Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf. H Nibelungenwerk. Miniart 35337 ***Finished***

[edjbartos]

 

 

Hello folks, a little while since I last posted a WIP, I've been having a little breather after finishing the last one. Looking through my stash of Miniart kits ( I still have a lot),  I decided to have a go at this one. "`Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf. H, 3rd SS-Div. "Totenkopf", Eastern Front, Ukraine, Autumn 1943. This particular version appears to have been produced in August 1943, just at the start when Germany decided to add Zimmerit to their tanks. So I have to decide whether or not to do Zimmerit on it. It still could be too early to have it on, but then again.....At the moment, I think I will unless anyone can advise otherwise.
 

My next build after this one is going to be a Miniart Stug III with interior which is about the same period as this one and my thoughts were to try Zimmerit on this one in case things go south rather than do it on the Stug after I've gone to all the trouble doing all the inside. So really this is a kind of an experiment model for me, hopefully it will turn out ok. I'm going to have all the hatches closed as I'm not interested in the insides. Miniart do actually add quite a lot of the internals even in this version for those who wish to have figures and have hatches open, which is good. I'll just have a load of parts going into the spare box instead. I've also got the option to add  side skirts if I wish, I'll decide about that later on and will also have the schurzen in place.
 

Here is the box art....
 

 

 

 

There are four versions to choose from, this is the one that I'm going to attempt to make, which will be from the 3rd SS-Div. "Totenkopf", Eastern Front, Ukraine, Autumn 1943. 
 

 

 

 

 

So to start things off I've started to work on the hull first, here's a photo of the pieces that make up the basic hull structure. No one piece hull here.....
 

 

 

 

After gluing the firewall to the base plate the side plates all fit very nicely together....
 

 

 

 

 

That's the start, more bits and pieces are needed to added to the hull so I'll be back when I have more to show....

 

all the best

 

Ed

 

 

 

[Keeff]

Ooh, nice choice! I'll get my chair and follow along for this one! 

 

The hull looks good .... nice, crisp details....

 

Keith 😁 

 

[Hamden]

 

I'll follow along as well beer and popcorn ordered!

 

     Stay safe          Roger

[Jasper dog]

Another Ed masterpiece incoming!

 

Sure this will be another belter.

Don't miniart do excellent box art as well!

 

Enjoy

Darryl 

 

 

[edjbartos]

54 minutes ago, Keeff said:

Ooh, nice choice! I'll get my chair and follow along for this one! 

 

The hull looks good .... nice, crisp details....

 

Keith 😁 

 

 

13 minutes ago, Hamden said:

 

I'll follow along as well beer and popcorn ordered!

 

     Stay safe          Roger

 

 

Many thanks both of you, glad to have you along...

 

Ed

[edjbartos]

4 minutes ago, Jasper dog said:

Another Ed masterpiece incoming!

 

Sure this will be another belter.

Don't miniart do excellent box art as well!

 

Enjoy

Darryl 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Darryl, I've always been a fan of their box art, It's probably what attracted me to their kits in the first place...

 

all the best

 

Ed

[Maddoxx77]

Looks like an interesting kit. Good start. I'll tag along if there is room for 1 more.

[Bullbasket]

25 minutes ago, edjbartos said:

I've always been a fan of their box art, It's probably what attracted me to their kits in the first place...

That's basically what it's supposed to do, and what Airfix failed to realise when they started putting photos of completed models on their boxes. At least they've got the message now.

I must say that multi part hulls, if well engineered, can give you a really squared hull, as opposed to some one piece one, where the sides slope inwards. Good start Ed and I'll definitely be watching this build. On you go.

 

John.

[Crayons]

I'm not a fan of the Pz. IV, but I do look like the look of this. Going to be keeping an eye on this.

[vaoinas]

Very nice start.

I'll tag along as well.

[Retired Bob]

Nothing better than a well skirted Panzer IV, I haven't seen the MiniArt one before (too many Dragon versions in the stash) so this will be interesting to watch.  

[edjbartos]

58 minutes ago, Maddoxx77 said:

Looks like an interesting kit. Good start. I'll tag along if there is room for 1 more.

 

20 minutes ago, vaoinas said:

Very nice start.

I'll tag along as well.

 

Great to have you along guys....

[edjbartos]

51 minutes ago, Bullbasket said:

That's basically what it's supposed to do, and what Airfix failed to realise when they started putting photos of completed models on their boxes. At least they've got the message now.

I must say that multi part hulls, if well engineered, can give you a really squared hull, as opposed to some one piece one, where the sides slope inwards. Good start Ed and I'll definitely be watching this build. On you go.

 

John.

 

Totally agree with you there John, that's good marketing for you. Pretty much all the past Miniart hulls that I have done have all been multi part and I've had no problems once certain walls such as a bulkhead or firewall are square the rest just fall into place. In fact I can't remember the last time I did a one piece hull...

 

all the best

 

Ed

[edjbartos]

55 minutes ago, Crayons said:

I'm not a fan of the Pz. IV, but I do look like the look of this. Going to be keeping an eye on this.

 

 

I don't mind the Panzer IV, I've done one earlier which I really liked doing so I thought I'd do something different with his one...

 

Ed

[edjbartos]

26 minutes ago, Retired Bob said:

Nothing better than a well skirted Panzer IV, I haven't seen the MiniArt one before (too many Dragon versions in the stash) so this will be interesting to watch.  

 

Thanks Bob, I probably will end up with doing some skirts on this, most likely I think there will be quite a few that would be missing so that I can show off the wheels etc. Miniart do a super range of Panzer IV's anything from just external builds like this one or internal builds if you prefer. I won't do a Panzer IV interior as It is quite difficult to show off the inside once completed, certainly compared to other types...

 

Ed

[Stef N.]

Very nice. I will be keeping a close eye on this too. Good luck Ed. 👍

[edjbartos]

2 hours ago, Stef N. said:

Very nice. I will be keeping a close eye on this too. Good luck Ed. 👍

 

Many thanks Stef, thanks for your support..

 

Ed

[geoawelch]

New guy tagging along. 🍿🍿

 

Cheers,

 

George

Edited April 3, 2024 by geoawelch

[edjbartos]

 

Hello everyone, carrying on with the build, I added the arms for the return rollers and also the rubber bump pads at the bottom....
 

 

 

 

 Next up was  to add bits and pieces to the rear plate, also at this stage I added the left hand fender...
 

 

 

 

I then added mounting brackets for the spare tracks to go onto the glacis plate....
 

 

 

 

 

Now for  the superstructure, this is the breakdown of parts that go to make it...
 

 

 

 

This assembly is quite tricky to do and needs care, as location points aren't great. I referred to the previous time I did this build to get the right sequence. Basically the grill panels at the rear go on first, followed by the rear plate. Once dry  I initially glued the side plates with spots of CA . When happy I then used normal extra thin to finish the job on both side panels. When these were dry I then added the front plate followed by the top plate that has the two hatches. The trick really is to let everything dry thoroughly after each stage, so it does take a while to do...
 

 

 

 

 

The superstructure then fits onto the body as so, It's not glued down yet, I'm thinking It may be better to leave this off for now as It may be easier later on when I have to add the zimmerit...
 

 

 

 

 

As a note, before starting on the superstructure the instructions want you to add the right hand fender. There are no location points and there are slots on the fender which the superstructure need to fit into so if these are slightly out you will have fit problems. The fender is best left until the superstructure is fixed in place then It will literally snap into place...
 

That's it for now, I'm still waiting for my zimmerit tools to arrive so I'll carry on building as much as I can and just do a load of sub assemblies...

I'll be back when I have more to show...

 

all the best

 

Ed

 

 

 

 

 

[Bullbasket]

You're making a really good job of this so far, but there again, it's what I expect of you. Great work Ed.

 

John.

[edjbartos]

Thank you John, that's much appreciated, so far the parts have all fitted really well, which makes a big difference. let's hope it continues...

 

all the best

 

Ed

[edjbartos]

Hello all, It's been a while since my last update, I've been unable to do anything for a couple of weeks as I had a flu type virus which really knocked me out and couldn't do much. So now that I'm better I started to look at doing some zimmerit to the model. I've never done this before, I bought some Trumpeter zimmerit tools which looked nice and thought that using fine milliput would be ok to use. It seemed to work ok on a test piece and I started to work on the bottom part of the tank. The problem I had was that I couldn't get it thin enough, I used a blade to try to spread it on and it kept lifting off onto the blade. I tried to wet the blade to avoid that and all I ended up was a sorry mess as the water just diluted the putty. So I scraped it all off and washed the tank in water ready to start again and try something else.
 

I had some green stuff putty which seemed to work ok but was very hard to work. So looking at some videos I managed to get some Tamiya epoxy putty from China. This worked great, I could use a wetted cocktail stick to roll the putty around into all the nooks and crannies and then use a wetted blade to smooth everything over before using the zimmerit roller. I did the undersides first which I found quite difficult as I had a lot of things in the way like the return roller arms and mounts for the running gear at the bottom, this made it difficult for the zimmerit roller but the kit comes with a stamp tool which helped in tight spots. 
 

I also found doing the zimmerit on the glacis plate tricky due to the mounts for the spare tracks being in the way, but most of the zimmerit will be hidden away once the tracks are on. On the front plate I left some zimmerit off to indicate damage. Here are a few pictures, there are areas where I have left off the zimmerit, namely on the upper sides and the rear so that parts can be fitted into the gaps like the exhaust etc...
 

 

 

 

 

 

Still more zimmerit to do on the front of the turret, the schurzen and possibly the side plates, but that's later on, quite a lot to do before then.

That's it for now, I'll be back when I have more to show

 

all the best

 

Ed

 

 

[Stef N.]

That's quality zimmerit Ed. Very well handled.

 

 

[edjbartos]

9 hours ago, Stef N. said:

That's quality zimmerit Ed. Very well handled.

 

 

Many thanks Stef, I have to admit I’m glad that bits over, it took ages to do. I know I have more to do but at least the areas that will need doing won’t be as awkward, hopefully!
 

all the best

 

Ed

[Hamden]

9 hours ago, Stef N. said:

That's quality zimmerit Ed. Very well handled.

 

 

 

Seconded couldn't put it better myself!

 

    Stay safe         Roger