Graeme's Panzer IV, Simon's memorial build.

[Graeme C.]

Thanks Lee!
Not too much done, just cleaned up & assembled the wheels, all 20 of them! There was me thinking a Panzer IV only had 16, maybe Italeri have done the stretch panzer.......

As usual there was a lot of cleaning up to do, I'll have order a large box of sanding sticks.....

 

[BattleshipBob]

16 sets, not a top secret paper panzer !

 

[Graeme C.]

Could be a Frankenpanzer!

 

[BattleshipBob]

Being thick, i assume the extras are spares D'Oh

 

[Jakko]

There are at least two spares, for mounting on the hull side.

 

[Richard48]

Wheels arghhhh.Worse bit of armour kits when i make them.Looking great!!!
Nice work again.
Rich

 

[JR]

Late in sorry Graeme, you seem to have it under control .

 

[Graeme C.]

Bob, they are spares, but four?
Jakko, usually in a rack on the side, but I'm doing a desert version, so where to put the extras which would be needed for the conditions in North Africa?
Rich, it can be therapeutic cleaning up all those wheels, could be worse, I could have built a Tiger.....
John, good to have you along, plenty to do yet, but I'm not sure any of my builds are under control!

 

[Jakko]

usually in a rack on the side, but I'm doing a desert version, so where to put the extras which would be needed for the conditions in North Africa?

Anywhere they wouldn’t fall off, probably If you’re aiming for a generic vehicle rather than trying to model a specific one, you could do something like make a rack for jerrycans along one of the hull sides and put a spare wheel in that as well, for example. Another would be to lay a wheel flat on the mudguard, held by a bracket between the bow machine gun and driver’s visor, or to have a longer length of spare track on the hull front than will fit there, so it hangs in an arc, with one or two spare wheels between the track and the hull.

Here, for example, the crew have added an extension to the normal spare wheel rack so it will hold a third:



On this one, though it’s blown apart, you can see a spare wheel on the ground in front of the tank. It most likely sat behind the spare tracks on the bow:



This one has its spare wheels on the sides of the engine deck, in the curved brackets that Italeri also supplies, but it doesn’t have the rectangular “bin” for wheels on the side:



There are all kinds of other options. If you ask Google for images of something like Panzer IV North Africa you’ll probably find lots of inspiration. Just be aware that you use pictures of long-barreled PzKpfw IVs, since the short-barreled ones often differed from them in this kind of stowage.

 

[Jim R]

Bet you're glad the wheels are done
Nice job marrying up the resin and kit parts.
It seems that the spare wheels were fitted in many different places. Jakko is a master at finding reference photos. I like the rack with the home made addition for a third wheel.
Jim

 

[Lee Drennen]

Graeme. Nice job on the wheels

 

[Steve Jones]

Great to see some tank wheels. Bob (Bowcat) deprived me of seeing his wheels so I feel a lot better. LOL

Great update my friend. Keep up the good work

 

[rtfoe]

Guess you'll know why I don't have a Panzer IV in my gallery yet ...the thought of those roadwheels just make me procrastinate. No actually I have a Stug IV and the spares are stored two on a curved rack on the back and two on the front slope next to the gun...perhaps for added protection.

Graeme, that's just the assembling but wait till you have to paint the rubber portions. The Italeri kit doesn't give poly caps I think so you might have to poke cocktail sticks into the hub and use that as leverage to twist as you brush paint in the rubber lining. Of course the other option is to paint it all rubber and then use a circular template of the right size and spray on the body colour.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Jakko]

wait till you have to paint the rubber portions. The Italeri kit doesn't give poly caps I think so you might have to poke cocktail sticks into the hub and use that as leverage to twist as you brush paint in the rubber lining. Of course the other option is to paint it all rubber and then use a circular template of the right size and spray on the body colour.

I almost invariably paint tyres in two goes: half the wheel at a time.

 

[stillp]

I almost invariably paint tyres in two goes: half the wheel at a time.

Half the width or half the circumference?
Pete

 

[Jakko]

Good point Half the circumference. I hold the wheel between my fingers and paint the (more or less) half of the tyre that’s still accessible, then let it dry and paint the rest.

 

[Graeme C.]

Jakko, great pictures, certainly gives me some ideas, the middle one may be a bit extreme!
Richard, the cocktail stick option is my usual method!
Jim, Lee, Steve & Pete, Thanks for the encouragement, plenty of things to think about on which direction I should take this build, a knocked out or abandoned panzer maybe?
A little progress, cleaned up & assembled the top rollers, yet more sanding, but at least there's only eight of them! Added a couple of bits to the turret, ventilators, vision slits & cupola, the first etch bits are a couple of guards above the side hatches, a definite improvement over the moulded on ones.

 

[scottie3158]

Graeme,
Just had a catch up sorry about being late. very nice start. I am the same as you i have always found the best way to paint tank or softskin wheels is to get a good tight fit on a cocktail stick or piece of sprue used thinned paint and to slowly spin the wheel very quick and painless.

 

[Graeme C.]

Good to have you along Paul, a steady hand is needed though!

 

[Jakko]

Jakko, great pictures, certainly gives me some ideas, the middle one may be a bit extreme!

True, I included it mainly because it shows (more or less) what I meant by the length of track on the front plate with a wheel behind it.

It would make a good subject for the group build on another forum that I’m building my exploded M113 for, though …