1/76 IBG Deutsche Afrika Korps Panzer IV Ausf. D, Battle of Gazala, 1942.

[Disrok]

Howdy y'all! 

 

I present you all my 

1/76 IBG Panzerkampfwagen IV (Sd.Kfz. 161) Ausf D, 8th Company, 5th Regiment, Deutsche Afrika Korps, Battle of Gazala, May 27-28, 1942. 

 

This is my first post in this fine community, even though I have followed it since I started model building back again. I got back into modelling around a year ago after probably 8 years away from the hobby. So far I have finished 6 models (including this one), with the first 5 being aircraft since that is my main interest, all of them in God's True Scale; 1/72. 

 

Now onto the kit, I originally purchased this model for less than $8 dollars on eBay where it was advertised as a 1/72 model. I had heard some good things about IBG and wanted something not too complicated to get a taste for their models. However upon arrival and discovery that it was instead a 1/76 model I thought of putting it away and possibly swap it at a meet. Luckily, I really wanted to get into small scale armor and this was the only armor kit I had back then (the armor stash has grown significantly since then). To my surprise, the detail in the kit was as good as any 1/72 kit, even I forget sometimes that this is 1/76. 

Since this was my first armor model, I spent a lot of time researching mud and sand textures on scale models as well as historical pictures of German armor in Libya. Ultimately, I was heavily inspired and guided by Nightshift's great videos on YouTube, especially on what products to purchase for armor models. 

 

The build was quick and pretty much pain free, there were some areas that needed some cleaning up to achieve a perfect fit but one could get away without this. The build was pretty much OOB except for the handmade sandbag in the front and rolled up tarp in the turret, and the storage box on the side of the superstructure which is a resin piece. Everything except the tracks and the turret were cemented before being primed with Mr. Surfacer 1500. 

 

Painting was not as simple as I originally wanted it to be due to the fact that I learned that the tank I was building my model after was an ex-Battle of France tank that was transferred to Africa in early 1942. So after priming the model black, I spent too much time painting the model in German Grey (Tamiya XF-63), mainly because I wanted practice color modulating and highlighting. After the painting was done, it was sealed with AK Intermediate Glossy to prepare for the decals since most markings where applied on the German Grey. After I covered the decals up and applied a coat of Vallejo chipping fluid, I painted the base coat in a mix of RAL 8000 and RAL 8020 since I could not find exact color for this tank because crews did not really maintain uniform standards most of the time. After everything had dried, I used a stiff brush and an old airbrush needle with hot water to chip the top later of RAL 8000/8020 until I was satisfied with the result. Most of the weathering was done with AK enamel washes and filters, oil paints, Wilder textured earth and a pencil. Once I was happy with the model, I sealed everything in a coat of XF-86 Flat clear. 

 

I am beyond happy with the result I was able to achieve here and I can not wait to crack on to my next armor model. 

 

Comments and Feedback are greatly appreciated. 

 

Scale: 1/76

Manufacturer: IBG 

Model: Panzer IV Ausf. D

Date Finished: August, 2021 

 

 

 

 

[Homer]

Beautiful piece of modelling well done 👏. 

[Carius]

Excellent job on small Panzer, great weathering effects.

 

Cesar

[keefr22]

That's a cracking job! Really like your paint and weathering - I prefer 'braille scale' armour to larger scales, and that is a fine example of one!

 

Lovely work!

 

Keith

[Hairtrigger]

That could certainly pass for a much larger scale model... Brilliant result.

[Model Mate]

That’s some stunning chipping, particularly on the engine deck - great work!

[Courageous]

Nice work, lovely weathering.

 

Stuart

[StuartH]

Super result and looks very rugged and realistic. Chipping very good 👍

[Nenad Ilijic]

Lovely work! It definitely looks like a much larger scale. Never tried smaller scales myself, I guess it requires a lot of patience

 

Cheers,

Neand

[Bertie McBoatface]

Very nice especially when so small.

[manuel]

Hello,

good work but it is not 1/76 it's 1/72 scale.

Manuel

[veg]

Brilliant job. I’m fairly new to the forum and like you it’s 72nd aircraft and 72-76th armour. Fab job. 

[Gordon J]

That's an absolutely fantastic bit of modelling on such a small scale.

 

Love it.

[Don Donato]

Great work. 

[Duxford1985]

Great model love the scratching done on it. We'll done 

[simont382]

Amazing result for such a small scale. Rather jealous as there is no way my eyes would allow me to model in this scale!! Keep up the good work and looking forward to seeing your next build

[Cromm Cruac]

I'm just about to build DAK Panzer IV in 1/72 as well and I'll definitely try your method of chipping. The results are fab!

[Roberto]

Painting and weathering are amazing, more so given the scale!