SoftScience

wow, really nice work on the paint job

Don't listen to the bad man, Meng. You keep those details coming.

Thanks, Hewy. I've seen others complain that they're not deep enough, but that's precisely why I like them. Some of the zimmerit I have seen has so much relief, that it traps wazhes and makes the model look way too textured and dark, for my tastes.

This has been really great to read and catch up on. Keep it coming.

Did you say there's new agv stuff in 1/48???????????

Moving along (and less blurry). Nothing to really say. Everything fits, through zimmerit works well, what else? Uhhh... I replaced the grab handle on the engine hatch with guitar strings, and added a little lead wire to the headlight mount. More parts adding to come.

That looks great! I really like the highly faded paint you used. It really lets the weathering show up nicely. Did you use mix olive drab with dark yellow? It looks like you caught and fixed most of the Tamiya Sherman foibles. If you're considering repainting the commander, maybe reposition him, so it doesn't look like he's ordering the tank to advance? The driver's periscopes are closed, so those two elements don't line up so well. But if the commander looked like he was just sitting on a parked tank, it would be just fine. That minor nitpick aside, the model looks fantastic. Your artistic abilities have really come through, and I hope you build more armor in the future, because you have a gift!

Dang, that's cool to see this happening. Future of modeling.

looking really great, sir! The colors you chose for the mud and dirt, look really nice against the gray.

i made the mistake of comparing it with a more recent release of a Panzer IV J, and I'm feeling a touch deflated by how many prominent details are missing.

Thanks guys. I'm getting pretty close to the painting stage. I just need to add a few turret elements. The barrel pieces fit pretty poorly and need a great deal of cleanup. I wanted to try out my red primer (Vallejo), so I sprayed the rest of the tank. I also repositioned some of the oversized tools. This is almost a what if, so I'm not losing sleep over that. Also, I just noticed the I broke off and likely lost the headlght, at some point in the priming stage. Good thing there are two in the box

Looks really cool in the natural light.

The metal cylinders are simply to add weight. When Tamiya first released their 1/48 afv line, they had cast metal lower hull which gave the models some heft. This was to make them seem bigger, psychologically. People hated the hulls, but generally liked the weight=size illusion, so Tamiya compromised and replaced the hulls with the cylinders. Has nil to with the old motorization, which everybody would much rather just forget.

A few other are already showing their Tamiya Panzer IV H kits, in 1/48. But what's just one more? Mine arrived in the mail this morning and I got right to it, while I wait to fix the dubious looking front shackles on my Kugelblitz. I also got the Tamiya zimmerit stickers, which are just brilliant! I have some history with 48th scale armor. I fell for it hard around 2005, when Tamiya was popping out kits about every other month. Between 2005 and 2009, I had built up a small army. The kits were easy to build, and I had much less developed AMS back then, so I would churn out seven or eight of them a year! A few things happened in 2009, including a 1500 mile move, and my eventual disgust in everything I had built up to that point. Most of my collection did not make the move with me, and the few that did we're badly damaged. I continued to build these kits prolifically after the big move, but then sometime around 2010 my interests just went 100% back to aircraft models. I've revisited 48th afvs a few times since then, but just could not relight the fire. In recent weeks my interest has been rekindled by....I don't know what. I just suddenly want to build them again. I only have three left on the shelves from the old collection ( there have been two more cross-country moves since 2010, and they are hell on built models). But it the last two weeks I have attempted to finish an IS-2, I started years ago, and have bought two new kits - including this one. So here we go. First and foremost: this kit is easy! I finished the lower hull in about three hours. Most of that time was spent cutting the zimmerit stickers. These need to be cut by hand, which is easy, but takes some time. Well worth the effort, as they look fantastic, and are infinitely easier than making zimmerit from epoxy putty. Incidentally, the lower hull has much nicer details than the 35 scale Kugelblitz, including proper looking front shackles. The rear hull plate is the cat's pajamas! The only time where the zimmerit stickers are lacking is when they need to go over bolt detail. I tried to drill out the holes, but a punch and dye set would have been more effective here. I added paint to see what they look like painted. Not bad, but the bolts do look a touch sloppy. Sorry about the dodgy photos. I'm about to turn in for the night and the workshop is all buttoned up already.

Good call on the brass schurzen. The plastic parts just don't cut the mustard. Good work. I got one of these too, today. A really superb kit!