philipat

So, I’ve been eyeballing PzIV ideas for awhile now, but I needed to finish my PzIII first. Now that it’s done, it’s time to start my PzIV. I’ve decided to transform a HL PzIV F2 into an Ausf G that fought with the DAK. I’m going to model it to loosely reflect the “spade 7" tank from PzRgt 8, 15th PzDiv. What I haven’t figured yet is what the number 7 reflects. It seems that the spade is a company marking from 1/PzRgt 8. The battalion commander’s PzIIIN had all four suits on it. (http://www.armortek.co.uk/Forum3b/vi...6fcf&start=525) There were only 4 zugs in a panzer company and at the time, there were 3 light zugs and 1 medium zug with PzIVs in it. Each zug had 5 tanks; so, I'm guessing the 7 reflects the tank number in the company. Open to any suggestions or references to answer that.

And...is the 7 red or black? Different artist’s renditions are out there.

Anyhow, some of the basic modifications for going from F2 to G appear to be:
Removing the communications ports from the driver and RTO’s hatches
Replacing the muzzle brake with the double baffle
Removing the side vision ports on the turret
Removing the loader’s vision port on the starboard front of the turret
Adding wooden strips to the turret’s stowage bin
Adding spare tracks to the front plate
Adding track retention bolts and brackets to the lower spare track holder
Replacing the head and tail lights
Adding appliqué armor to the front and bow of hull
Correcting the angle on the rear hull
Correcting the width of the mantlet
Correcting the height of the sprocket and rearmost return rollers

If anyone has more pictures of the "spade 7" tank, particularly showing the other side, I'd love to see them. Color would be cool, too. The only ones I've found are of the destroyed tank. So, I may have to take some license in making the functioning tank.

philipat

Basic start...two mods already done. I turned the commander’s cupola around since it was on backwards. At least, the current generation has the hatch properly aligned down the center. And, I installed the correct muzzle brake, which is a Panther G metal brake from Mato. The end of the gun tube is threaded (for real...HL threaded it). The brake wasn’t, but the metal is soft enough to use the gun tube to cut threads into the brake.

And, many of the upgrade parts are here. I think that I’ll start at the top and work down. Turret, upper hull and then lower hull.

Airsoft gun works, too. Might have to upgrade it with Taigen’s, though.

ausf

Looking forward to this one.

If memory serves me, this was the restored one at Aberdeen on the roadway in. If so I have a ton of photos of it, unfortunately on film, not digital.

MAUS45

Ausf, the Panzer IV that was restored at Aberdeen was a captured D version with the short 75 L24 gun. Still it was used by the 15th Panzer.

MAUS45

Philipat, I like this Afrika Panzer IV as well. I will try and find the photo I have seen in one of my books, maybe Panzer Colors, but it is shows the rear of the turret on this tank.

fynsdad

The HL rear bin is the wrong size and shape. With a little work you can get it to look better, not 100% but certainly an improvement...

philipat

Cool...I hadn't seen that photo. Interesting layout for all of the markings.

I'll take any photos anyone has. Can never have too many...sort of like firepower.

Yea, the turret bin is wrong in many ways. But, I need it for the elevation motor. I'll dress it up a little, but it will be something to live with.

Thanks for the comments, guys.

Augustus1967

Yes Sir,

I like the Panzer IV a lot, and DAK is my favorite these days...
Still hoping to build one Down The Road.

I'll be watching.

Thank You for posting your Build.

-gus

fynsdad

Mine still runs the std elevation motor...

Strato50

I like the standard HL elevation motor myself too. It's reliable and none too sensitive.

I built a PnzIV G a little while ago, the most obvious things are the muzzle break and the removal of most of the turret view ports. It's a fun build that doesn't get too crazy!

philipat

Did you do a build thread? Always looking for tips and ideas...

Strato50

http://can-amrctankclub.forumotion.c...nzer-iv-ausf-g

Taa-daa!!

The only obvious thing I didn't do that nearly every ausf-G had was the spare wheel rack on the left side... Otherwise that's mostly all there

philipat

Nice build. Thanks for the link.

philipat

I started with the turret, focusing on the cutting, sanding, drilling, etc to correct things and get it ready for some add-on parts.

First off, the mantlet had to be corrected. It’s both too wide and has the appearance of spaced armor. Well, after further inspection I discovered that the look of spaced armor can only be corrected if I eliminate the airsoft gun. But, I wanted to keep that. So, I’ll just have to live with that. But, I can correct the width. I noticed that the mantlet is in two pieces. The outer piece provides the curved shield and it glues to the inner piece. So, I cut the inner piece, which holds the gun and attaches the assembly to the airsoft gun, down to its narrowest option to still attach to the airsoft gun. And, I puttied the sides to give it a smoother appearance. That way it doesn’t look like a hack job. The outer piece was narrowed by eyeballing photos and trying to get it there. I think it’s close. I also made sure the outer width was a little more than the inner piece to reduce some of the “spaced armor” look.

The coaxial machine gun also had to go. It was in the wrong spot and the plastic thingy looks awful. So, I cut that off and drilled a hold for a metal coax that will eventually use a small fiber optic line and an LED to provide a flashing coax. It’s also more accurately positioned. I eyeballed this one, too; but, it seems pretty accurate.

I ground off three of the vision ports that didn’t make the cut from the F2. The two side ports and the right, front port all came off. Then, I filled and sanded those flat. I also added the hole for the gunner’s sight on the left side of the gun.

I also had to fix the commander’s cupola. HL has it installed backwards. When the tank arrived the cupola had the centerline vision port facing aft rather than forward. And, the hatches looked correct in that configuration. However, as soon as you turn the cupola around so that the centerline vision port faces forward the hatches are clearly reversed. (The triangular piece belongs on the starboard side.) So, I popped those out and flipped them around. It all went smoothly (unlike my PzIII build); so, I guess I won’t be needing the metal hatches that I bought from Modellino (www.panzerparts.com). (Note: see the attached photo with placement of the internal locking mechanism. Photo is from pg 21 of Squadron Signal's Panzer IV, #6081.)

That drew my attention to the turret’s side hatches, which were upside-down. This despite them now currently having an “R” and “L” clearly marking each assembly and each hatch. I suppose that all depends on whether you’re looking at the tank from the front or the rear. Maybe they need “S” and “P” markings for “starboard” and “port” since those don’t change with point-of-view. Anyhow, I carefully popped them out (BTW...now they open rather than being a single piece like my old PzIII). And, I figured it was a good opportunity to clean them up a bit and remove the molding artifacts.

philipat

Working with the turret hatches and having them off created a great opportunity to prime and paint the interior of all of my hatches, including those that will go on the upper hull. They’re painted in panzer grey because many of the DAK vehicles, including those that were shipped in desert paint still had the inside of their hatches painted in the standard panzer grey. In fact many (this tank might be one of them) were originally painted grey and then had the desert paint applied over the grey paint. I can’t tell in the B&W photos if the open hatches are grey or just smoked and burnt. So, I’ll go for the grey paint. If nothing else it will offer some visual interest.

philipat

Okay, question for the DAK folks out there...

This painting guide (http://www.desertarmor.com/DAK2/DAK_..._AND_WX.html#6), which is very good mentions using Rust-Oleum's Expresso Brown as an under coat. Anyone know if that is a primer or a paint? I'm not finding it on the Rust-Oleum website.

TIA

Panther F

This is slowly building up to be an interesting project.

I will keep an eye on it for sure.




Jeff

Augustus1967

That looks like a Gloss or Semi Gloss...

I'm currently using Flat Red Primer by Rust-Oleum.
It's a bit too red maybe, but it covers and hold very nice for $4.99 per can.



Regards,

-gus

philipat

It's supposed to be a satin finish (another reason I think it's a paint and not a primer). I like what you've done. Looks like the correct shade for German tanks, particularly after 1943, too. I was hoping for a brown since the desert color I'm going for is RAL 8020 (braun). The dark brown would offer some depth to the color.

Does that primer spray on pretty finely? I've heard that you can swap the sprayer from a model primer, like Tamiya's, to these cans to get a finer coverage that doesn't cover up the details. How does that primer do with the spray nozzle that comes on the can?

Augustus1967

That is good news, referring to the shade of this Flat Red Primer...
I'm planning on a DAK build for my Early Tiger...

I haven't tried switching Spray Nozzles yet, but have heard similar.
It Does come out Hard and Heavy if I'm not Careful...
I have been sticking to several Light coats, and trying to keep a 10 inch+ standoff.

Also, I'm considering on Decanting to a different container for tweeting the color and thickness a bit.
Then shooting it through my airbrush...
Have a feeling I'm loosing about 20-30% to overspray.
I've been to impatient to take this step as of yet... Trying to get enough Tiger Partz primed to get to building.

Over All I'm pretty happy with this primer so far, only need to sand one Run off the lower Hull...
Not the best photo, but you can see some of the fine detail coverage on the Mud Flap...



Regards,

-gus

philipat

Looks like the details are still coming through. Thanks for the photos.

MAUS45

On the "DAK" site I think he was using the Expresso Brown as a primer/preshadow for when he applied the base camo color. In general most German vehicles were painted with a primer the color Gus is using "Primer Red" or "Red Oxide".

philipat

The turret work continues...

Some of the re-assembly began. And some additional details needed to be completed. Some of the things completed:

- Added the coax MG. It’s an assembly from www.tank-modellbau.de. I used Tamiya epoxy for added hold in the adhesive. It will use a fiber optic to bring the light from an assembly inside the turret. Which brings me to a question...any issues if the fiber optic line is painted in the gap between the mantlet and the turret hull?

- Added a small ring (lifting ring?) to the mantlet. It’s a 2-mm ring made from 2-mm brass tubing. The “plate” is .5-mm sheet styrene. The hex bolts are 1-mm bolts from Scale Hardware. I filed them down a little to make the bolt heads a little thinner. I still might need to go with something a little smaller.

- Fixed, partially, the turret bin. It’s profile was way too high. So, I carved out a portion of it under the lid and glued it back down. It’s lower now and looks better. An added benefit is that I can still use the stock elevation motor with this mod.

- Added the insulating wood strips to the turret bin. That’s some 1/16" x 1/16" balsa wood that has been sanded to approximately 1/16" x 1/32". Now, I need to find some rivets.

- Put the hatches - signal port (BB loading) and turret side hatches - back on.

- Reinstalled the turret hatch stops using Mato’s metal arms. The original plastic ones didn’t survive shipping and/or initial removal.

- Added the commander’s aiming guide that goes right in front of the commander’s cupolar. That’s some F-1x-6 brass strip from www.specialshapes.com that has had the sides and tip filed into shape and then epoxied the aiming guide into place.

Turret is just about finished and then I’ll reassemble it completely.

jeffery.chan

hi

this is jeffery.i post some fotos of my 1/10 panzer IV.
i dont know if you guys can see the fotos..??

strmnd54

I've been following this thread from the start, and since I decided to build a Panzer IV F2 for my winter project; I will shamelessly copy some of the mods shown in here for my tank...