MiniArt Pz.Beob.Wg.IV Ausf.J (35344) Late/Last Production 2 in 1 with Crew 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd

[Julien]

 

Pz.Beob.Wg.IV Ausf.J  (35344)

Late/Last Production 2 in 1 with Crew

1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd

 

 

Unlike the later Tigers and Panther tanks, the Panzer IV had been designed in the years leading up to the outbreak of WWII, and was intended for a different role than it eventually played, which was as a form of infantry support with the mobile artillery function rolled into one.  It was a heavier tank than the previous numbered types, and was well-designed, although it did suffer from the typical WWII German over-engineering that made them complex, expensive and slow to build.  The type went through a number of enhanced variants including a more powerful engine to give better performance, improved armour thickness for survivability, and latterly the provision of a larger gun with a longer high velocity barrel that was based upon the Pak-40, but with shortened recoil mechanism and an enlarged muzzle-brake that helped contain the ferocious recoil from the 75mm gun.  The new gun was in direct reaction to the first encounter with the T-34 in Soviet hands, an incident that put the wind up the German tankers and their superiors, as they knew very little of its existence until they had to fight it. 

 

The Ausf.J was the last mainstream variant of the Pz.IV, and was made from 1944 until the end of the war with over 3,600 made, some of which were manufactured at the Nibelungenwerk, one of the largest factories in the German area of influence, based in St Valentin, Austria.  Other factories initially making the type had been switched to produce other vehicles although the Vomag factory was still producing some quantity , but by the war’s end Nibelungenwerk was the home of the Panzer IV, and as such was bombed heavily, strangling production as the bombers took their toll. The Panzerbeobachtungswagen IV was designed as an fully armoured artillery observation tank, this had the same commander’s cupola at the StuG III, with seven periscopes instead of the vision slits of the normal Panzer  IV, an additional radio mast at the right rear hull plate which included an armored housing, and relocation of an aerial to the Turret roof; with a rotating mount for a periscope located on the left side of the turret roof, and a seond inside the main hatch. 3 radio sets were introduced as well as plotting equipment, to make room for all of this the turret co-axial machine gun was removed.

 

 

The Kit

This is now the third boxing of the newly tooled model of the Panzer IV from MiniArt, and is brand new, unlike the first boxing which we looked at here  this is not an interior kit though there is enough in there to see if you want to leave some hatches open. The kit has the option to build either an Ausf. J or the Beob Artillery Spotting Version. MiniArt have also included a set of German figures in winter uniform (which is their set 35021)..  The kit arrives in a heavily loaded top-opening box, and inside are 27 sprues in grey styrene of various sizes, 2 clear sprues, two sheets of Photo-Etch (PE) in a card envelope, a decal sheet and thick instruction booklet with colour profiles for the decal options on the inside covers; and a sprue for the figures.  It has individual link tracks included that are made up on a jig (more about those later); there are 22 links of tracks with 4 sprues of track pins. The level of detail in this kit is exceptional, which is something we’ve come to expect from MiniArt’s output lately. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the main hull of the tank. A few internal parts fit to the main floor then the front, sides an rear plates go on. The internal bulkhead for the engine compartments also needs to be installed. Appropriate hatches are added to the glacis plate along with a length of spare track (we will cover the tracks a bit later on). Then the exterior face of each side is detailed with the final drive housing, suspension bump-stops, return roller bases and fuel filler caps before they are glued into place.  The rear bulkhead closes-in the final side of the compartment, and this is festooned with detail with a choice of armoured covers for the track tensioner arms, stiffener plates and access hatches, including a manual starter slot with PE chain keeping the cover captive to the vehicle.  The big towing eye and its stiffeners are applied to the bottom of the bulkhead, and after fitting another full-width plate, the twin exhausts are attached to their exits, made from a combination of styrene and PE parts then braced to the bulkhead by PE straps.  The sides of the hull have a series of armoured panels fixed to the underside to protect the suspension mechanism, then the fenders can be slotted into position at the top of the hull sides, with a delicate tread-plate pattern moulded-in where appropriate.  

 

The upper hull is constructed in a similar manner to the lower, with the roof accepting side panels.  At the front the thick armour panel is adjusted by removing some location markers for certain decal options, the driver’s armoured vision port cover and the ball-mount for the gun complete the exterior work for now.  Flipping the assembly again and it is time to add the interior louvers to the radiator exits, which are PE parts and can be inserted in the open or closed positions, with a change in how they are fitted.  The hull halves can be joined now, but the instructions confusingly show the top louvered panels in the engine deck as being fitted, when they’re not installed until the very end of the next step.  This involves making up the pair of twin fans that cool the radiators within the engine compartment using movable slatted panels to adjust cooling as necessary, and these two sub-assemblies are mated before the panels are glued in place with a choice of open or closed louvers.  A little tool box and some grab handles are attached to the exterior along the way.  The kit supplies a set of four towing cable eyes, but you’re responsible for providing the braided cable, which should be 152mm long and 0.75mm thick, times two.  These are wrapped around two hooks on the rear in a figure-of-eight pattern.  Now it’s pioneer tool time, with barrel cleaning rods, shovel, the jack, plus a set of four spare road wheels in an open-topped box with spanners strapped to the sides, and yet more track-links in a cage on the opposite side.  The rear mudguards and front splash-guards are applied now, and the prominent external fire extinguisher with PE frame (and alternative styrene one if you don’t feel up to wrangling the PE) is fitted to the fender with a pair of wire-cutters and a pry-bar, all of which have optional PE mounts.  Just when you think you’ve finished the tools, there’s a crank for the engine, a pair of track-spreaders, a choice of three axes, plus some styrene springs to allow you to show the front guards in the up position, with optional steps welded to the sides. The two large rear aerials for the radio sets need adding to both side of the rear of the tank. The left one is a simple pole aerial, but the right has a more complex PE spread top; this aerial has its own armoured housing to fit to the rear of the tank. 

 

We’re getting closer to the tracks now, but there’s still a lot of wheels that need to be made.  They are mounted in pairs on twin bogeys with a leaf-spring slowing the rebound of the twin swing-arms.  There are two types of outer casting with two axles (for working or fixed suspension) that the swing-arms slot onto, and are then closed in by a cover, which you also have a choice of two designs for.  Finally, the twin wheels with their hubcap slide onto the axles, and a small oil reservoir is glued to the side of the assembly.  You make four for the left side and a mirrored set of four for the right, plus multi-part idler, two-part drive sprockets and a choice of five different styles of return-rollers that fit onto the posts on the sides of the hull.  The suspension units have slotted mounting points that strengthen their join. Then you can move on to those individual track links. 

 

 

 

The tracks are individual links with separate track pins. Each link has three sprue gates that are small and easy to nip off and clean up.  The included jig will hold eleven links, which are fitted with the guides uppermost.  Then you cut off one complete set of 11 track pins off the sprue and slide them into the pin-holes in the sides of the connected links all at once.  They are then nipped off their length of sprue and can be tidied up. A little glue to the tops of the pins will help to keep them in place, and have a length of track that is still flexible.  Just minimise the amount of glue you use.  There are 101 links per track run, so you’ll be busy for a while, but the result is fabulously detailed as you can see from the pic.  when Mike made up the tracks for the earlier boxing he didn’t bother cleaning up the mould seams for expediency, but if you plan on modelling your Panzer with clean tracks, you can sand them away if you feel the need.

 

 

Track-runs done.  You can relax to an extent now, but there’s a bit of PE folding ahead if you are using the PE mesh schurzen (side skirts) on your model.  First you must add the styrene brackets and PE C-supports on each side, then the long tubular supports for the hook-on schurzen panels, which has a set of horizontal PE panels with folded up edges between the brackets, with additional PE clips over the tabs.  There are three mesh panels per side, with diagonal front and rear lower edges to reduce the likelihood of them digging into the ground.  They are prepped with styrene brackets and PE edge strips before they are dropped into position on the tubular supports.  Bear in mind that these panels were subject to the rigors of battle so were often bent, damaged or even missing entirely, so use your references or imagination to decide whether you wish to depict a fresh set, or a set that have been in the field for a while.

 

Finally, we get to the turret, which begins with the ring at the front a different mantlet is used for the different decal options as the co-axial gun was deleted for the observation tanks.  The inside of the mantlet is fixed to the floor and a full breech for the gun is supplied despite this not being an interior kit,. A seat is added to the rear of the turret ring and the gun sight to the side of the breech. It is glued into the turret base, which then has the other facets added to the roof panel.  The side hatches are the clamshell type, and can be posed open, closed or anywhere in-between, with latches and handles added, and grab-handles over the top to ease exit.  The commander’s cupola is a complex raised part with all round vision blocks. There is a mount inside for an SF14Z scissors periscope was fitted vehicle, along with an armoured periscope fitted to the turret roof. Such is Miniart's attention to detail that the commanders hatch has the separate cut out for the periscope including all latches and hinges. A large stowage bin is made up for the rear of the turret and an additional radio aerial attaches to the roof. 

 

The gun has a flattened faceted sleeve made up with a choice of lower section, and the muzzle brake gives you a choice of four styles that differ slightly from each other if you look closely.  Pick the one suitable for your decal choice, and you can begin to put the gun tube together.  Your choice of mantlet  then has the sleeve slotting into the front, and a single-part styrene barrel fitting into the front with a key ensuring correct orientation; the muzzle-brake having the same feature.   While the hull schurzen are mesh for lightness, the turret ones are solid. They have curved sheets applied to the styrene brackets that glue to the roof and sides, there is a gap for the side hatches that are filled by a pair of hinged doors for more complete protection, and if you were wondering, you get open or closed variants with PE latches, and a group of additional PE parts dotted around the panels.  The space between the bustle and the schurzen is filled at the top by two shaped sheets of mesh to protect against satchel charges or other explosives lodging there and damaging the fighting compartment or jamming the turret.  Because of the complexity and realism of the turret and its ring, it drop-fits into position as the final act, as bayonet lugs aren’t present in the real thing.

 

 

 

Markings

A small decal sheets only gives the modeller minimal markings for 4 tanks.

 

• Unidentified Unit, Germany, early 1945 (winter camo)
• Unidentified Unit, Austria, Spring 1945 (3 colour camo)
• Unidentified Unit, Spring 1945 (3 colour camo)
• Unidentified Unit, Austria, May 1945 (overall gunklegelb) 

 

 

Crew

A single sprue provides five crew members in winter dress. This is Miniart's set 35021 and as such up to their usual standard for figures.

 

 

 

Decals are by MiniArt’s usual partner, DecoGraph, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas.

 

Conclusion

This is one well-detailed kit that should keep you occupied for a good quantity of modelling time.  The lack of interior wont put modellers off, indeed some would prefer it this way, the crew will fill the hatches so any interior wont really need to be seen, or they can be closed. There is still enough detail in the turret to leave those hatches open without using the crew. The inclusion of the crew is a good touch from MiniArt to bring the tank to life. Very highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of