Contemplating a Panzer IV build? Then...

[43rdRecceReg]

That would be a Finnish finish, then Roy?

Something I have found out is that the Finnish paint jobs going around on 1:1 Stugs are mostly wrong, especially those used in the film Tali-Ihantala 1944.

It should be a pale greyish sandy colour as the base, with red-brown and medium green hard-edged camo.

Finish with a Finnish flourish...yes, something like that.. I quite like the idea of employing the slight dyslexic swastika the Finns used. Having bought most- if not all- of recent Finnish WW2 feature films, as well as those
featuring the Baltic states, I thought a departure from well beaten tracks might well be called for, if you'll pardon the mild pun..
Something like this, although I'd have to buy some Atak zimmerit to get a reasonable lookalike

Finnish Panzer IV Ausf J. Pictured in a parade in 1952

Although here, the bizarre swastika appears to have been superseded by a muted roundel..
Still, i can use a bit of artistic licence..

[Estnische]

Unfortunately, the swastika became unfashionable after 1945...

But the Finns had been using it as an insignia before the Nazi party. In 1918 the Finnish Air Force was gifted one of its first aircraft by Swedish Count Eric von Rosen who had the swastika painted on it. It was his adopted good luck symbol borrowed from Asian culture, the Finns left it on and adopted it themselves.

[Ad Lav]

Nice idea with the Finnish Panzer IV. Kinda why I did my Syrian Panzer IV so it was something different.

[43rdRecceReg]

Unfortunately, the swastika became unfashionable after 1945...

But the Finns had been using it as an insignia before the Nazi party. In 1918 the Finnish Air Force was gifted one of its first aircraft by Swedish Count Eric von Rosen who had the swastika painted on it. It was his adopted good luck symbol borrowed from Asian culture, the Finns left it on and adopted it themselves.

On a recent visit to a long term part-time partner, I thought I was hallucinating, when I noticed that two of the cushions on her sofa had a border composed of interlinked swastikas. Now I've seen interlinked Greek key patterns before on furnishings, indeed many different themes like the deranged microbes that form the Paisley pattern, on drapes and curtains...but the swastika?
Well, I wasn't hallucinating the cushions were imported from India. It's no secret, of course, that the symbol itself is thousands of years old, and has Eastern origins in Buddhism and Hinduism; but we're just so programmed to associate with the Holocaust
and the jackboot, that it becomes a totem of terror whenever it's seen in the West. That said, I always found the three legged symbol for the Isle of Man (Triskelion) more nightmarish...

[43rdRecceReg]

Nice idea with the Finnish Panzer IV. Kinda why I did my Syrian Panzer IV so it was something different.

Yes, Adam..I'd even thought of painting it in that sort of washed out light grey their museum examples have, complete with rusty edges from standing in the rain..
Something like this one, with the overjoyed looking, soggy Machine Gunner complaining about the rain, the leaky tank, and life in general:

Finnish Panzer IV Ausf J with swastika...

Finnish Panzer IV Ausf J. with Swastika.jpg (84.02 KiB) Viewed 3729 times

This one is ideal for me, as it has the turret schurzen..

[43rdRecceReg]

The Tamiya Pz IV project ground to a halt with the external build complete, but with the choice of camo, and MFU, undecided. I wanted to make this Ausf 'J' a Finnish model, but finding Finnish WW2 acrylics was a no-no back then.
Quite by chance, and when looking for something unconnected, I found a dealer in Germany selling Finnish armour acrylic sets on Ebay. Soooo... I snapped them up, even though I know nothing about the paint brand.
Yep, they could be crap, but it was worth the punt. Nothing ventured...eh, ?etc.

Finnish WW2 camp for Tamiya Pz IV Ausf. J

Finnish WW2 Panzer acrylics- for Tamiya Pz IV

Estniche might be interested in these, if he happens to drop in.
This doesn't mean I'll be daubing the Pz IV shortly. In fact, the weather's turning now, and I need to go back to my Comet project. At the very least, though, I now have the paints I need to Finnish the Finish.
Then I'll need the Finnish swastikas (Hakaristi), in transfer form

[Max-U52]

Hey, Highlander, if you wanna see a good punt, check out this thread. You don't have to be a member to read.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-tank ... urous.html

Still waiting for the 50% off metal tanks to arrive.

By the way, my user name on that forum is Crius.

Anybody know who Crius was?

And my apologies, Roy, for going off topic.

[43rdRecceReg]

Hey, Highlander, if you wanna see a good punt, check out this thread. You don't have to be a member to read.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-tank ... urous.html

Still waiting for the 50% off metal tanks to arrive.

By the way, my user name on that forum is Crius.

Anybody know who Crius was?

And my apologies, Roy, for going off topic.

Hi, Gary
Yes, well It's hard to believe that an all-metal tiger could go for peanuts. As for the video, I think I've even posted a vid of that quirky HL demonstrator riding the Tiger before. What's more, Wasn't the tank originally priced up in the 1000s of dollars? There's a thread on it somewhere.
Taking a punt of the paints? Well, the paints didn't cost all that much, and the package looks like a promising one overall. Even MiG, AK, Vallejo and others have their stalwart users, as well as critics.
Yes, I did know that you were Crius, by the way. I remember a discussion, some time ago now, around the theme of you and Erik (Taigen Gauleiter) picking Titan names for yourselves, as aliases.
I might have gone for Hephaestus, as he has a tenuous connection (with us) with fashioning things out of metal
On the subject of 'nothing ventured...', we also have then cautionary 'look before you leap' Hmm.. I tend to err on the former.

[Max-U52]

Smith is an honorable trade. I'm kind of a metalworker myself. I'd suggest maybe using the Roman god of the Forge, but too many would get confused by Spock. They just don't teach these kids what they used to. That all started because Erik has a dog named Zeus, so I kinda adopted him as a nephew, just as Zeus was to Crius.

Don't know if you know Tanque, but he's pretty cool and it was easy to get adventurous because I made sure to protect myself. I paid with paypal, and I'm basically using American Express's money, so if it doesn't work out I can't lose a dime. And you never know, I might get lucky. But I'm afraid Jerry might have jinxed us with his pan tiger-phobia. I'm sure it won't be a 1/6 scale all-metal KT, but it might still be cool, and almost certainly not worth 60 bucks. But it's been fun, and can you really put a value on good entertainment?

[43rdRecceReg]

A donation from my recently acquired Tamiya Tiger 1 (DMD/MFU units + the flash unit + Carson receiver), has allowed me to run the Pz IV for the very first time, and take it for it's maiden clank! Yay!
First, I needed some double-sided tape, to fix the receiver and DMD units in place. I'd run out of the 3M ones I generally use. In fact, I could have used velcro- as I have that aplenty, but I feel this makes for a sloppier fit than the 3M stuff in this context, and I don't want the wiring and units shaking around.
In the end, I opted to try the Sanjotape PE-foam tape instead.

Double-sided tape options

Here fitting the flash unit:

Fitting flash unit-pic A

Gizmo-space is in short supply inside the turret, and within the tank in general. More of that later.
Still, it occurs to me that the Pz IV recoil unit would probably fit quite well in my Comet, as the internal turret real estate is comparable...

Kitting Pz IV Tamiya turret out

To quote Neil Young, it's beginning to be a '...mighty tight squeeze' in there. My poor gherkin fingers
When the turret ring goes in, along with the turret motor, the gaps between the moving parts: the ring; the elevation arm; the recoil unit (elevates/depresses) and adjacent static parts, begin to narrow alarmingly- even after several attempts to reorientate the internals. In the end, the critical clearances are there- just.

Fitting turret ring and turret motor

Getting all the wires in place in the lower hull, along with the battery, is fiddly in the extreme- and can occasion a few unprintable curses. It's also hard to look inside to anticipate any wires that end up fouling moving parts.
A quick assembly (motor cover 'hinges' not replaced for the test; these are also the means of locking the upper and lower hulls). Then, after testing MG, tracks, turret movements and elevation...it was time the fire the cannon for the first time.:

PzIV- testing gun flash and recoil

Happily, I can report that the recoil works well and- as you can see here- so does the flash unit!.
Sooooo...finally, the Pz IV is a runner. When the Spring arrives (if it ever does... ), I'll be able to paint it in the Finnish livery I think will make it just a wee bit unusual, and different.