Tamiya Panzer IV J

[ogrejohn]

Since the Leo is on hold for a bit I thought I'd dig this one out and get a start on it. Tamiyas Panzer IV ausf J model with a few goodies. Aber barrel, Friul ostketten (not winterketten) tracks, an Eduard etch set that I will only be using a few things and Echelon decals. Seeing how the Tamiya kit is based on the earlier J model it will need to have a zimm coating so I'll be using the Cavalier zimm set.

[Deleted]

John....I haven't got the first clue about all these Panzer 4 variants,but I will follow this build,to see if I can get any more confused!! ;D..

[spud]

oh very Nice

[ogrejohn]

LOL Chris, I think they made about a bazillion different variants of the Pz IV! It confusticates me all the time!

[ogrejohn]

Oops, we must have posted about the same time, thanks Spud!

[afvfan]

Jan 2, 2013 18:33:34 GMT -5 @chrisb said:

John....I haven't got the first clue about all these Panzer 4 variants,but I will follow this build,to see if I can get any more confused!! ;D..

Chris - With the number of variations, the way the Germans upgraded the tanks on the fly, and all the retrofitting going on, it's real easy to get confused on these!

[wing_nut]

Gonna be keeping tabs on this. Love the Pz IV. And nice that you are doing a Tammy kit instead of one of those Dragon kits that keep getting issued a narrowing the production time down furthjer and further. Remember when it was just Pz IV J mid production. But now it's... Pz Iv J mid production, July/Aug 1944. Soon it will be... Pz IV J mid prodction, Wednesday, july 12, 1944. and Hitler was baking a strudel.

[wbill76]

Nice collection of goodies for this project! Will make for a fun build, keep us posted!

[TRM]

Right on John!! Nice kit and all the fun extras to boot!!! I'm in!! Now, just need to find my snack bowl...

[eastrock]

This is one is cool

[deafpanzer]

Of course count me in! I had so much fun with old Tamiya Pz IV kit last year so you will too!

[bbd468]

Hey john,

Allright then....Im ready to see this bad boy come to life! Ya got some fine goodies to help too. NICE!

Gary

[bullardino]

Jan 2, 2013 18:54:05 GMT -5 afvfan said:

Jan 2, 2013 18:33:34 GMT -5 @chrisb said:

John....I haven't got the first clue about all these Panzer 4 variants,but I will follow this build,to see if I can get any more confused!! ;D..

Chris - With the number of variations, the way the Germans upgraded the tanks on the fly, and all the retrofitting going on, it's real easy to get confused on these!

And that's one reason for the huge success of german armor among modellers

Ah, John, obvioulsy count me in. I'm as clueless as CB, but qite interested

[fightnjoe]

did a panzer a couple of years ago. first time with a dragon kit and first white wash. was impressed with the kit but not with my white wash.

will be following along.


joe

[M1Carbine]

John - Im in for this one mate.

Bob

[danb.]

This looks good John carry on sir

Dan B

[Deleted]

Looks like you about everything to for a fun build John . Hey , i was looking at the decal sheet , some of those numbers look a bit diff ....are those going to be used on this build ?

[ogrejohn]

AFV, Bill and T, thanks for looking in.
Marc, yeah I know what you mean about Dragon narrowing things down too much. Thanks for stopping by and looking in. BTW July 12, 1944 Hitler wasn't doing the strudel, that was Eva. AH was doing the steaks on the grill. New uncovered documentation has proven this.
ER, Andy, Gary, Luigi, Joe, Bob and Dan, Thanks for stopping by and checking in.
Dicky, hey mate, thanks for sending the parcel. Not here yet but I'm sure it will be soon. Thanks for stopping by.
Carl, the echelon decals make some of the numbers look as though they were hand painted and no template used. Not sure If I'll use those or not. Still haven't made up my mind as to the markings. Thanks for stopping by.

I've made a small amount of progress on the build but the camera is dead. I'll get a few pics up sometime tomorrow. Thanks again to all for stopping by .

[joelsmith]

OJ, with all respect, there are many photos of late Pz IVs with the "hand painted" turret numbers. Most notably the 2nd Pz Div and 12th SS Pz Div in Normandy. A pretty good inexpensive reference is the Squadron/Signal book "Panzer IV" by Kevin Hejermstad (sp), it has a number of color profiles of late Pz IVs. HTH, Joel.

[joelsmith]

Also, if you use a set of decals from your sheet of a Pz IVH, you will need to obtain a auxillary muffler that mounts on the rear plate to the left of the main "Round " muffler. This muffler is for the motor that powers the turret traverse. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask, if I don't know, (which is very probable ;>) ) wbill76 is very knowledgeable. HTH, Joel.

[ogrejohn]

Joel, thanks for stopping in and checking it out.

[ogrejohn]

Some progress being made. OT at work is really putting a dent in the bench time.

Starting out by putting some bits on the lower hull. I only added the back half of the return rollers. The outside half will be added after adding the tracks.


Front piece for the lower hull has molded in plates for the towing brackets. I removed these as the Cavalier zimm has them as well and as fragile as it is I thought it best to remove the ones from the plastic part.


Zimm was then attached to the plate, Gator Grip Glue is our friend!


Front piece installed and brackets added.


The kit lower rear plate was replaced with the one from the zimm set and the muffler and other odds and ends were added.


I finished up adding the rest of the suspension parts to the lower hull.


Not a lot accomplished but I'm hoping to get more time in on it this week.
Thanks for looking!

[deafpanzer]

Zimm looking real good!!! I am glad I am only an hour and half drive away so I can look at it.

[Deleted]

Thanks for clarification on those decals John , kinda thought that was the case . Build looks to be going well .
Good and bad about the O.T. isnt it . Strange economy we are in .

[eastrock]

the ZIM is spot on, John

[fightnjoe]

john that looks dang good from here.




joe

[ogrejohn]

Hey Dicky! Yep, it sure does take a bit of planning. Thanks for stopping in and the compliments!

Andy, thanks man! I'm going to try and take this to the indy show if I can get it done in time.

Carl, the OT is waaaaaayyyy better than the 4 days a week we were doing a few years ago. Thanks for stopping by!

ER & Joe, thanks guys for the nice comments and stopping in!

[wbill76]

You're making some good progress on this one John! Looking forward to more! Nice work on the Cavalier zim, it's got some good detailing that will really add to this build.

Jan 5, 2013 21:10:19 GMT -5 joelsmith said:

Also, if you use a set of decals from your sheet of a Pz IVH, you will need to obtain a auxillary muffler that mounts on the rear plate to the left of the main "Round " muffler. This muffler is for the motor that powers the turret traverse. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask, if I don't know, (which is very probable ;>) ) wbill76 is very knowledgeable. HTH, Joel.

As a side not to Joel's comment, this is a IV-J and J's had the auxillary turret traverse motor deleted as part of the production simplification and the port blanked over on the rear hull, so no addition required for those so-inclined to follow that level of detail accuracy.

[bbd468]

Hey John,

Great job with the Zimm...Looks to be a real nice set. Keep on Bringin' it John....nice job!!!

Gary

[wing_nut]

Looks good. I really like the Cav zim. If this fits your J and well as it did on my H you're gonna love it .