moulded Zim is far less 'defined'.

The guy who I get my Friuls off has ATAK sets and RB stuff - all that type of AM kit so sourcing it is no problem. Do you get instructions on where to put the Zim or do you have to work it out yourself?

Keep us posted buddy!

ATVB

Ben

Thanks Ben! Atak sets do not come with any instructions beyond just the generic "how to attach" instructions in relation to removing the panels from the single sheet provided and the types of glue, etc. needed to fix them in position. They don't tell you which panels go where, so you are on your own to just "know" where zim should or shouldn't be and which parts to use on the various vehicles. They do group panels together in a mostly logical arrangement (all the hull panels in one spot for example) so it's not like you're working completely blind...but it is possible to make a mistake and use the wrong panel in the wrong spot if you aren't paying attention and/or haven't done your homework.

Atak casts their zim on extremely thin resin and achieves a great in-scale effect IMHO and is my preferred method of applying zim. It can be damaged to create a unique appearance as well so long as you don't get too carried away with it (resin can be fragile). HTH!

Been following (lurking) this build from the start...and I love how it's coming together. Good to see your normal high standard of building, and of course painting. Looking forward to the next round of pics.

Oh by the by, I've got that Grille back on the bench. Thought of you when I packed it out of it's nest in the cabinet. Hope to get it done soon.

Cheers bud

Rob

www.scratchmod.com

I got mine for $29.99!----couldn't resist.  Very sweet kit...the turret is an incredible feat of moulding technology...

Thanks Rob, glad to have you following along and also glad to hear the Grille is back on the menu as well!

Manny, that's not a bad price. I usually wait for kits to come down to the $30 range or so before I pick them up. Sometimes that means waiting a good bit but patience usually pays off in the end...either a "sale" will come along or the natural state of things will cause the price to gradually drop down to the point I'm willing to buy at. I've got such an extensive stash now that there's no reason for me to "have to have" a kit right when its released as I know it will just sit there for X months (or even years!) before it's turn at the bench will ultimately come around.

I had the day off today for the Memorial Day weekend so was able to get in some good bench time as well as last Sunday to produce the latest update progress.

My efforts focused on Steps 12 and 13 which deal with all the fender gear and equipment. For the left fender, I installed the fire extinguisher, the base for the C-hooks, and Bosch head light. The Bosch light is missing the wire conduit that connects the light to the hull glacis plate, so this was added using 0.5mm diameter solder. While the kit tools come with molded on clamps with open handles, I opted to replace those with Griffon clamps instead for better detail and the only clamp on this fender is the one for the wire cutters. All the other tools were left off and will be installed later.

I opted for the tubular style of rear convoy light and left the clear insert off for now. I also chose the styrene one-piece option for the hull air intake covers and added the wing-nut retainers courtesy of parts A58 that aren't called out on the instructions but which are there on the A sprue. The instructions contain a small error on the spare road wheel box, the call-out box indicates that separate parts E41/42 are needed to complete the box but those parts are already molded on the box provided and don't exist on the E sprue! I also had to trim back a small corner of the hull roof Atak zim panel so that the box would sit at the right height and level and also removed the small tabs on the back "feet" of the box as they no longer aligned with the openings in the fenders due to the hull zim added thickness.

Last but not least, I also added the spare Flak barrel boxes and the instructions have a serious part mis-label problem for these. The correct left side supports are parts D3 and D4 not B3 and D6 so be careful here to get the right ones on each side. The boxes themselves aren't assembled and added until Step 21 but I added them here as I lost the locater points for the supports when the zim panels were added and it's critical that the supports be in the right place/alignment.

The right side fender took more time because it has more tools with "standard" clamps to deal with. The front fender zim was trimmed slightly to allow for the kit-supplied PE axe holder to be installed with CA gel. Griffon clamps were used for the axe, the starter crank, and the shovel and the jack was added in its designated place. The hull intakes got the same treatment as the left side as well.

The spare barrel box for the right hull side has an added detail in the form of spare antenna racks and 2 antennas, so the mount assembly here is a little trickier than on the left side. The instructions have the mount parts here wrong as well, the correct parts are D5 and D6, not D4 and D5, something easy to figure out when you actually look at the parts in relation to how the antennas are mounted. The kit supplied antennas have multiple "nodes" and sprue connection points so clean-up requires some care, but they fit beautifully into the base mount rack.

More progress to come later in the weekend I'm sure as I have three more days of opportunity to continue work. Next up will be the Flakvierling.

Always looking great!  Good to know you are back at your workbench.  Had the day off today too for my oldest son 5th grade graduation and I am not going anywhere for the holiday weekend so hope we will see a lot of process! 

Have a great long weekend!

Nicly done!  All of that zim is so well done the further you progress helps make all the parts / pieces really pop.  Look forward to more and hope you have a productive weekend.