Tankman's Panzer IV rebuild

[tankman]

Right guy's just a quick update on the "paper Panzer IV " had a few revisions over the new year and made my own gunbarrel for the Asiatam recoil/elevation unit. Made it a KWK 75mm of 55 caliber long ( 260mm total length ). Also added bolt on armour to the front galsis plate and a "chin" to the mantlet ( suposed to stop any deflected shot penetrating the roof ). Added a few tools to break up the flat sides. A little more filling and she should be good for paint. Going to run on an RX 18 board with no smoker for the moment. All the best for now
Alan

[Woz]

Looks great.

I'm suprised they didn't do this to the real thing once they ran into the T-34.

[Matdragon]

wow mate that looks brilliant! good job !   cant wait to see it finished!! :d

[BREL]

nice work so far can't wait to see the finished tank

[tiger205]

it does look fantastic alan, that armour on the front almost makes it look like a panther, i cant wait to see the camo' on her it will look even better me thinks

                  Tony

[Mackem]

Looking really good Alan. I can't understand why it was never built for real!
It would certainly have caused a few worries........

John

[tankman]

Hi guy's more pictures of the "paper panzer" in the base colour. Just a bit stuck on which way to go with the cammo scheme, soft or hard edge, triple colour or ambush ??. Have to sit down and have a good think. Hope you enjoy the pictures anyway. Comments and observations welcome as well as any critisims you may have. Also any chance of a few pictures of German cammo schemes that are a little diffrent ?. And yes it's just as well it never got off the drawing board it would have been at least a match for the T 34 and I think they could have built 2 of these for every Tiger 1 and Panther and more like 3 for every KT . All the best for now
Alan

[Ex_Pat_Tanker]

"Ambush" would look cool! Historically, probably just slap on some foliage on it and call it done - overall dark yellow would have been the colour if it left the factory just before the bitter end.
But "Ambush" is my vote!
Make us proud!
Mart

[Mackem]

Hi Alan,

I agree with Mart, go for the 'ambush' cammo scheme.
By the way, from the Austf. F2 onwards, the PzIV was quite capable of dealing with a T34.

Cheers
John

[tankman]

Yes John you are right the later Panzer IV's fitted with the L43/75mm gun could take on a T34 but only at closer ranges when a hit from a T34/76 would take out a panzer IV almost every time. Same problem when the Panzer IV was upgunned with the L48 and the Russians upgunned to the 85mm. That made the Panzer IV fight at a real disadvantage in terms of range of engagment. Unfortunataly the German tank crews were much better trained and there tactics were far better than there Russian counterparts at that time.This helped even up the score. However once the Russians got there training and tactics sorted the Germans were very much on the defensive both tacticaly and numericaly. Only the introduction of the Tiger 1 and later the Panther put the Germans back on top, thank goodness there were never enough of these tanks made to slow the Russian advance. History lesson over  coz I am off to bed after another hard night in work. All the best for now
Alan