Midnight's Panzer IV build

[philipat]

Bill , If you do decide to go for a pair of TRACK TENSIONER'S AVOID the "Asiatam" parts.
I suggest you go to -
http://www.rctank.de
They have a well engineered set for 16.95 Euro's which is $19,
Whenever you as an American Resident buy anything from an EU member state ie Germany it is a good idea to remind them you are not liable to pay VAT (VALUE ADDED TAX) Some dealers put it on the bill automatically unless reminded
Shaun.

I second that. I have one of those sets on my PzIV and it is very good. At rctank.de it is item number 24055. Another option for source: http://tank-modellbau.de/eng_244/Panzer ... _tensioner. Both places have good communication. You might want to buy after you get your metal idler. Measure the ID of the metal idler and then check with the vendor to ensure it is the right size. Apparently, the different idlers come in different IDs. When I got mine set of tensioners the axle was way too small for my idlers. But, the vendor got it corrected for me with new axles on the adjusters.

[capt midnight]

Thanks for all the feedback on the tensioners. When my wheels and treads arrive I'll measure the bolts and order me a set of them. Thanks for the tip about the VAT. I would have never thought to tell the seller that I didn't have to pay it.

On a side not, I did some experimenting with the salt chipping and hairspray tonight. Here's the results of my first attempt.




I was really pleased with how it came out. I'm gonna give it another try or two while I'm waiting on parts. I think I want a bit more white left on, just have to use a lighter hand on the next try. I think I'm also going to leave some of the salt on all the way through and see how that works out.

Thanks,

Bill

[capt midnight]

Managed to get quite a bit done over the last few days, so I thought I'd better post an update. Here's a kind of run down on my attempt at chipped paint...

Primer


I tried to pre paint some acrylic rust colors over the primer, but it came off when I scrubbed off the salt.


Salt applied. The wife had some sea salt that had larger crystals. Tried using the two different sizes in different places.


And Panzer gray applied over all.



To be continued...


Bill

[capt midnight]

And here it is with the salt scrubbed off.



After this came the hairspray. Waited for it to dry good, then applied the whitewash coat. I used regular craft white acrylic, thinned.


To scrub the white off I used an old tooth brush and a stiff bristle paint brush. I wanted to for for a late winter really worn look.



To be continued...

Bill

[capt midnight]

Now, on to the mud.

I didn't want as much of a caked on look as I did on my Fury, so I didn't mix anything into my paint. Might go back later and thicken it up, though.

Here is with the flash. Kind of changes the colors.


And without the flash.


I painted over mud paint with a gloss medium to give it a wet look.

Here are the results so far. I'm waiting on my metal treads, gearboxes, and sprockets, so I just stuck the plastic ones back on. It's snowing outside now, so maybe I'll get luck and get some action shots!







Many thanks to Herman Bix for his winter Tiger thread. Great inspiration to take a try at a winter theme.

Bill

[Markocaster]

Looks cool! Good job

[philipat]

Looks good. Well worn!

Two suggestions if I may...
- bore out the hull machine gun so that it looks like you're looking down the barrel from the front.
- swap the convoy light (rectangular with 4 boxes) and the brake light (round). They're on the wrong sides of the tank.

[capt midnight]

Done and done. Guess I swapped the lights aroundand didn't notice. I had not scraped the paint off of the barrel end but I went ahead and drilled it out too.

Bill

[philipat]

[jarndice]

BILL, Hi, I figure you will be applying decals sometime soon, If you are going to put them on the fire extinguisher,May I suggest you do that with it off the Tank coz there is just so little space,
Both "Peddinghaus & Archer" do an excellent range of decals and of course there is "Elite" as well, Both Archer and Elite are in the US.
shaun.