Frosty's HL Panzer IV Build

[diverfrost]

Sorry It's been a while but I didn't really have anything worthy to post so hope this will suffice

This HL Panzer IV is a Non IR S&S version with no recoil.
Picked it up for super cheap over a year ago and has been collecting dust waiting in my wardrobe for this day!!!!
New additions are all new metal hatches, with asiatam running gear, 3:1 brass gear boxes with "400 motors"
and i'll be making turret guards and side guards out of a mixture of styrene, brass and any other pits and pieces I have floating around.
Electronics will be all RCTA electronics and servo recoil When all the cosmetic work as been completed.
so plenty of time for Kev G to finish the Taipan I've never had a problem with RCTA electronics, the MAKO board and RC2HL boards made it possible for me to battle and play with Tamiya's early on and for a great price too.
First off is to totally strip it of all electronics and wiring ready to cut out the hatches in the upper hull and remove the tools etc that are glued on, I do this by using a little bit of thinners on the inside to soften the glue and they just pop out with ease.
next to remove the battery box and fill in the old switch holes in the lower hull and strengthen it.
I'll put some pictures up when done

[diverfrost]

Got a little bit done this afternoon,
It might look easy but it takes a bit to get these hatches off and out all nice and neat.
One way is to drill copious amounts of holes all around the hatch then use a hobby knife.
Where I have found just using the knife does the job without the stress of slipping of center and double handling
The only time i'd use a drill is to match the radius in the corners if absolutely needed other than that a round file does the trick to tidy them up.

Next will be to add the inside lips which i'll make out of evergreen styrene for the hatches to sit on.

[diverfrost]

Hatch lips are in, I used 2mm Styrene.
I cut to size allowing enough inside for sufficient area for the glue, marked out the hatch sizes and came in another 2mm and cut inside the line for a little extra green and glued them in.
I'll leave it for the day just to make sure the glue has set.
Once the glue is dry i'll file and sand them back to the desired depth off the edge of the hull to about 1.5mm or what looks good.

I've allowed the little extra green for filing because styrene is pretty soft and it's better to have a little extra to take off and blend in with as you can see in the last pic.

[philipat]

Looking good. What variant are planning to model?

Question on the work: Looking at hte lower hull, I count 8 screw posts for attaching the upper and lower hulls. Did you lose two of them from the upper hull when you opened the rear hatches?

[diverfrost]

It's going to be a J version
I'll be doing away with all screw fixings from the lower hull, cutting the battery box out for more space inside and filling in all holes etc.
So im going to make fixing setup similar to whats used on my Tamiya Sherman.

[philipat]

Sounds cool. Are you going for any metal upgrades?

[littletankman]

Hi Nice build mate I started a J build but kinda go put on hold .

Andy