Jagdpanzer IV L/48 - Normandy 1944 - Revell 1/35

[mahavelona]

Hello all

 

I'm going to do my first armour WiP here with a Jagdpanzer I recently started. 

 

My modelling budget is very restricted, which means I am usually stuck building 'basic' 70s armour kits. So I was very excited to spot this in the fantastic sale box as Halifax Modeller's World. 

Let's just say it was a real bargain! 

 

I believe it is a re-box of the Dragon kit, from what I've seen on ScaleMates. As the box advertises, this is an 'Early Production' Jagdpanzer IV L 48. The kit seems really good to me. It is correct in most of its details for the specified variant. However, I believe all Jagdpanzer IVs produced from the first in January 1944 to September 1944 were coated in zimmerit, which this kit is missing. Creating zimmerit will be one of the tasks for me to make this an accurate replica, then. The kit is also missing side skirts, although many Jagdpanzer IVs didn't have these attached, or the skirts fell off.

 

The kit also has some intimidating tracks... I know it'll get good 'sagging' but I'm dreading the monotonous day I build these!

 

 

I've done some research into my vehicle. I'm one of those modellers who likes to build a specific vehicle from a historic photo. I enjoy the research and 'detective work' involved in working out which variant my kit can build and what details I need. To me, replicating a specific historic vehicle adds an extra challenge into the mix and gives value to the finished product. I've got nothing against any other type of modelling, though! 

 

It's always hard to interpret what and where a historical photo depicts. I have concluded that this vehicle was produced in May 1944, and is photographed in Vaiges, Normandy, where I believe it broke down. I think it was part of the 12th SS Panzer Division's Panzer Jäger Abteilung 17. If you are interested in my reasoning, I've included it in a spoiler below. I'd appreciate any comments because I've made plenty of assumptions and would love better evidence!

Spoiler

Production

My vehicle appears to be a Jagdpanzer produced in May 1944, although I could be wrong. This vehicle lacks a muzzle break; I've read that this is true of vehicles produced from May 1944. It also has rounded corners on the inner gun mantle's base plate; I've read that this was changed from square corners during production from April 1944. 

 

Location

I've seen the photograph labelled "SS-Pz.Jg.Abt. 17, Vaiges, France" on the net, most credibly in photograph 1, which appears to identify the site of the photo in modern times. Unfortunately the pinterest post I found this photograph on provides no further details about this location which somebody has obviously researched! Now, this location is controversial, because Janusz Ledwoch's 2002 book "Jagdpanzer IV" book labels photograph 4 as "of unidentified unit in Germany in Spring 1945". This is unusually vague for the book, leading me to believe Ledwoch hadn't much evidence about the location, so I'll accept the internet caption.

 

Unit

The photo caption is all we have to go on here - which calls it "SS Panzer Jäger Abteilung 17". This does not include which SS Panzer Division it was part of! According to Tank Encyclopedia though, only one SS Panzer Division had Jagdpanzer IVs in Normandy in 1944 - the 12th SS Panzer Division. On this tentative evidence I'm calling this a 12th SS Panzer Division vehicle.  

 

The vehicle's fate

I think this tank broke down. I believe this because each photograph appears to vary in quality, as if taken by different cameras. I also note that the blinds behind the tank are closed in some photos, yet open in others, whilst the hatches on the tank, including the engine's, remain open throughout. No crew are visible. These factors lead me to believe this vehicle was sat in this position for an extended period; if it was just passing it is unlikely that the house occupants would decide to open and close their outer blinds in time for separate photos... 

 

Photograph 1

Photograph 2

Photograph 3

Photograph 4

Edited December 14, 2018 by mahavelona

[mahavelona]

And some progress!

Labelling the hull where I want the zimm.

Adding details to the roof. I'll be depicting the periscope hatch open. I've also made some new, thinner housings for the side periscopes from spare plastic. Hopefully an improvement on the thicker kit parts.

 

Deleting the left machine gun port on the front. Only vehicles produced before March 1944 had this port, I believe, and my tank lacks it.

 

The kit comes with a squared off base plate for the mantlet; I read this was changed to the rounded shape I have cut here from April 1944. Thankfully our photos of "212" depict this nicely.

 

I've glued all the wheely bits to the hull sides! You can see the trial position of my figure here; he'll be visible through the small periscope hatch, peeping into it.

[mahavelona]

Bit of progress for you!

 

I have been using milliput to create zimmerit on the relevant surfaces. I find it easier to zimm each part before bringing them all together. I think the milliput is a little too thick for scale, but I like the effect. I used a piece of sprue, sanded to a 'V' shape at the end, to make each indentation.

The walkaround contained in Mucha & Parada's "Jagdpanzer IV L/48" book was invaluable for deciding the particular zimmerit pattern.

It's debatable whether I should zimmerit the machine gun port (circular shape to the right of the mantle). Some Jagdpanzers had zimmerit here whilst others did not. My photos don't make it clear for 

"212" doesn't appear to have zimmerit on the hull sides, behind the wheels. That makes my job easier!

Question: is there any reason that some Jagdpanzer IVs/other Panzer IV variants have zimmerit on the lower hull sides, whilst others do not?

 

Here I'm dry fitting the mantle plate. I'm zimmeriting the hatches on the glacis plate first, then I'll fill in the rest of the plate afterwards. Hopefully this will help me preserve the detail of those hatches.

I'm also doing a few rudimentary details on the interior. I have no intention of properly detailing the interior, but I will be leaving the small periscope hatch open. Very little will be visible inside the dark tank and most will be obscured by the figure and periscope, but I'm adding a few shapes to hint at the interior detail for anybody peeping into the periscope.

Edited December 18, 2018 by mahavelona

[Redcoat2966]

Great research......and progress so far.......

 

Cheers

Simon.

[Hewy]

 I like those pictures as well, and that's a fine job on zimmerit, all the best

[badger]

Just a wild guess but would the vehicles without zimmerit on the lower hull sides have had their zimmerit field applied as I doubt crews would remove the tracks, wheels.etc to apply it.

 

The vehicles with it may have had it applied in the factory where it would be easier to do before wheels etc are fitted?

 

Just my thoughts I hasten to add.

Edited December 18, 2018 by badger

[the South African]

I have read somewhere that tanks in the field during late 43 were done by their crews and thus I would hazard that tanks without the coating would have been done in a field workshop or the crew. 

 

Regards:

Shaun 

 

[mahavelona]

Thanks chaps! I appreciate it.

 

Interesting to hear about the zimmerit being applied in the field potentially. I wonder if this practice continued past 1943, as Jagdpanzers were produced from early 1944?

[PlaStix]

Fascinating project and looking very good so far! 

Kind regards,

Stix

[mahavelona]

More progress today!

 

I've been preparing the lower hull in order to get all the wheels on. I think I'll been to assemble the individual track links (gulp) before mating the lower and upper hull sections together, which means having everything down there attached and weathered whilst it is still easily accessible. With flexible tra

 

I've failed to photograph the road wheels so far, but over the past few days I have:

- Sanded the seams and glued them together

- Painted them in Tamiya acrylics

- Painted, dark washed and drybrushed the rubber tyres to weather them

- Painted the insides in the red oxide primer colour - a detail which will be hard to see but I have noted in photos!

I've also painted the rest of the lower hull. A little dark wash and drybrushing, too. Photos seem to show just a few 'blobs' of the camo colours down there, which I have approximated. Not too happy with the way they look to be honest. I've added a small amount of black to all of these colours, to create a bit of a 'shadow' effect against the lighter top sides of the tank.

 

Finally, the top of the hull is starting to get stuck together! I had a bit of dark wash left over so I slapped it all over the zimmerit surfaces. Perhaps this will have a pre-shading effect when I come to paint it later? We shall see.

 

For some reason the Jagdpanzer looks a little like a hedgehog to me!

[Yetifan]

Great progress so far, what colour did you use for the yellow? Looks much lighter than my usual Tamiya XF-60. The zimmerit is looking good 🙂

[mahavelona]

Thanks! I've used Tamiya Xf60 throughout, although I thave darkened it on the lower hull. Could be the light? The upper hull has a lot of yellow on it from the zimmerit which is made of yellow/grey milliput and not yet painted

[Scargsy]

Are you in/near Halifax? That's my original neck of the woods, though I'm now down near London. What's Halifax Modeller's World like - I haven't been in a physical model shop since all the Model Zone shops went bust, might have to see if they're open over the Christmas period and try and sneak down when visiting the family

[Hewy]

I didn't know the middle of the wheels were left rot braun, was this all the time, or just occasionally? Good job on the lower hull

[the South African]

Build looks very nice mahalevona. Depending on what stage of the war you are talking about Hewy I would hazard a guess that middle to late period it would always have been left rot braun as pigment and paint would have started to get a bit scarce by then to say the least. 

 

Regards:

Shaun 

[mahavelona]

6 hours ago, Scargsy said:

Are you in/near Halifax? That's my original neck of the woods, though I'm now down near London. What's Halifax Modeller's World like - I haven't been in a physical model shop since all the Model Zone shops went bust, might have to see if they're open over the Christmas period and try and sneak down when visiting the family

I moved into Halifax very recently. Modeller's World really is what it says on the tin - a world of delights! Imagine any of your favourite traditional model shops, before they all started sadly disappearing. Dave's shop is up there with them. It is very well stocked, including a couple of very enticing 'sale' boxes where you'll find 1/48 BF-109s, Spitfires or 1/35 kits like this Jagdpanzer for £10. I go in probably once or twice a week just to gaze in awe at the shelves! Best of all the place is always busy, I have very rarely been the sole customer in there. Probably the only model shop I know which looks to be thriving. Definitely worth a visit. 

 

1 hour ago, Hewy said:

I didn't know the middle of the wheels were left rot braun, was this all the time, or just occasionally? Good job on the lower hull

I've only got this to go on:

This is from Mucha & Parada's 'Jagdpanzer IV L/48' book which features a walkaround of one of the only early Jagdpanzer IV L/48s still in existence. Looking at the photos again I'm now questioning if those wheels are just rusty! 

Probably not every Jagdpanzer had bare primer on the inner wheels, I'd be surprised, but I think it is a nice detail and nobody could prove either way.

[the South African]

Definately rust mate if I zoom in on the pic you can clearly see the texture but as I have said late war period was chaos so it may very well be that some parts were just left as they were produced. 

 

Regards:

Shaun 

[mahavelona]

43 minutes ago, the South African said:

Definately rust mate if I zoom in on the pic you can clearly see the texture but as I have said late war period was chaos so it may very well be that some parts were just left as they were produced. 

 

Regards:

Shaun 

Yes I can see what you mean about the texture. I'm not especially knowledgable about how these tanks would rust over time, but I must presume that parts which have no paint would rust before painted parts? These inner wheels look to be consistently rusty, so I would hazard a guess that these inners were left in bare metal? If they were painted would we not expect a more 'flaky', inconsistent rust surface?

 

Either way I've painted those inners now, they aren't very visible and as you say it does make some historic narrative sense!

 

Moving on to the topic of stowage...

 

Question: How do you guys interpret the 'stuff' on the mantle plate in this photo? 

It looks like some sort of wires to the right of the mantle (as viewed from the front) and perhaps some foliage to the left? I'm struggling to pick out what it is. I might just leave that space empty of stowage on this model but it could be fun to try and model. Any guesses about the stowage on the top of the tank would be helpful too. It looks like an ammo box and perhaps a paper map to the left of the photo - not sure about the right.

 

[mahavelona]

 

I'm now ready to start constructing the tracks... Gulp! I weathered the hull sides before adding wheels with two coats of a thick humbrol acrylic 110 brown wash, to simulate mud and dirt. Then I smeared squadron white putty all over the sides to create 3D mud - a technique I like. It works better when the putty is thinned down with enamel thinners, but I have no access to enamels as I am currently modelling in a one bedroom apartment shared with a girlfriend so smelly modelling ain't possible! As such I think the mud is a little thick but it'll do. Because this is a vehicle depicted during June I'll be aiming to make this mud on the sides look quite dry and won't be aiming to add much to the 'moving parts' - suspension, wheels or tracks. 

 

This mud will look much better after 4-5 washes and drybrushing sessions with different shades of brown, but I think that can be done later as I'll apply the same effect to other surfaces on the tank.

Edited December 20, 2018 by mahavelona

[PlaStix]

You seem to motoring on with this one and it's looking very good. I like the weathering you are doing on the lower hull sides. And I can see what you mean about the hedgehog resemblance! 🦔

Kind regards,

Stix

[Silenoz]

Looking good so far. Despite it's age it is still a nice kit to build...

[Hewy]

Now I like your mud work, it's something I can't seem to master so I steer clear, cool job

[FrancisGL]

A good job with the Zimm, although as you say, is a somewhat hard material for that purpose. Once cured, you can sand it gently if you do not like some part, or use acetone to soften it and be able to mold it once more, although if you have not used it before, keep in mind that it also dilutes the plastic on which it is applied, and Do it in a well ventilated area...

Cheers mate 

[mahavelona]

On 20/12/2018 at 17:08, Hewy said:

Now I like your mud work, it's something I can't seem to master so I steer clear, cool job

Cheers! I think my white putty technique is easy, you literally just dab it on in a messy fashion. 

On 21/12/2018 at 17:33, FrancisGL said:

A good job with the Zimm, although as you say, is a somewhat hard material for that purpose. Once cured, you can sand it gently if you do not like some part, or use acetone to soften it and be able to mold it once more, although if you have not used it before, keep in mind that it also dilutes the plastic on which it is applied, and Do it in a well ventilated area...

Cheers mate 

Thanks for the tip! My pattern isn't super even but I'm resigned to that. I have given the zimm a good sanding to thin and smoothen it which I feel improves the realism. It is a good material because it's easy to break a small section of dry milliput zimmerit off and apply it again, as I have done on the glacis plate.

On 20/12/2018 at 15:04, PlaStix said:

You seem to motoring on with this one and it's looking very good. I like the weathering you are doing on the lower hull sides. And I can see what you mean about the hedgehog resemblance! 🦔

Kind regards,

Stix

Thanks! Glad you like the mud. I've had a lot of free time to work on it lately but unfortunately progress has now halted until after the new year. I'm off down south to see family and another workbench, which has an unfinished Catalina sitting on it.

 

 

Here is all the progress I've made since the last photos.

Bit of sanding on the zimm. Glued detail parts together. I've noticed that the right hand flap at the front of the tracks is not missing in the photos - it's just lifted up on its hinges. I've used some plasticky card to make another flap and fit it in place on the 'hinge'.

 

[Hewy]

Top tip for the mud, I'll try it on a mule first, your zimmerit looks ace,