Taigen Panzer4-Auf G.

[jarndice]

I am coming to the end of my Panzer 4 "G" with its dirty white Russian winter finish.
It is topped off by Taigens updated metal Airsoft Turret,(From www.forgebeartanks.com)
The accuracy came as quite a surprise after all the earlier Taigen and Heng Long Turrets I have had to modify ,
The stowage box on the other turrets were all grossly inaccurate primarily because the motor for the gun could only fit in the stowage box which meant it was too tall and lacking in detail.
The new turret does not have a motor instead it has a servo which fits in the turret with room to spare and that leaves the stowage box empty and the right size, the turret side crew doors now have the stops in the right place and the base of the cupola has a very nice faux weld around its base it also includes a bore sight which is almost always missing from PZ4 builds,
The downside to the cupola is that unlike earlier turrets this one does not screw off so some butchery is required if you need to fit a one piece hatch for the "H" and "J" variants.
The fake hooks on the front corners of the turret have more than enough metal that is able to be filed into authentic working hooks.
NOW the moan, Come on you were expecting it
The turret comes with a 360 turret ring and a nice little round box that clips into place on the ring the two cables coming out of the slip ring box consists of a three pin which slips over the three pins in the centre of the body mounted daughter board and a two pin which fits into a socket on the hull mounted Mother Board,
Unfortunately the two cables are encased in a black plastic sheath,
If you did not know better you would assume because the two plugs were wrapped together they must be for the same Board when in fact they go to separate places on the Tank which makes the plastic shroud pretty pointless and to a newbie confusing.
You will need to cut the bottom part of it away so the cables are free to go their separate ways.
But all in all the new Taigen Turret is worth every penny

[Jimster]

Great report. The servo unit sounds like a game changing feature.

[43rdRecceReg]

If you're happy with Taigen's improvements, then we ought to be as well, Shaun. After all, those analytical- and critical- eyes of yours have borne witness to any number of detail outrages on the Tiger 1, Pz IV, and other models over the years. In turn, we have benefitted from your appraisals.
The reason I wanted to build the Tamiya Pz IV, is that it is free of those nagging, detail errors found on rival models.

[jarndice]

I have begun work on another Panzer 4 Yes really
This one should be an "H", I started with another of the Taigen revised Airsoft PZ4 Metal Turrets (Thanks to Dave at http://www.forgebeartanks.com) I thought I would begin by shortening the plastic surrounding the cables coming from the turret,
Well what a surprise The plastic wrap is much shorter on this one and can be slid out of the way so that's one less thing to do,
The annoying thing about the new turret is having to remove some of the accurate detail, Because the "H" model has the radio aerial mounted on the left rear flank instead of mid body beneath the right side of the turret this means the turret mounted aerial deflector has to be cut off
When I think of the many aerial deflectors I have had to make in the past to replace the Heng Long abortion I am left wondering why it has taken so long for Taigen to have a look at a couple of photographs or just have a quick glance at a Tamiya Panzer4.
So on to removing the twin cupola hatch doors and replacing them with a single hatch which I got from a PZ4 Tamiya sprue care of http://www.axels-modellbau-shop.de
I dislike things going right when I begin a new build because inevitably something disastrous is about to occur.
Oh well onwards and upwards.