Many thanks, Arnie, Ram and others. This Forum has an ever expanding reference collection of material, and it's a pleasure to add to it.
Arnie, I see that your Asiatam build (middle, above) exhibits the lip on the front armour glacis plate I tried so hard to avoid, as it's not there on the full scale tank, nor the Tamiya/Taigen versions. I believe Rad 'stretched' his upper hull in a similar fashion to accommodate the excess length in the Asiatam lower hull. This harks back to the thread I initiated a year ago: the one where I decided to saw the back of the alloy hull (like some sort of crazed magician...
). It might be of interest to newcomers. The Asiatam hull (love/hate relationship..) is now the right length to support a Tamiya, Taigen or Trumpeter upper..
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=21059&p=191023&hili ... iv#p191023
For comparative purposes, I'll post a pic tomorrow of the Tamiya Hull set against the Asiatam alloy hull. The light's not right for pics just now. If any member wants dimensions from any of these parts, just let me know.
I bought the Tamiya Pz IV hull and partial running gear sprues from Axel's Modellbau, along with the upper hull. I'd hoped to source all the major components over an extended period, to assemble a complete Tamiya Ausf J. The boxed kit is just a shade
too expensive for one fit of yielding to temptation. The instalments method is likely to cost more in the long run, but it's not so traumatic
.. In the event, Axel seems unable to supply certain parts (maybe the German Tamiya
monopolists are putting zer squeeze on ihn..
). That being the case, plan B will be an attempt to build a Tamiya/ HL hybrid a la Painless..
Quite why the PzIV is so captivating, I really can't say: but it is
..It's almost as cute like the Comet...