Jagdpanzer IV L/48 early- 1/35- border models- "A snake in the bocage"

[Muchmirth]

Hello all,

With the bench gradually clearing of a long term project means its time to start a new one....oh and I've been itching to get this one going. I've been eyeing this lustily for a while  now. I usually have a very strict, set build schedule set out a year in advance but some time you have do what you REALLY want to do an not what you ought. So I've bumped this to the top of the list and with around 4 months til my next group build plenty time to work steadily on it. Its the borders models Jagdpanzer IV L/48 early which came out last year.

 

I'm building this out the box as it doesn't look to need any extras, The track are link and length but look nice and come with a pre-moulded sag in the length part. I was lucky and got the two part epoxy resin and zimmerit  tool with it, which I don't think comes with every box. I've done zim before with fairly poor results so this will give me chance to practice again. 

It also comes with three different option of muzzel brake, some stowage in the form of spare track, spare wheels, buckets and helmets. It has three camo scheme suggestions but I think I'll be doing the one below which was from the 116th pz div Windhunds in Normandy. 

As you can see border models suggest/advertise mig ammo weathering products to use with the kit (which I probably won't be taking up but interesting to see.)

   I wont be doing a huge overly complicated diorama with 20 plus figures (as per usual) but will be adding to the build a mixture of five resin figures from Alpine and rado and setting it in a very basic bocage setting/base. The scene will be called "A snake the bocage" because I was inspired by reading a US tankers description of his experiences in Normandy when he said that he feared the big game, the panthers and tigers but every once in a while a snake in the grass (a stug, jagdpanzer or panzerjager) would jump out and nip at your legs. I liked the image and think the Jagdpanzer looks quite serpent like with it sleek, low laying body and short barrel. 

 

All the best for now,

Paul.

  

 

Edited March 8, 2023 by Muchmirth
Typo

[Stef N.]

It looks to be a cracker and I will happily follow along. All the best with your build.👍

[FrancisGL]

Hi Paul,

one of my favourites, and seems like a quality kit. I've made a couple of these, one in an early stage (FUJIMI, motorized), and another when I got back into the hobby, ITALERI, posted on the forum, but of very poor quality.... I will really like the result.

Cheers and TC

Francis.👍

 

[Maddoxx77]

Got this on my wishlist so i'll follow along to see what you make of it.

[Muchmirth]

Its been a slow start, as I have been painting this handsome chap at the same time:

My new avatar?

 

Anyway a few evenings (probably about 8 or so hours) has me at the below point:

and ....

 

Seems like I've done nothing but theirs a lot of detail and a lot of parts to even get here. 

   First impressions of the kit are all positive. The plastic is good and hard and so can take a lot of handling (cutting and sanding etc) with out bending and breaking. Which is great in my humble opinion. The details of the very tiny plastic parts are crisp and clear, its a very modern looking kit. (By the way this one is probably my first big boy kit, I'm not really great at construction, I prefer painting and weathering, which leads me to my next point about the kit). The Instructions, for me this is very important as other wise I get frustrated. They are very clear, only 16 steps but each step is very detailed for each sub component. No real fit issues....so far.

   I had to look up weather to leave the return rollers as rubberised or bare steel and it looks like by this stage it would have been the steel option. 

 I'm gonna have to employ a bit of the stix method as I'm a brush painter and will paint the track whilst on the sprue and skip ahead a couple steps too do the upper hull next. 

 

 Looking ahead I'm not sure weather to leave one of the shurzen panels off, as damages left off at the repair workshop? Also how much to damage the shurzen, battle damage or driving damage is still a question in my head? I was originally thinking of leaving it as a clean (ish) build? Any thoughts on this is welcome. Equally I really want to try improve my armour builds so if you see me miss something or something which doesn't look right please shout as I'll probably bumble on oblivious. 

 

All the best for now,

Paul.

 

[Keeff]

Looking good so far ... lots of detail!  

 

The figure looks good .... angry, but good! 👍

 

Keith 😁 

[Stef N.]

The face on that fella is superb. Very animated.👍

 

A bit of scratching on the schurzen, maybe where it's driven too close to hedges/trees. Nothing too drastic if you're keeping it on the clean side.

 

[Bullbasket]

I take it that he's not taking part in the latest Colgate advert.

Those few evenings were obviously well spent, as it's moving forward nicely.

 

John.

[Muchmirth]

Thanks lads much appreciated.
With the figure I look at him and smell rotten turnip and see an old carling ad!!! Less Colgate. Haha.

 Stef I think your right at mo I’m leaning more towards scratching and a slightly crumpled front fender. (No doubt will end up totally rotten and abandoned on a scrap heap for 70 years).

 

Paul.

  

 
  

[edjbartos]

That's a good start, I'm looking forward to seeing this progressing.. good luck with the build...

 

Ed

[Nanond]

I have this kit waiting. Your build looks very good. I'll sure be following this one.

[FrancisGL]

Hi Muchmith,

A good start, looking forward to seeing more. Good figure on the other hand.

Cheers

Francis.👍

[PlaStix]

Looks like you have a great project under way here Paul!

Kind regards,

Stix 

[Maddoxx77]

That figure looks stunning!!!! Walked away from the Braveheart set perhaps? 

[mick]

good start

[Muchmirth]

Small update after a long time. This is still ongoing slowly as I took a two week (enforced!) break. Then I had to start decorating the house so have had very little time. But what I have done is make up some spare track links for the back. 
  As you’ll notice I started to make holes in the first two links thinking they had to be the looped style and not the solid guide horns (confusingly you get 4 looped and two whole sprues of solid, in the kit) then I started to go back over my research and refs and realised they are more often than not the solid guide horn. So I will replace or fill on the holes. 

 

 

I’ve done most of the upper hull, bar the schurzen mounts (which the kit gives you too options of but I’m not sure I can actually see a difference between them). I’ll add a pic of this later and see what you think. 
   Lower hull at present:

   

I still really like the kit and it gives you plenty of options through out for minor interchangeable inserts, such as conical shaped mg covers or one conical and one flat headed. The periscopes up or down from hatches. Spare track at rear or front, spare wheel fitments at rear  or not. 
  As I mentioned at the start their a three muzzle brake options advertised with the kit. I wanted to show the tank with no muzzle brake at all, as from ref pics I had seen them removed during Normandy with the 116th div. Turns out savy crews would remove them so to decreased the dust and gas omitted when firing thus blocking their view and giving their position away ( the instructions don’t advise about the gun barrel without any muzzle brake even though it’s in the kit which is buzaire but I have used it here). I hollowed out the barrel with pin vice more and increased the thread by minor nicks with scalpel. 

   I made a pigs ear of the gun mount, when I looked at it the next day I realised it was slightly cock eyed and cut it off and realigned. As I didn’t make up the gun fully (no point as the hatches will be buttoned up) I didn’t see that I had left the internal gun mount slightly wonky and this was what up set it’s balance. It’s fixed now but left a small gap. The gap won’t matter soon as I’ll be adding the epoxy zimmerit which will cover it. 
  I wasn’t happy also with my neatness when adding the periscope covers so pulled them off (I don’t use a heap of superglue anyway to fix them on) and re aligned til they are straight (or as straight as I will ever get them).

   

At this stage I have left off all the tools and jumped forwards a couple steps (hull is just dry fitted to top casement and sponsons are made up but not fitted as I won’t be able to get the tracks in with them in the way. Plus leaving off some of the detail at the mo will help with adding the zimmerit putty). 
   If anyone else is doing this kit then keep an eye out for the below step. Theirs a minor misprint on the instructions. Their aren’t two j15 parts you have one j15 and the handle for the jack winch is j18.

All the best,

Paul

[Keeff]

This is looking good so far Paul.  Looking forward to more updates! 

 

Keith 😁 

[Muchmirth]

Hi all, I’ve spent this week doing the zimmerit:

I did the front bottom of the lower hull first, as this would be less seen.

 

I wasnt too happy with this side as was a little too chunky. 

 

This is the side below which I thought looked a little more even, here I started to get the knack just as I was on the last area.

The front is fairly gnarly. 

The zimmerit  was tough going to be honest. You can keep going over and over it, one small alteration in one column can mean you want to  start that panel over again. It’s like weathering, never looks perfect and the more you do the more likely you are to mess it up. 
  My verdict on the border models putty was a mixed bag. It’s easy mix but not really that tacky. You do have to scratch/sand roughly the areas you want to apply it to. Plus your working time is much shorter than with say milliput. You get around 40 mins before it starts to harden up. I sucked at removing the excess putty when part way through a panel, so this is where it looks ropey. But my one top tip would be to start raking and shaping the putty halfway along a panel, that way you have less space til you hit an edge and the putty excess can come off cleanly.

  I’m not really happy with the result but after four nights (roughly 16 hrs or more) it the absolute best I can do. 
  However the borders models zimmerit tools (3 supplied with the kit) are great, they simply slot into your craft scalpel handle (it’s just its user which might be the problem!).

  Next steps will be painting the individual components before I assemble the whole thing.

  All the best, 

Paul

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by Muchmirth
Re wording

[echen]

Zim causes all manner of grief but yours looks good. It'll look even better once it's painted.

[Muchmirth]

2 hours ago, echen said:

Zim causes all manner of grief but yours looks good. It'll look even better once it's painted.

Thanks echen, it’s a real pain tbh. I was looking forwards to it but the reality is quite different/difficult. Think your right, might look a bit better under paint.

[Keeff]

Looking good Paul 👍

 

Does the zimmerit come with the kit?  It's not something I've attempted yet, but I have a Panther waiting patiently as my next project (spoiler alert! 😳) which may become the one to try it on.

 

Watching progress with interest! 

 

Keith 😁 

[Muchmirth]

14 hours ago, Keeff said:

Looking good Paul 👍

 

Does the zimmerit come with the kit?  It's not something I've attempted yet, but I have a Panther waiting patiently as my next project (spoiler alert! 😳) which may become the one to try it on.

 

Watching progress with interest! 

 

Keith 😁 

Yes in this instance the putty comes with the kit (I had heard that sometimes it gets borrowed in china before it’s sent and not all have them). 
  Stef N is about to do a tiger and was saying he might use left over/chopped up atak zim for it and Echen has used green stuff which has worked for him. So theirs a fair few good options out their. I’ve used cheap old house hold grab filler (which didn’t work) and milliput which was ok. 
 Which make of panther is it?

Edited April 22, 2023 by Muchmirth
Spelling

[Keeff]

56 minutes ago, Muchmirth said:

 Which make of panther is it?

It's the Tamiya Panther Ausf d, so old school! 👍

 

 

Keith 😁 

[Bullbasket]

Nice work with the zimmerit Paul. You've captured the worn look perfectly.

 

John.

[echen]

My efforts at "greenstuff" zim are on page 174 of the Tiger 1 Superthread.

At present the painting is under development.

Edited April 22, 2023 by echen