RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

jarndice wrote:Hi, If you own a "PIN VISE" just lightly file a flat into the handle of the towing pin (PINTLE) then using a small bit in your PIN VISE drill through then follow through with a bit big enough to allow the chain through, I am assuming you have a PIN VISE, if you do not I urge you to get one ASAP, It will change your build for the better, E-BAY or AMAZON are the places I would look for one, they often are accompanied by the offer of a pack of drill bits, this is an offer worth taking, I would make one important point, once you have a PIN VISE then PE inevitably follows, if you do feel that urge I have found that "VOYAGER" is a little easier and cheaper than "ABER". shaun

Jeez Mr Jarndice, thats almost like the D'vinci Code !!

Herman I find it difficult to believe that you don't use a pin vise, it really does change the way you build Tanks, the amount of detail that can be incorporated is something else and as long as you have a decent magnifier it isn't difficult. mind you it does cut about twenty years off your life. shaun

ah yes..."pintle". that's the word that was escaping me.

I have a pin vise and small bits. I may have to try the flattening thing.

Great build really enjoying it, please excuse the noobie question but styrene is it polystyrene?

Eddie

Eddie, Yes is the answer to your question and never apologise for asking questions, How do you think I found out the answer? shaun

Cheers Shaun

I’ve done some of the detailing on the front. The two shackles just didn’t look right to me. So, I checked and it seems that HL got their basic dimensions correct, or at least pretty close. I don’t have any scale drawings with an attached scale. So, I used some photos from the Munster Museum and Aberdeen displays to get some proportions. But, they still looked a little off. I think that was because they lacked a certain beefiness. So, I added some beefiness.

- Filled the original pintle hole in the brackets with 2-mm styrene rod. Cut it off and sand it smooth.

- Thickened the protruding portion of the brackets with 1.2-mm styrene sheet.

- Re-drill the pintle holes with a #31 bit (~3 mm). In the end the 2-mm styrene rod disappeared in the new holes. But, without it I wouldn’t have been able to drill the holes. I moved their center forward by about 1-mm so that there is 1.5-2 mm space between the forward edge of the hole and the bracket.

- Extended the inner bracket supports with 1-mm styrene square rod.

- Built pintles to match the rear pintle.
In building the pintles I realized that they needed their collar and that I have a set of plastic, 3-mm spacer washers of varying thicknesses. I used 1-mm thick spacer washers as the collar for each pintle (and the rear pintle, too). I used to plastic cement to secure it all together.

- Added a retaining chain to each pintle. I did that by filing a small flat spot and drilling a .65-mm hole through the brass rod in the handle. The chain’s ring is a staple rounded and soldered together. The chain is brass and has 15 links per inch. I used a staple as a loop to secure it to the bracket on the underside.
Note: seriously consider the decision to add chains when drilling through brass rod. I used a combination of a micro hand drill (http://www.micromark.com/micro-hand-drill,7045.html) and pin vise. Took several hours over the course of 4 days and 5 days later my fingertips still hurt. Looks good...but not a quick detail to add.

- Added 2-mm conical rivets to the tow bracket. Same rivets I used on the gun mantlet and rear plate of the upper hull.

- Added a groove along the extensions of the side hulls. I noticed on all of the photos of the Munster Museum and Aberdeen PzIVs that the front plate (non-reinforced) had a groove between the front glacis plate and the side hull. So, I did this with a Tamiya panel scriber. Great tool for this (and cutting out hatches or styrene)! Most of it won’t be visible after I add the 30-mm reinforcing plate, but it will add some depth to the tow brackets and the upper portion of the front.

Good Evening,
The Devil is in the details or Heaven, depending on your outlook they say. All I can say is that I am extremely pleased and amazed by the level of scratch detail you are achieving on this Panzer. Looking forward to the paint and following along.
regards,
Painless

Each model of H/L tank has had its standout benchmark of builds by which to aspire to.............

THIS, is the benchmark for the venerable IV

Too kind. But, I'm glad that you guys are enjoying the build. I find that I keep getting sucked into different pieces of it.

I’ve done some more work on detailing the rear of the tank. To make the photo and text viewing a bit simpler, I'll break it into two posts.

- Installed 1.2-mm rivets for auxiliary muffler’s armored cover at the point where the pipe exits the hull.

- Redid brackets securing the muffler so that they wrap around it better, particularly at the bottom.

- Bored out the exhaust pipe for the main exhaust. I drilled it out incrementally finishing with a #18 drill bit. Now it looks more like a metal pipe and less like a plastic pipe.
- Drilled out the drains on the idlers with a 1.05-mm drill bit. HL molded these on reversed. As a result, the drain pipe is above the handle. Unfortunately, these are molded on and would require major surgery to correct them. So, I guess I’ll just have to live with them as they are.

- Corrected the brackets next to the rear tow hooks. HL’s brackets lack the bolt heads and they’re angled away from the upper hull. So, I used a 5-mm styrene triangle (by Tamiya) to redo those angles. The triangle is an isosceles triangle; so, it already has the built-in right angle and matches the width of HL’s mounting plate. The bolt heads are represented with 1.2-mm rivets.