Panzer IV Ausf F1 to H Build

[jarndice]

OOH,OOH, I just felt my ears burning, Hi Herman, sounds like someone is still getting over Waitangi Day. shaun

[philipat]

ahhh...fair 'nuf...I suppose there is an irony in that.

[greengiant]

Hey those dollhouse hinges can really come in handy. I made all the working door, and other hinged armor plate on my M16 halftrack using them. The ones I bought matched the size of the molded on plastic ones perfectly.

[HERMAN BIX]

OOH,OOH, I just felt my ears burning, Hi Herman, sounds like someone is still getting over Waitangi Day. shaun

Well you got it bang on mate !!...............big day lead in to a weekend I can tell ya

[KTRob]

Nice clamps.

Do tell more about the doll house hinges. Are they already sized to allow you to replace the pins with the brass rod?

Herman Bix, don't like the doll house hinges?

Cheers Philipat, the hinges have to get chopped down a bit so you have two hinge pin holes (can't think of a better name) on one side, and one in the middle on the other, as per original fittings:


That's on the Bovington Panzer IV,

Once you have the hinge cut down the existing pin can be pushed out and replaced with a piece of appropriately sized brass, through both hinges.

I could have cut them down lengthwise a bit on mine to better match the originals, but they look OK I think.





Pic showing chopped hinge

Showing cut out in fender to allow hing to be covered with a piece of thin styrene:



Little bit of detailing:



Added some rivets to the tow mounts (these are the meng resin ones).

[philipat]

Cool. Thanks for the hinge info.

Nice rivets. I didn't even know about the Meng rivets until your post. Did some research (for those interested...http://www.meng-model.com/index2ss.php?id=205), looks like you have to shave these off an inject plate? Or, do they just pop off?

Oh, another manufacturer that makes similar stuff is Master Club (http://masterclub.ru/). Found that one researching Meng.

It's a little thing, but you should fill in the little casting circles on the shackles. Sweatin' the small stuff, but if you're going to do the rivets...

[KTRob]

Cool. Thanks for the hinge info.

Nice rivets. I didn't even know about the Meng rivets until your post. Did some research (for those interested...http://www.meng-model.com/index2ss.php?id=205), looks like you have to shave these off an inject plate? Or, do they just pop off?

Oh, another manufacturer that makes similar stuff is Master Club (http://masterclub.ru/). Found that one researching Meng.

It's a little thing, but you should fill in the little casting circles on the shackles. Sweatin' the small stuff, but if you're going to do the rivets...

Hi Phil, the rivets cut off the sheet easily with a boxcutter type knife, they were a bit harder with a scalpel.

Agree about the casting marks, I filled those and added some Mr Surfacer to give the tow mounts a bit of texture, then added some chain to the pins, the chain was from a piece of costume jewellery from a charity shop:



I wasn't really happy with the hinges on the fenders, so cut off some of the styrene over the hinges, filled and sanded:



Will be adding a couple of pins to simulate rivets, they look a bit closer to the originals now.

Added some Mr surface to the suspension mounts and rollers, just stippled on with a brush to give a little texture to the plastic:



Have also added some missing details to the rear end:

[edpanzer]

Looking good rob its all coming together.

[jarndice]

A nice build ROB, I agree with you about adding detail to the rear, I reckon the HENG LONG Panzer 4 back end is truly bland, and when you think of how much detail there was on every variant there is no excuse for it, so good on you, Are you going to fix the rear fenders with proper hinges? Because I keep putting off that particular detail, I think it would entail a total rebuild of that area although it would certainly improve HENG LONG's version. shaun

[philipat]

Very nice. I like it.

Good luck with the back end. There is a lot that could be done or just ignored. I like what you've done so far.