I've decided on my next project. Hopefully it will be easier than scratch-building that Ausf 'A' Panther
(maybe I shouldn't have said that!).
I really would like a Tamiya PzKw IV Ausf J. Particularly as the new MF05 has that very tasty Maybach HL-120 TRM sound digitally recorded from an actual Panzer IV at the Panzermuseum in Munster, Germany.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsTwv5RZQrY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The last time I looked, the cheapest I could find the PzKw IV Tamiya kit was £530 on Ebay. Of course I would
want metal tracks and swap the Tamiya gearboxes with HL 3-1 metal gears. That would bring it up to over
£600!!! And that's without adding P&P charges, RC Gear or TBU. No way am I paying that much for a Tamiya kit even if I could afford it!
I do have a Heng Long Panzer IV F1 though. The tank is not bad as far as accuracy is concerned and the mods needed to bring it up to scratch are not too complicated (I think I experienced a touch of deja-vu just then!).
I wondered what would it take to bring a HL PzIV up as close to Tamiya standard as possible. So I worked out
some costs :-
Tamiya Panzer IV Ausf J Kit:-
Tamiya Panzer IV J £530.00
Metal Tracks £39.00
HL 3-1 Gearboxes £31.00
Total £600 without P&P charges, RC Gear or TBU
HL Panzer IV with Tamiya parts and Tamiya electronics:-
HL Panzer IV £49.00
Metal Tool Kit £10.00
Tamiya PzIV G Parts £16.00
Tamiya PzIV D Parts £20.00
Tamiya PzIV C Parts £19.50
HL 3-1 Gearboxes £31-00
Asiatam Gun Recoil £31-50
DMD Multifunction MF05 £96-00
DMD T03 £86-00
Metal Tracks & Sprockets £39.00
Total £398 without P&P charges, RC Gear or TBU
HL Panzer IV with Tamiya parts and Elmod electronics:-
HL Panzer IV £49.00
Metal Tool Kit £10.00
Tamiya PzIV G Parts £16.00
Tamiya PzIV D Parts £20.00
Tamiya PzIV C Parts £19.50
HL 3-1 Gearboxes £31-00
Asiatam Gun Recoil £31-50
Elmod ThinkTank Module £98-00
Elmod Blaster III £89-20
Metal Tracks & Sprockets £39.00
Total £403 without P&P charges, RC Gear, CSI or Configurator
I elected to buy the turret sprues from Axels Modellbau Shop. I could have got away with just the 'D' parts
to replace the inaccurate HL gun mantle and rommelkist. But I decided to be greedy and factored in cost of
the other two sprues for the turret schurtzen, late cupola and 80mm front plate as well.
As you can see, using Tamiya spare parts on a Heng Long Panzer IV works out at £398 - over £200 cheaper than the Tamiya PzIV kit. Using Elmod parts works out slightly more expensive. Even so, this is the route I would have normally taken but in the light of comments on the new Elmod systems, I've decided to go for the Tamiya parts instead this time.
All the parts have now arrived so now I'm ready to start the build. I'll post pictures of its progress.
Cheers
Chris
. 
