Panzer IV Ausf F1 to H Build

[KTRob]

First mods on the turret were cutting off the vision ports and tidying up the turret sides, the signal port in the roof also had to go:



The mantlet was then cut up and stuck back together to make for a more realistic look:



I intend to install either an IBU2 in the tank, so decided on servo recoil, I used a broken taigen recoil as a base, removing the recoil gears, motor and installing the servo and a homemade linkage (the control rod is a piece of piano wire). I resoldered the elevation motor onto a HL 3 pin plug.

as you can see I had to make up a set of trunnions to fit with the asiatam unit, the front of the BB tray that forms the pivot in the HL was cut off and installed, I also installed a tube for an IR emitter, hidden behind a viewport in the front of the turret, the port cover is retained by a magnet and a piece of tube that fits inside the emitter tube:





I have also attached the schurzen brackets:



After I took this pic I realised I had a front turret bracket in the middle which has since been corrected.

I bought some of those 1/18 soldiers, they fit quite well with the tanks:



Hopefully will have the turret done in the next few days

[philipat]

Sweet!

[edpanzer]

Looking really good Rob nice work

[KTRob]

Thanks guys, still making slow progress.

The turret is almost done now:



Got the schurzen done, have also added the extra armour ring around the Cupola and started on making a hatch (The H had a hatch not unlike the one on an early tiger, rather than the earlier split hatch)



Hoping to have this finished soon .

[edpanzer]

Looking good Rob coming along nicely...need to get it done so I can battle you!!!

[KTRob]

Thanks Ed,

Got a few updates, I don't get much spare time at the moment so its taking a while to get things done:


Turret was painted with Halfords red plastic primer

The rotation unit had to be fitted. I reused one of the pegs that got chopped off when I fitted the hatches. For the wiring I have gone with the new heng long setup of making all the connections using plugs instead of soldered joins for easy maintenance.



I also fitted a set of low profile 5:1s, I had to make a metal plate up in the end but they work OK. I also chopped the top out of the battery box so I can swap batteries without turning it over. The tracks were painted with wilko bbq paint:


Once I was happy with the wiring in the turret, I sprayed it with the same ts3 basecoat as the rest of the tank. This was followed by adding the camo in olive green. I used a battery powered Tamiya airbrush which is fine for basic work like this:

(taken at the GLAD august meet)

Once this had set, I hit the tank with a coat of ts13 gloss clear to seal the paint ready for weathering. This was then followed with application of a peddinghaus decal set:

Looks a bit shiny will be ok once I get weathering done and put on a final coat of flat clear.

Experimented with some pigments on a piece of spare track:

Also sorted the fender springs. The spring came from inside an old oil seal (of the type used to seal a driveshaft). I used the same thing for the antenna on the rear hull corner.

Just need to finish the electrics and the weathering then its ready for battle

[ALPHA]

Looks great Rob...She's come a long way...you must feel proud and satisfied now that the finish point is near

ALPHA

[HERMAN BIX]

Having just got my IV through the door today(last one apparently) this build is taking on an entirely new dimension.

[philipat]

Looks awesome! Great work.

Pray tell...I have a set of the brass 5:1s low profile gearboxes from Asiatam. Looks like you used the steel ones they have now (possibly with a new motor). It also looks like you were able to raise the sprockets a little. I'm trying to do the same thing but having a devil of a time doing it. The two big (side-by-side) gears keep hitting the top if I raise it more than a millimeter. Angling it doesn't seem to work because I can't get it to mount in the holes. Killing me...

TIA

[KTRob]

Thanks for all the kind words guys, for a variety of reasons I have been away from this build but thought I best finish this before starting on a new project

Philipat I have the same problem as you, but the hull is also a little warped due to all my chopping earlier in the build, the ibu2 also takes a lot of room, maybe a clark would be a better fit in a smaller tank like these?

I have taken her to a couple of GLAD meets and shes a good little runner, battling is untested as I dropped the battle unit on the floor and then managed to step on it

Anyhow, I have made up a set of schurzen out of plastic to hang on the sides, I suspect I will take these off for battling or outdoor running.



On the battlefield at Grantham Light Armoured Division:



You can see a little gap at the front, maybe i'll put in a small filler piece at the top of the front plate?