Pete's Panzer IV Ausf.D

[stillp]

Thanks folks, if he's good enough for you figure experts then he'll certainly do for me!

Pete

 

[Mini Me]

Liking it Pete, Rick H.

 

[Steven000]

Looking good Pete,
I surely like the idea of an open hatch and a figure, it makes the vehicle come to life and gives a better understanding of it's size.

Cheers
Steven

 

[SimonT]

I recently bought one of these oldies as they are dead cheap and a good way of bumping up an Amazon order to get free delivery

Probably going to do my usual and correct the problem areas when I get around to it - width, suspension spacings, narrow wheels etc

Good thing is that they still look like what they are intended to be out the box but, if so inclined, have plenty of scope for reworking

 

[stillp]

Assembly finished I think, except for wheels and tracks. Dunkelgelb everywhere!
That can dry overnight, then I'll start work on the wheels. Tools etc will be painted grey before attaching. Figures have had their limbs glued on in what I hope are good positions, and are currently drying after filling the joins with PPP.

Thanks for watching.
Pete

 

[scottie3158]

Peter,
Looking good.

 

[Steve Jones]

Nice to see the wet stuff on the build. Looking really good.

 

[stillp]

Dunkelgelb doesn't cover very well does it! Most of a 17 ml bottle later, this is where we are:

Next jobs are to get the rubber black on the wheels, and a wash on the driver and loader. On the driver, I used a Vallejo Game Colour wash labelled as "Dipping Formula Immersion, so I dipped the figure, but found the consistency was like treacle, so brushed most of it off with a wet brush straight away. It seemed OK, but for the other 2 figures I think I'll try diluting it and brushing it on.
Now, I need some advice from the armour experts - should the inside faces of the open hatches be in the exterior colour, or off-white?

Thanks
Pete

 

[Steve Jones]

They need to be the same colour as the outside armour. It was only in the early months of the war that the inside hatch colour was the same as the interior colour. Its been ages since I did the Ausf D but you need to check if the cupola pads are black. I am sure they are.

Great build so far Pete. Keep up the great work

 

[stillp]

Thanks Steve, that saves a job! Showing my ignorance her - what are cupola pads?

Pete

 

[MikeC]

The return rollers have quite a lot of taper on them, which was taking a while to clean up, but then I remembered this:
View attachment 331211
cordless dremel-thingy, bought from Lidl. My mains-powered Dremel is too fast to use on plastic, even on the lowest speed, but this is quite slow. The rollers are on a fairly long axle, which fitted nicely into one of the collets:
View attachment 331214
Holding a sanding stick against them soon brought them down to parallel, which as well as looking better should give a little less tension on the tracks.
Added some more to the upper hull:
View attachment 331217
Now it's decision time again - if I leave the driver's hatch open, then I'll have to add the driver, since there's nothing under the hatch except a 'shelf' for his bum to perch on. However, I hate painting figures! The trouble is, they have to be done well, or they look awful. Maybe I'll see if I have some flesh colour, and if I have, try to paint the figures before deciding if hatches will be open or closed.
Thanks for watching,
Pete

Sorry no! this build has got to stop, no electrical tools allowed where John Race is concerned, even the duck in his bath is wind operated......
On a more serious note - it makes all the difference instead of slaving away with wet'n'dry.
Mike.

 

[scottie3158]

Steve. Looking good. I believe the cupola pads are leather pads around the inside to prevent the head hitting bare metal.

 

[Jakko]

On the driver, I used a Vallejo Game Colour wash labelled as "Dipping Formula Immersion, so I dipped the figure, but found the consistency was like treacle, so brushed most of it off with a wet brush straight away. It seemed OK, but for the other 2 figures I think I'll try diluting it and brushing it on.

For a quick shade, I use transparent paint with pigment mixed in and brush it on with a large brush. Dipping is a lot of wasted paint and the risk of dropping the figure into the paint, if you ask me.

As for the figures, they should be wearing black uniforms — the field grey on one of your figures would make him a StuG crewman, not a tanker. Afrikakorps olive green would also be an option, but IIRC tanker’s uniforms weren’t made in that colour, certainly not early on when tankers newly arrived in Africa were photographed wearing their normal black uniforms.

 

[JR]

Figure looks fine Pete.
Like the sound of your Parkside machine, as you say the Dremel is too fast.
Contrary to Mikes thinking we at Race towers have moved with the times, only last week we had water connected. As for this electricity stuff , we have a peddle operated genny, does wonders for the figure.
John.

 

[stillp]

Steve. Looking good. I believe the cupola pads are leather pads around the inside to prevent the head hitting bare metal.

Steve?
Thanks Paul, I found a reference in a British Intelligence report on Google Books, that said they were synthetic rubber on the Panzer IV, so I'll go with black as Steve suggested rather than leather brown.

For a quick shade, I use transparent paint with pigment mixed in and brush it on with a large brush. Dipping is a lot of wasted paint and the risk of dropping the figure into the paint, if you ask me.

As for the figures, they should be wearing black uniforms — the field grey on one of your figures would make him a StuG crewman, not a tanker. Afrikakorps olive green would also be an option, but IIRC tanker’s uniforms weren’t made in that colour, certainly not early on when tankers newly arrived in Africa were photographed wearing their normal black uniforms.

Thanks Jakko. The wash was about the price of two cups of coffee for a 200 ml jar, so seemed worth a try. If it was thinner there wouldn't be much waste as it would drip back into the jar.
Thanks for the information about the uniforms - TBH I'm not too concerned about the historical accuracy (do I hear cries of "Burn the heretic"?), I'm just building a representation of a Panzer. If I give the commander a black uniform then his headphone leads won't show up.

But... when I dipped the driver then wiped off most of the dip with a brush, the remainder dried a dark sepia brown. However, I thinned some with water and brushed it on, it looked the same brown when wet, but has dried to a sort of salmon pink!

Not sure what to do about that. It goes brown again if I wet it, so maybe a coat of flat varnish will restore the brown-ness, or should I try a brown oil wash over it? All suggestions gratefully received.
Pete

 

[Steve Jones]

Hi Pete

I have always known them as cupola pads but they may go by another name. Any how its the section of the cupola lid just behind the guy in the middle's wrists. As you can see they are black - with a little dust of course

Happy moggeling

Steve

 

[stillp]

Thanks Steve, I wondered whether they were supposed to be there! Black they shall be!

Pete

 

[Deleted member 4539]

looks like you're having fun.

 

[Jakko]

If I give the commander a black uniform then his headphone leads won't show up.

Paint them dark grey Or just drybrush the uniform dark grey to highlight it, that’ll also do that for the wires in one go.

 

[stillp]

Found this:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/463237511656255056/

In other news, I tried a coat of Galeria matt over the wash that turned out pink, and it seems to have restored the sepia colour. That's a relief!
Pete