Jagdpanzer IV, Jagdpanther V and Stug IV

[echen]

This is my last Hasegawa model.

 

The kit includes a set of the most awful tracks I have ever seen. Here they are in all their glory.............

The "guide  teeth" are an almost continuous ridge along the centre line.

The destructions look like standard Hasegawa, not bad and reasonably easy to follow.

 

There's a paragraph at the foot of the paint scheme that points out that, as an early Jagdpanzer IV this should have Zimmerit. I've seen after market zimmerit for this kit but I'm not minded to spend any more on it.

I'm going to attempt a mod to a later version, post September 1944 when Zimmerit was stopped.

JP IVs continued in production until November 1944 when somebody dropped a lot of HE onto the Vomag factory where JP IVs were being built so this will be representing a JP IV from almost the end of production of the L/48 version.

On examination of the parts there appears to be a bit of an issue with the rear panel.

 

The cylinders on the back panel behind the idlers on both sides do not line up with the rear of the idler axles, they're offset above them. I don't want to sabotage the strength of the running gear, particularly as the tracks might prove to be a bit tight, so I think this will be left as it is.

The early versions had two ports for an MG42, one each side of the main gun. The left hand MG was difficult to use. (Probably gave the driver a headache.) So it was deleted in later models.

 So I've filled the left hand port and will sand it smooth when dry.

 

Thanks for looking in.

Edited Tuesday at 03:36 PM by echen

[IanC]

I shall follow along with this one.

 

I remember building this kit and using an etched set for the zimmerit. You're right about the awful tracks. I replaced mine with aftermarket rubber band ones that actually looked quite good. Can't remember the name though, or if they still exist. 😟

[echen]

Filled the left hand mg port.

And primed it all with matt black enamel.

 

 

Because last time I tried an initial coat of acrylic base colour without primer it kept refusing to "take" and I kept finding bare patches.

[echen]

The later JP IVs dispensed with the muzzle brake so I tried to make an L48 gun barrel from sprue.

The sprue was way too thick so I put it in my electric drill and sanded it. Unfortunately, instead of a heavily tapered gun barrel as supplied, I ended up with an item of varying diameters at intervals along its length.

Back to the drawing board as I don't think the supplied item will do now that I've seen reference picks of L/48 barrels that are the same external diameter for their whole length. (I don't want a AM barrel on principal for this kit.)

Maybe I'll try rolling out some milliput like I did for an Airfix Sherman a while back; the supplied barrel for that was heavily tapered too.

Edited September 27 by echen
typo & pic added

[echen]

A little progress.

Found some thinner sprue and made a start. I's difficult to keep it from going wonky as it still needs sanding. Milliput might yet feature in this build.

 

And fitted the schurzen mounts, hoping they won't interfere with getting the tracks on.

Nest step the base coat.

Edited July 15, 2021 by echen

[Longbow]

One of my favorite vehicles !!

I have a Dragon one, built, but not painted yet, sitting in a box, here. 

[echen]

On 7/15/2021 at 3:01 PM, Longbow said:

I have a Dragon one

I bet it's got, at least, better tracks than this one!

Edited July 16, 2021 by echen

[Longbow]

23 minutes ago, echen said:

I bet it's got, at least better, tracks than this one!

Dragon magic tracks

 

 

[echen]

Just looked up Dragon Magic Tracks - they look like fun!

 

Changing the subject from tracks to cam, has anyone ever tried decal-cam?

I've seen late war German vehicles with patches of circles in cam colours. This looks like it might be horrendous to paint so I wonder if decals of the cam might work.

It'll be tricky on uneven surfaces but micro set/sol might handle the lumps. The cam pattern is on transparent decal film so the base colour will show through.

Edited July 15, 2021 by echen

[echen]

Found that sanding lengthways evens it up a bit.

Still tapers a little at the saukopf end but if I can even up the diameter all the way along and polish it I think it might be ok.

Otherwise the Milliput will put in an appearance after all.

[vytautas]

 

Hi mate

It seems to me that it would be easier to make a barrel if you took a much longer piece of sprue. It would be easier to hold it during processing. When done, you would then cut both not straight ends to the required barrel length. In this way, the rest would be straighter, without extra tapering.
I noticed that doing this kind of thing is better by hand, without using an electric drill - the result is much better.

 

Vytautas

[echen]

14 minutes ago, vytautas said:

a much longer piece of sprue

Thanks mate. This had crossed my mind. It does feel a bit like I'm flogging a dead horse trying to shape the short piece. 

Edited July 16, 2021 by echen

[echen]

A first coat of base colour.

AK713 RAL 7028 Dunkelgelb Aus 44 Dgi. This paint is new to me as I've previously only ever used Humbrol or Revell. It was very kindly given to me by a fellow Britmodeller.

I mixed it way too thinly, not wanting to obscure what detail there is on this kit. I have since read that it should be 1:2 thinner to paint so I'll try that for the next coat. Hopefully that will give the coverage I need using my customary hairy stick.

Any input on mixing water/AK Interactive paint ratios for hairy stix would be welcome if the above doesn't look right.

[Troy Smith]

2 hours ago, echen said:

AK713 RAL 7028 Dunkelgelb Aus 44 Dgi. This paint is new to me as I've previously only ever used Humbrol or Revell. It was very kindly given to me by a fellow Britmodeller.

I mixed it way too thinly, not wanting to obscure what detail there is on this kit. I have since read that it should be 1:2 thinner to paint so I'll try that for the next coat. Hopefully that will give the coverage I need using my customary hairy stick.

Any input on mixing water/AK Interactive paint ratios for hairy stix would be welcome if the above doesn't look right.

I have some AK that comes in dropper bottle like Vallejo,  seemed to be between Model Color and Model Air in thickness.   For acrylics with a brush, first, use a small flat brush,   and, I tend to add some to a palette, and use small syringe, to add my thinner, which is 95% De-ionised water* (sold for irons in supermarkets)  and 5% flow improver,  easy to mix by just using the syringe graduations, add drop by drop to thin.

I find Model Air doesn't need thinning,  but tiny amount of flow improver helps,  I dip a rod into the FI bottle and this get a tiny drop on it.  You want it like milk.   And, again, use a flat brush.....  it really makes all the difference.

 

If you have not seen it, @PlaStix who is a dedicated brush painter,  did this video 

https://youtu.be/QwdZtF_dpDY

 

well worth looking at his work, very impressive use of acrylics.  

On 15/07/2021 at 15:57, echen said:

I've seen late war German vehicles with patches of circles in cam colours. This looks like it might be horrendous to paint so I wonder if decals of the cam might work.

It'll be tricky on uneven surfaces but micro set/sol might handle the lumps. The cam pattern is on transparent decal film so the base colour will show through.

Are these kit decals, or AM ones?

 

* I don't know how much difference de-ionised water makes,  but it's cheap and I had some.  A litre of it will go a long way.   

 

HTH

 

 

[echen]

2 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

For acrylics with a brush, first, use a small flat brush,   and, I tend to add some to a palette, and use small syringe, to add my thinner, which is 95% De-ionised water*

Thanks for the tips for using acrylics and yes, I've seen Plastix' work; he certainly knows what he's doing!

 

2 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

Are these kit decals, or AM ones?

These are echen home made decals on transparent Mr Decal paper. I haven't tried them yet but will practice on a piece of scrap plastic before they go anywhere else.

E

[echen]

Second base coat, not so thinned this time.

Maybe not thinned enough.

Haven't got the hang of this type of paint yet.

I think I'll watch Plastix' video again before I do any more.......................

[Stef N.]

One more base coat I think should do it Echen.👍

[Longbow]

Yup, definitely requires another base coat, there.... 

Looking good !!

[echen]

Think I might have solved the gun barrel issue. Looking for something else in the spares box I came across a couple of Plastic Soldier Company 17pdr barrels from the 3-vehicle M4 set I'd forgotten I had.

Hopefully they'll be the right diameter. 🤞

I built 2 M4s and a Firefly so I have the two unused barrels.

I'll keep 1 as a replacement in case of emergencies and experiment with shortening the other one to fit the JP IV.

[echen]

Started looking at the cam.

Tried using the end of a drill-bit at the right diameter - didn't work.

Hairy sticks rule.

Used the underside as a practice area. This can be obscured with mud - I don't think that belly armour ever got camouflaged! (I doubt anyone expected their panzer to get flipped.)

The pattern is not as regular as I'd hoped so I'll try out my decals next - see which looks best.

Beginning to take to this kit after disappointment with previous Hasegawa offerings. I've ordered some AM Planet vinyl tracks. Doubt they could be any worse than the kit parts - so long as they fit!

Edited November 30, 2021 by echen

[Jasper dog]

So what's the plan.....?

I do like the Jagdpanzer, never taken by the disk camo myself so good luck with it.

Always struck me as a strange thing to do, struggling for men, resources and time yet they decide to go for a bizarre over lapping disk camo instead of a straightforward freehand two/three tone pattern...

 

Good luck.

[echen]

1 hour ago, Jasper dog said:

So what's the plan.....?

Awaiting the am tracks to see if I can improve the finished look enough to justify the effort involved in disc cam.

 

1 hour ago, Jasper dog said:

Always struck me as a strange thing to do, struggling for men, resources and time

They built over-engineered Tigers for the cost of several other effective types: they made MG42s that sprayed 1200 rpm of scarce ammo and were tricky to maintain; the air ministry wasted effort on devising competing exotic designs at the expense of stuff that worked. Maybe it was a struggle to be the best and to demonstrate nazi superiority, fortunately for the rest of the planet.

The downside of having armed forces run by a Corporal, perhaps?

Edited December 3, 2021 by echen

[echen]

Tracks arrived. They have individual guide "spikes" at the centre and are a bit longer than the kit tracks. The sprocket drive holes appear to correspond to the kit track pattern too.

These will be an improvement on the supplied items so I think I'll try for disc cam and see how it goes.

Herewith some pics to illustrate the contrast.

First the kit tracks:

Then the AM tracks which turned out to be CMK not Planet.

 

Not very clear pics.

I also just received my first and last Strelets kit. It looks like it's moulded in play-dough!

Edited December 3, 2021 by echen

[Jasper dog]

22 hours ago, echen said:

They built over-engineered Tigers for the cost of several other effective types: they made MG42s that sprayed 1200 rpm of scarce ammo and were tricky to maintain; the air ministry wasted effort on devising competing exotic designs at the expense of stuff that worked. Maybe it was a struggle to be the best and to demonstrate nazi superiority, fortunately for the rest of the planet.

The downside of having armed forces run by a Corporal, perhaps?

They did but the Tiger came into service 42 as did the Mg 42. A fearsome weapon, still used post war, if used correctly in short bursts. (Some say over engineered Tiger, perhaps just poorly engineered...)

After the failure of Barborossa they had little choice but to hope for a miracle weapon. Lesson one for aspiring megalomaniacs; if you're a country with very limited natural resources don't go for total domination unless it can be achieved really quickly!

The Germans didn't have the resources to wage war like the Allies (US) or the Russians,  it really was a loose loose for them. Best they could hope for was a negotiated settlement courtesy of the new "wonder weapons" to buy them time.

 

However doesn't get past the important factor of why the disk camo....

 

Pics are a bit dark but those new tracks certainly look a vast improvement on the old ones!

Good luck!

[echen]

Tried the decal disc cam.

The decals have not turned out as well as I hoped. Having previously had problems with ink dissolving where water leaked under the gloss coat where I'd cut the images out I cut them first this time then gloss coated.

They took ages to lift but, even then they split in places as parts stayed attached to the backing.

I think the brush-painted cam looks better so I'll refine my technique a bit and carry on with this method.