KRK4m Posted April 15, 2020 Share Posted April 15, 2020 (edited) Another Wehrmacht AFV - this time their most numerous tank, used (and manufactured) from the first to the last day of WW2. Conceived as the "support" (i.e. infantry) tank, the Sd.Kfz.161 was initially armed with a 75mm howitzer that proved helpless against the armour of the British Matilda and Soviet T-34. Thus the later generation Pz.Kpfw. IVs (starting from Ausf.F2) were fitted with the long-barrel AT gun of the same calibre. Introduced in early 1942 the long-cannon Panzer IV became a dangerous adversary for the Allied tanks in North Africa and these four late variants (Ausf. F2, G, H and J) totalled for more than 7400 of some 8700 Panzer IVs built. Weighing about 25 tons they were powered with 300 BHP Maybach V12 petrol engine. The best 1/72 kit of the "late" Panzer IV on the market is the Russian Zvezda #5017 - the quite new (2018) tooling. There are 147 parts, crisply moulded and no sealing/sanding is necessary at all. Regrettably there's only one boxing available - the late (1944) Ausf.H "mit Schurzen". So as my idea was to have a Pz.Kpfw.IV in desert scheme (and Ausf. H manufactured from 1943 always featured the RAL7028 Dunkelgelb scheme) I had to retrograde the kit a little. Of course all skirt armour panels (and their support's numerous locating lugs) had to be omitted. Then the muzzle was shortened some 5.2mm (the Ausf.G had the KwK 40 L/43 gun whereas the one in Ausf.H was of KwK 40 L/48 type - 375mm longer) and the front sprocket wheels were modified (there were 12 spokes in Ausf.H). The hull side vison ports were added while the driver and gunner hatches were also backdated to the earlier shape. The antenna went from the rear left hull corner to the right hull side and the layout of several tools on the mudguards also had to be changed. Happily "my" Ausf.G was of the late type, thus the Zvezda-supplied single-piece commander's cupola hatch could be used intact. The well-known "red 7" belonged to the 8. Regiment of the famous Deutsche Afrika Korps 15. Panzer-Division. These 1942-production tanks sported the rare "late desert" camouflage of RAL8020 Sandbraun and RAL7027 Sandgrau - much lighter than the 1941 DAK scheme. The paints are (as always) brush-painted enamels: Humbrol 240 for Sandgrau and Airfix (yes, still alive after all these 50 years) M9 for the Sandbraun. Afterwards the Vallejo acrylic matt varnish was brush-applied overall. The digits are from the HobbyBoss Mi-4 helicopter, the Division red triangles came from the Unimodels Panzer III Ausf. J kit, while the black "ace of spades" emblems and red regiment emblems were brush-painted. The pictures are made by LG smartphone. Comments welcome. Cheers Michael Edited April 23, 2020 by KRK4m 19 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWM Posted April 15, 2020 Share Posted April 15, 2020 Very nice result and photos! Incredible that Airfix paint was applicable 50 years after its production... Regard J-W 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3DStewart Posted April 18, 2020 Share Posted April 18, 2020 A good result. The background is an effective background for the desert. Is it carpet? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wulfman Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 Lovely looking panzer, very nice job ! Wulfman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumblestripe Posted April 24, 2020 Share Posted April 24, 2020 Nice looking Pz4. If I might offer a constructive criticism, don't paint the rubber tyres black, if you look at photos in period the tyres look very much the same tone as the rest of the tank Use a light to mid grey. It's one of those "everything you know is wrong" things, like the colour of a tree trunk (not brown but mostly grey green) 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KRK4m Posted April 24, 2020 Author Share Posted April 24, 2020 46 minutes ago, Rumblestripe said: If I might offer a constructive criticism, don't paint the rubber tyres black, if you look at photos in period the tyres look very much the same tone as the rest of the tank Use a light to mid grey. It's one of those "everything you know is wrong" things, like the colour of a tree trunk (not brown but mostly grey green) Thank you for this advice. Actually it's my 4th model after almost 50-year break in AFV modelling. And the last one featuring black rubber bandages. Perhaps I should dismantle the tracks and repaint the wheels dark grey, as they are painted in Stug.40 and all the kits that are "under construction" since then. Cheers Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3DStewart Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 Yes dark grey tyres look much better. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrzeM Posted May 2, 2020 Share Posted May 2, 2020 On 4/24/2020 at 10:34 PM, Rumblestripe said: If I might offer a constructive criticism, don't paint the rubber tyres black, if you look at photos in period the tyres look very much the same tone as the rest of the tank Use a light to mid grey. It's one of those "everything you know is wrong" things, like the colour of a tree trunk (not brown but mostly grey green) To be honest, on this photo there are no rubber tyres, they seem to be totally burned. But dark grey is better than black anyway. Michale, your model is very good, but it would be much better if you use wash for recessed details. I'd suggest Nuln Oil (black) and Reikland fleshshade or Agrax earthshade (brown) from Citadel range (excellent British paints for Warhammer figures, not the cheapest ones but really worth of their price!). Good tutorial of washing is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNZUDk6tRxw 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KRK4m Posted May 11, 2020 Author Share Posted May 11, 2020 On 4/18/2020 at 5:27 PM, 3DStewart said: A good result. The background is an effective background for the desert. Is it carpet? No - the carpet won't be so flexible. It's the beloved Christian Lacroix (100% polyester) blanket of my lady. I hope she won't read this entry BTW I have used it also in the same role for the pictures of Cheers Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigster Posted May 12, 2020 Share Posted May 12, 2020 Hi KRK4m! To be honest, I would not bother with dismantling those "offending:-)" parts of your kit. Take your pigments (if you have/use this stuff), then go for your life covering wheels, tracks (are they "metallic" - really?) If you don't have any (what?? - doing tanks?? :-) ), just try to put very thin coats of your ancient Humbrol over the bottom part, adding a bit of brown, a bit of dark grey to it. Or any other colour - you may be surprised. Just not all at once! Well, you may use some of it on the upper structure as well to introduce "working in the field" look. Just remember - do it slowly with very thin coats. Take it back to the "Work in Progress" and new set of pix afterwards! Happy modelling Zig 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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