Panzer IV ausf. H, 1/35 scale

[lowlife]

Panzer is coming along well, glad your enjoying your retirement !

Don't know if this helps but since I switched to the extra thin cement I found this little tip helped me !

Rather than putting glue on one surface, then placing the next piece in position, try holding the two pieces in place firmly and just run cement along the join. It seems to hold better (quicker) and you've more chance of getting the part in the correct position !

[406 Silverado]

May 11, 2023 8:09:08 GMT -5 lowlife said:

Panzer is coming along well, glad your enjoying your retirement !

Don't know if this helps but since I switched to the extra thin cement I found this little tip helped me !
Rather than putting glue on one surface, then getting the next piece in position, hold the two pieces in place firmly and just run cement along the join. It seems to hold better (quicker) and you've more chance of getting the part in the correct position !

Right on. Capillary action works GREAT!!

[moparmadness]

We get so lost in all the newest shiny kits, great classics like these easily get brushed aside. As a kid growing up in the 80’s, finding this kit on the shelf would have been equivalent of finding a bar of gold. Italeri was a rare sighting in the LHS’s in my area. My little head would have exploded if I saw an Italeri Puma or Elefant on the shelf. You’re doing this old kit justice!

[Whiterook]

Still not abandoned, lol… I’ve been dealing with sciatica for the last four weeks, and some family emergencies (a fee, actually) all cropped up not long after the wargaming expo. I do need to get back on this soon, but sitting at the bench is pretty uncomfortable… but I gotta get crankin’ as it’s due the beginning of July for a donation. Need to do a diorama, too. I have every confidence it will finished, though. Thanks for your patience.

[stikpusher]

If you stay strictly OOB, there is no reason the build will not be completed within a week. Then depending upon how deep you dive into the painting and weathering, a few more bench sessions after that. Ive built several of the Italeri Panzer IVs, and the suspension is the most time consuming phase. Everything after that should move along quickly. You've got this.

[Joe Rix]

Just hope you get to feeling better Emery. I deal with back issues that take me down for short periods and it is indeed frustrating. Just glad to see your still at it and I have all the confidence you will see this through to a glorious finale.

[406 Silverado]

Jun 28, 2023 8:00:17 GMT -5 Whiterook said:

Still not abandoned, lol… I’ve been dealing with sciatica for the last four weeks, and some family emergencies (a fee, actually) all cropped up not long after the wargaming expo. I do need to get back on this soon, but sitting at the bench is pretty uncomfortable… but I gotta get crankin’ as it’s due the beginning of July for a donation. Need to do a diorama, too. I have every confidence it will finished, though. Thanks for your patience.

Good to see you again Emery! Sorry you're having sciatica issues man. I've heard that is some really uncomfortable stuff to deal with. Hang in there bro and lookin' forward to seeing you hangin around again brother.

[Whiterook]

Finally got to the workbench again, having been sidelined by sciatica for a month and a half! I was only able to get a couple hours in, but it was nice to be back in the soup. Started work on the turret tonight and have it completed. The instructions were pretty horrific for this section, and a little guesswork was needed to figure out what wasn’t written or shown put together, but I managed! I started with the upper superstructure of the turret. With the bottom ring and mantlet aside. The hatches went on pretty smoothly, though there’s not a lot of wiggle room. The rear equipment storage area (not sure what it’s name is) was hell to attach, as there are just a few small attachment points and it’s looked pretty precarious, but ended up holding secure this far!



There’s a couple hooks behind the cupola,Mon the back side that was super tricky! …incredibly small hooks that were tough ti position. I did loose one of about six, I think, but I considered myself lucky to finally get those two attached!

Upper cupola and hatch, ports went in pretty easily. The gun loader unit did also, but the instructions didn’t really give a good indication how to seat it inside, so it was a dry fit trial and error where I deduced how it “sits”. Again, the instructions aren’t vet specific and it was tricky to get the two rings seated properly with no guide pins or slots to help. The picture in instructions really didn’t give great indication of placement of the notches in each ring, but it looks about where I think they go.



The mantlet was a challenge, as there wasn’t a lot of surface to seat it, but some nimble finger work got it on the base ring unit.



The front of the gun loader barely has contact areas ti glue to the inner assembly of the mantlet area, but I managed after some tricky finger gripping.



That was a relief to see the gun starting to come together and look like it’s where it needs to be.

[Whiterook]

The gun barrel isn’t all that bad, actually! I was a little surprised, to be honest. I put the bottom and top of the turret together and the fit was pretty flawless for the most part…some gaps were able to be overcome quickly and the gun barrel went in smoothly.











It felt good to be back at the workbench… I was pretty sore afterwards, but recovered somewhat quickly. I’m also relieved to get this build back on track, as I’d fell behind severely on my schedule to complete it for the tournament donation; I’ve a couple weeks ti finish the model and I’ll put a simple diorama together afterwards for a frost week of August delivery. Hang onto your butts!!!

[chromdome35]

Great to hear you are back in the saddle, I've always felt one of the great things about this hobby is you can set it down and pick it right back up whenever you want. Maybe other than the paint drying up, everything is just how you left it.

Great forward progress on the build!

[Joe Rix]

It is indeed good to see you able to get some bench time in. I am sorry to hear that you are not entirely comfortable yet. Please don't press yourself and continue to focus on your well being. Just concerned about a good friend is all.

As for your Panzer IV, your progress on the turret is looking rock solid. Your patience and analysis seem to have paid off right nicely. Hope some additional progress comes soon.

[stikpusher]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, and you haven't glued the mantlet portion to the breech portion. But the mantlet should be outside of the trunnion armor on the turret faceplate. Look at here on this photo.

[406 Silverado]

Most certainly glad to see you back at the bench and back here with us Emery! Man I'm sorry you're having so much trouble with your sciatica bud. I've never been through it but I've heard many people that have and from what they say, it does hurt pretty dang badly.

Your progress is looking stellar so far on your project and it looks like it's coming together nicely.

[moparmadness]

You definitely don’t see the two piece barrel much anymore. Looks like you’re not too far from firing up the compressor!

[Whiterook]

Well, thank you very much, ya’ll!!! …I really appreciate the well wishes and welcoming back from hiatus; I gotta say, it is Awesome to spend some time at the workbench again and with you all again. And thank you Carlos… I’m so glad you chimed in so quick, and appreciate your eagle eye! The instructions were confusing and now that it was pointed out, I definitely wanted to fix it!!!

…speaking of, thankfully, the turret itself is held in place with a screw-on/tabbed securing deign, so I was able to attempt a fix even had I sealed the upper deck and lower chassis… but not having done that yet, it made a simpler disassembly. I gently twisted back and forth on the connection area inside the turret, accessed from the bottom and was able to get the whole gun out in one piece. It had plenty of room to slip the entire thing right out.



….but of course, the mantlet couldn’t possibly fit through from the inside, not the base of the gun from the outside, as you can see above so, there really was no graceful way to separate the barrel and mantlet other than to break it off the base of the gun barrel serving as a kid of pin. Snap, it went, but cleanly.



So, there was no way to make a good join without pinning it so, the solution was some sprue…



…I cleaned out the hole on the inner side of the mantlet and the original gun barrel end. Then, I snipped a piece of sprue. Next., using a pair of mini channel lock pliers, I held one end of the sprue pin like a vice and used a craft knife 11-blade to whittle the end that would go in base of what was the barrel end (now, being a small tube, in essence). I glued the in-whittled end into the back of the mantlet, then the whittled end went in the other end… glue applied and held the joined areas together. After the glue set a little, I propped the whole turret up to cure over night.



Crisis averted?

[stikpusher]

That's better...

[Whiterook]

Tops on! Getting the top decking on was a bit of a challenge, as there were some issues lining up the joints for the bottom tub. At first, I wondered if I assembled something under the decking wrong, but turns out to be a simple matter of old kit warping. I was able to muscle and clamp what I could, and weathering will take care of the rest



Track decking had tricky assembly for the rear flaps, but things seem to be lining up right.



I decided to leave the gunners hatch open, even though there’s no interior to the tank… I think it added a little extra to the static display possibilities, and the machinegun is puuurty!

The build construction isn’t far off from completion now. I’ve been debating whether to put the schurzen/skirts on, and thusfar am feeling I won’t…it’ll save me a little build time, as this needs to be painted, weathered, and placed on a diorama, all within two weeks.

[stikpusher]

Looks like the hull is almost complete... Nice! Do you have a figure to place in the open hatch?

[Whiterook]

Jul 24, 2023 16:54:34 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

Looks like the hull is almost complete... Nice! Do you have a figure to place in the open hatch?

Yes indeed, it’s mostly done, thank goodness   …it’ll be a close shave on delivery but, I’m confident it’ll be finished in time for the delivery. I do have a couple figures for it… I would like to see if I can get one in that hatch, and I believe I var a standing figure that might be good for outside the tank.

I’m thinking of a whitewash over panzer gray, with the kit on a part snow, part mud diorama…nothing crazy. I’ve done the hairspray method once before, to good results, but that was many moons ago!

[406 Silverado]

Nice save on the mantlet Emery. Sorry to hear about the warpage issues but it looks like you have a plan to smooth it over. Great progress report on this and glad to have you back with us buddy.

[stikpusher]

Jul 24, 2023 17:19:20 GMT -5 Whiterook said:

Jul 24, 2023 16:54:34 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

Looks like the hull is almost complete... Nice! Do you have a figure to place in the open hatch?

Yes indeed, it’s mostly done, thank goodness   …it’ll be a close shave on delivery but, I’m confident it’ll be finished in time for the delivery. I do have a couple figures for it… I would like to see if I can get one in that hatch, and I believe I var a standing figure that might be good for outside the tank.

I’m thinking of a whitewash over panzer gray, with the kit on a part snow, part mud diorama…nothing crazy. I’ve done the hairspray method once before, to good results, but that was many moons ago!

The whitewash scheme sounds good, but I'd suggest using one of the mid to late war schemes, since Panzer Gray usage had been discontinued by the time that the Panzer IV H came along.

[Whiterook]

Jul 24, 2023 21:26:44 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Nice save on the mantlet Emery. Sorry to hear about the warpage issues but it looks like you have a plan to smooth it over. Great progress report on this and glad to have you back with us buddy.

Thanks greatly! …and it’s good to be back in the saddle, even if I can only ride an hour or two just yet, lol!!!

Jul 25, 2023 13:09:17 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

Jul 24, 2023 17:19:20 GMT -5 Whiterook said:

Yes indeed, it’s mostly done, thank goodness   …it’ll be a close shave on delivery but, I’m confident it’ll be finished in time for the delivery. I do have a couple figures for it… I would like to see if I can get one in that hatch, and I believe I var a standing figure that might be good for outside the tank.

I’m thinking of a whitewash over panzer gray, with the kit on a part snow, part mud diorama…nothing crazy. I’ve done the hairspray method once before, to good results, but that was many moons ago!

The whitewash scheme sounds good, but I'd suggest using one of the mid to late war schemes, since Panzer Gray usage had been discontinued by the time that the Panzer IV H came along.

Great point… I’d not gotten as far as researching appropriate (or close to) actual, but have decided with the 635, which appears to have fought in the Ardennes, Belgium, Winter 44-45, which fits the theme of the wargame tournament, “Tussle in the Tundra”. The reference shot I found online tonight was this…

[Leon]

Your making good progress Emery! Keep up the good work.

I also suffer from Sciatica and at times the pain is unbearable and can only sit for a few minutes.

[hasenpfeffer]

Hey! Emery is back! Glad to see it. Coming along nicely too. I will only add that it appears as though the bottom half of your cupola is upside-down. The pieces should form vision slots in the middle (at least it looks that way to me).

I also know that I have at least a few pics of the tank you are referring to, so let me know if you'd like me to dig up those pics and I'll post them here.

Here's one from the HD on this computer (way more on my bench comp.) You can see the cupola pretty good here too.

[Whiterook]

Jul 25, 2023 19:50:17 GMT -5 hasenpfeffer said:

Hey! Emery is back! Glad to see it. Coming along nicely too. I will only add that it appears as though the bottom half of your cupola is upside-down. The pieces should form vision slots in the middle (at least it looks that way to me).

I also know that I have at least a few pics of the tank you are referring to, so let me know if you'd like me to dig up those pics and I'll post them here.

Here's one from the HD on this computer (way more on my bench comp.) You can see the cupola pretty good here too.

Well, dang! Lol. My third rookie mistake on this build… I’m kinda horrified and chuckling all in one!!! That’s what you get when you rush things. I’m generally a fairly quick builder when I’m going, but for some reason, the illustration manual on this is either the issue, or I’m not looking in-depth enough, or both. Oh well…it’s all good. 

I looked at the cupolas this morning, and even tried s9me gentle prying but, that’s not gonna move without major damage! I think I’ll first try to see if I can cut slits in the bottom ring, and if successful, build out the upper rim on that bottom ring in mirror; I can always fill in the wrong-side slits with putty. If all that doesn’t work, I’ll just pile up “snow” around the bottom ring at the end of the Kit work.

I appreciate your noticing… I’d like to make sure of accuracy (or hiding the intakes) as much as possible.

[Whiterook]

Forward momentum with this kit… painted a basecoat on the lower hulls’ sides between the tracks area, so that I could paint up the road wheels and put the tracks on. The first thing I noticed was, I’m bone dry on Dunkelgelb! Ugh. Juuuuuust enough with a bit of water to get a decent couple coats on, but I’ll need to either order some or mix my own (I, sure I can find a mix out there somewhere). The road wheels got a coat of black, mixed with some blue and a dab or white for the basecoat, later followed by Vallejo Sea Grey. Overall… good enough until weathering.



…yeah, I know, I know…the suspensions on backwards! Lots of mud and snow will take care of that, for anyone that tries to peek under the tank and above the diorama base! Anyway, I then, went back in and touched up the dunkelgelb on the road wheels and returns.

Getting the rubber tracks on was a pain… to join the ends of the link runs is tough with rubber tracks; I used some CA glue, but needed to pin them together with staples. Trying to get some flex in one run, I snapped the dang thing in half and had to rejoin that. The staples are cool, as the tracks will have mud and snow where they are placed, especially the non snapped on run, which has the staple on the bottom where it will sink into the snow.



Next up was the fenders, which were a bit persnickety to get in there… tight fit and needed some clamping to get the seal to the upper deck. 



Started placing on the accessories, but had to call it a night, as my side was hurting. The turret was popped on to see how she all looked to this point… it’s not glued on and is removable and moveable.



Next session will be placing the rest of the pieces on: probably the schurzen and maybe a skirt or two. Then airbrush the basecoat and camo, and decal; last will be hairspray and then whitewash; followed by weathering. A simple diorama will be made, as well… so, she still has a way to go.

As mentioned at the start of this, I was building this as a donation for a first place prize for a wargaming tournament, but so much went wrong personally during this build with medical and family issues. The tournament director gave me an out if I can’t finish, but I have the weekend still, and maybe a couple days next week so, we’ll see. If I can’t finish it in time for August 10th, I’ll still donate it for next years’ tourney.

[Tobi]

You're getting there Emery!

[406 Silverado]

First off, I'm sorry you're having to deal with medical and family issues Emery. Keeping you close in thought bro and I hope things get better for you.

Secondly, you're doing a great job on this one and that was a good idea on using the staples to hold the track together and hiding them in the weathering and future snow. This one's coming together quite well.

[stikpusher]

If you add the side skirts, those will conceal the staples on the upper track run...

[Whiterook]

Jul 28, 2023 13:08:08 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

If you add the side skirts, those will conceal the staples on the upper track run...

Great thought and it had crossed my mind… mud and snow on one run, and the other being buried in snow on a diorama will take care of the staples   …that said, I’ve not ruled out side skirts, other than I just might not have the time of I meet delivery; this one might wait for a donation to next years’ wargame tourney, as I don’t want to sacrifice quality for the sake of meeting a deadline for what is essentially a freebie build for a friend.