Dragon Pz. IV Ausf. G Kharkhov (18.05.13):

[multicam]

Great work so far. Tracks look nice and tidy! I have to build one of these sometme soon. I gotta kill some stash first though:) I'm a huge GOT fan myself, and I haven't seen this book yet. I'll have to look into it. Cheers

[Hinksy]

Thanks for all your great replies lads!

Dirst off - Game of Thrones? The best thing on TV in years. In the UK you need a Cable or Satellite package to get the channel it's on but I don't watch enough telly to warrant the expense of Cable/Sky etc.

That means I buy the DVD box sets as soon as they are released. There are 5 discs each with two 50 minute episodes on them. When I got the Season two box set I was watching two episodes back to back every night and had watched the entire season in 5 nights - one disc with two episodes a night!

Also, if you like these sort of films you should DEFINATELY look out for a British Film called 'Black Death'. It has Sean Bean who plays Eddard Stark in Season one and Candice Van Houten who plays the 'Red-Haired Priestess' Mellisandra in Season two. Sean Bean plays a knight doing the 'Lords Work and Candice plays a witch' - it's set around the time of the Great Plaque in England hence the film title and Sean Bean and his mean are sent to find a village which, apparently, has not yet been touched by the Plague. It's very creepy and if you like G.O.T. then you'll love this!

Here: www.blackdeathmovie.com/

Bill: Sorry but I'm still a bit unsure - do I stick the tabs on the hatches or on the hull somewhere? I can't find any photos either?

Onto my Pz. IV: I'm about to do some more work now. The cock up with the suspension aside - I've loved this build so far! It's been really enjoyable build. I've stuck to mainly OOB (Magic Tracks and kit MG) but will replace the kit barrel with the RB version and most of the flimsy grab handles with metal ones. Also, on the rear there are two hook thing that take a lightweight looped-up tow cable but one already snapped off so I'm going to open the holes out a bit and make them out of metal wire

I've had two chances to use PE: once on the inside of the engine deck hatch doors BUT they can't be seen so they'll go in the spares box and also the little square bits that go below the intakes at the rear on either side. I've got a few bit's to go on today like fender supports and a reflector that goes on the rear left hand fender flap.

I've also been doing some research into my 6633 Dragon StuG III G Late (Zimmed) which I'll be assembling after this Pz. IV has been completed. I was going to assemble it as per the box art with no Shcurzen fitted and in a rough three-tone cammo scheme. I've decided that as I haven't got a 'proper' full Schurzen build, I'm going to try and build the option which is a plain DY with full Schurzen - factory fresh with light dust and very minimal weathering. I'm also going to make this a big project and include Friuls and RB Barrel (I already have the barrel).

Back to the Pz. IV; todays steps involve the fitting of many tools but they will be painted separately and fitted after the basecoat has been applied. So today will see the hull completed (minus the tools of course) and I'll be wrapping everything up when all the other bits are in place as I spent as lot of time on this yesterday and next weekend I'll be starting the turret!

Cheers fellas,

Ben

[Hinksy]

Hi guys,

As mentioned in my post from earlier the hull is pretty much done. All it's awaiting now is the tools to be fitted after the basecoat and w/wash is on.

The Bosch lights are on, the angled PE Fender thingies are on, the convoy light and reflector light are on and I'm not sure if I've done it right (probably not) but I've snipped off the half wing-nuts and have mounted one on each of the section of plate. Bill said that although it's omitted from the instructions one should be put on each of the plates (E21 & E22) but as I can't find any photos I'm not sure if it's one half wing nut to be fitted somewhere on the section of 4 or one on each square? I imagine it's one on each as plent are supplied.

Perhaps you could clear this one up Bill - I'm not even sure that I've put them in the right place but I've only got a tiny bit of cement holding each one on so it's no hassles if I need to move them. Also, as mentioned in the post before this one I'm still struggling to work out where to put the 2 x unmentioned parts by the hatches?

Next week - Turret! I'm looking forward to that!

Photos:











Looking okay so far I think - a lovely little kit

Have a good week fellas!

Ben

[wbill76]

Ben,

Hopefully this will help out with your questions. You're close but not quite in the right spot with the wing nuts. They are meant to secure the flaps for the engine air intake vents and should sit at the edge as a result.



Now for the lock tabs on the hull hatches, see below...these are of an open hatch and you can see the tab on the hatch itself. There's a matching tab on the hull that would be used to lock the hatch when necessary to secure the vehicle. Look closely and you can see the other tab behind the crewman's leg.

[Hinksy]

Perfect-thanks Bill

Re the half wing nuts - should they be mounted ON the actual vent plates or just off them on the hull so the half wing nut can be turned to hold them in place? I can't quite tell from the drawing buddy?

The lock things is exactly as I thought but I wanted to be sure - excellent stuff

Thanks for all your help,

Ben

[wbill76]

Apr 8, 2013 4:08:19 GMT -5 Hinksy said:

Perfect-thanks Bill

Re the half wing nuts - should they be mounted ON the actual vent plates or just off them on the hull so the half wing nut can be turned to hold them in place? I can't quite tell from the drawing buddy?

The lock things is exactly as I thought but I wanted to be sure - excellent stuff

Thanks for all your help,

Ben

Just off them Ben. DML provides the bases for the wing nuts to mount to already molded in place. The half-wings are meant to swivel to secure the flaps when the vents need to be open so they don't bounce around and get bent as the vehicle travels.

[Hinksy]

Apr 8, 2013 19:00:21 GMT -5 wbill76 said:

Apr 8, 2013 4:08:19 GMT -5 Hinksy said:

Perfect-thanks Bill

Re the half wing nuts - should they be mounted ON the actual vent plates or just off them on the hull so the half wing nut can be turned to hold them in place? I can't quite tell from the drawing buddy?

The lock things is exactly as I thought but I wanted to be sure - excellent stuff

Thanks for all your help,

Ben

Just off them Ben. DML provides the bases for the wing nuts to mount to already molded in place. The half-wings are meant to swivel to secure the flaps when the vents need to be open so they don't bounce around and get bent as the vehicle travels.

That's great Bill - I'll sort them now

Many thanks buddy

[Hinksy]

Hi guys,

Sorry I haven't been one here much this week but it's been a busy one - plus I've started hitting the gym again in the mornings so that eats up my usual forum time in the mornings before work.

Anyway, I'm working from home today but it's been really quiet and as I only have the turret left to do on the main assembly I thought I'd put a couple of hours of this afternoon towards the gun assembly. I don't usually fuss to much with a breech assembly that's going to be hidden from view but it's all good practice!

All that's left to do is the rest of the turret which I'll complete tomorrow then onto basecoat painting, tools and wheels! I have booked a day off next week (Wednesday) and will use the bulk of that day to get this really moving along.

Here's a few photos - I wanted to add the half wing-nuts that hold the rear intake flaps down and the hatch lock squares as Bill mentioned in his own blog of this kit back when he built it. I found out that I'd totally screwed the wing nuts up so have moved them to where I think is now the correct place - Bill if you could confirm they are now ok that would be great!




The re-positioned wing-nuts. The white dots are where they were originally positioned and need cleaning off:



The assembled gun with replacement RB Barrel:



The turret will be on tomorrow - it's been a really enjoyable build so far.

If anyone has any feedback/comments or critiques then please, sound off!

Cheers guys,

Ben

[Leon]

Ben your doing a fine job.Breach and gun look great.

[wbill76]

Ben,

Yep, nuts are all in the right place! Nice work on the gun, that RB barrel sure looks pretty!

[Hinksy]

Cheers Bill - I like to have my nuts in the right place

She's coming on great now. I've loved this build.

I didn't have much spare time today so I've been watching my new 4 x DVD and 100 page magazine set from the History Channel simply called 'The Vietnam War'. It's damn good - I'm watching the second DVD now which is about the siege at Khe Sanh - brutal stuff!

Re my build: As I mentioned yesterday I have Wednesday off this week (woohoo) so after I do the few things that I have to do that morning it's 'Turret Time'!

The gun is obviously good to to so I'll assemble the rest of the turret and complete some light detailing too. Then it's going to be primed, ready for painting next weekend. The wheels will be mounted on spikes and primed and the tracks primed too.

Myvery good friend John from my club who helped me a lot when I first started won an airbrush at a comp the other day. He doesn't use them a great deal as he only models 1/76 AFV's and the one he already has cost him £200 plus he has a little spare. I've seen his photo of this one and it's like mine but all chrome and with a smaller cup which is nice - gravity fed and dual action. He said I can buy him off him for £30. It looks superb and I need a spare so this will become my main ab and my current ab will be my spare.

I hope it performs as well as it looks. I don't know what make it is yet but I'll let you know.

Cheers guys,

Ben

[jsteinman]

[wbill76]

Sounds like a great plan to expand your AB lineup Ben! Nice score.

[Hinksy]

Hi guys,

The turret is on and the basic build is complete! Obviously there is the running gear and tracks and tools but the 'shell' is done.

On Saturday I'm going to clean up and paint the tools and spray the wheels and tracks. I'm working Sunday so I'm not making any promises for that day but this is rolling on nicely now.

The turret was probably the trickiest part of the build - the doors and Cupola needing several attempts to drop into place all lined up correctly.

You'll probably notice in my photos below that I haven't sprayed the metal barrel or antennae. I bought some Mr Hobby 'Mr Metal Primer' as I find that standard primer sometimes sits too thick on metal barrels/antennae and also chips off quite easily so I'll see how this works. It's only an experiment so I'm not sure what to expect yet?

Thanks God for Bills Blog - he's saved me a lot of hassle! Thanks Bill!

Finally, I GOT MY NEW AIRBRUSH TODAY! It's a PremiAir G35 which I understand is an Iwata copy? Whatever it is it's amazing - it makes me realise what I was missing out on. It's perfection! The only thig that might be an occasional 'issue' is the much smaller paint cup but that said the extra control given by the better brush will mean I'll get a better coverage using far less paint so it's no biggie! See photos below. Perhaps someone can tell me what the weird shaped tip is for while you are there?

I paid £30 for the brush, unused and unopened from my buddy John from my club. He also threw in a little Aluminium thing that runs in line with the hose and it has a little knob on it - apparently it will allow super fine PSI adjustment which is what he needs for his work which is all 1/76. I should have bought this a year ago - no more spatter!

PHOTOS:

MY NEW AIRBRUSH! I'M SO PLEASED WITH IT! Here you can see the other tip and that fine tuning thingy:



Completed build pre priming - the barrel and Antennae are both by RB:







Before priming all the tinted green armoured glass was masked with Blu-Tack (thanks Bill)



I used some Vallejo 'German Red Brown' Primer - I've had this for ages but have never used it



A few tiny gaps are present which will need sorting



Thanks for looking guys - and BIG thanks to Bill for all his help!

Enjoy the rest of your week,

Update on Saturday!

Ben

[Leon]

Looks good in primer Ben.Can't wait to see how it looks in paint.

[Hinksy]

Apr 17, 2013 15:38:45 GMT -5 Leon said:

Looks good in primer Ben.Can't wait to see how it looks in paint.

Thanks Leon

[deafpanzer]

Agreed... fine looking primer on your little tank. How did you like it? I have same primer and I haven't tred it too... sitting on my shelves for maybe more than a year now. LOL
L

[Deleted]

Terrific stuff nice clean build too!

[Hinksy]

Apr 17, 2013 22:31:31 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

Agreed... fine looking primer on your little tank. How did you like it? I have same primer and I haven't tred it too... sitting on my shelves for maybe more than a year now. LOL
L

Cheers guys!

Andy - the primer seems to be excellent. It dries to a very smooth, hard finish so I'm happy so far!

Ben

[Hinksy]

Apr 17, 2013 22:31:31 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

Agreed... fine looking primer on your little tank. How did you like it? I have same primer and I haven't tred it too... sitting on my shelves for maybe more than a year now. LOL
L

Cheers guys!

Andy - the primer seems to be excellent. It dries to a very smooth, hard finish so I'm happy so far!

Ben

[detailfreak]

Great looking G you have there Hinksy,well on her way to completion.

[Hinksy]

Apr 19, 2013 7:29:49 GMT -5 detailfreak said:

Great looking G you have there Hinksy,well on her way to completion.

Thanks DF!

So far I've loved this build - it's really got me into Pz. IV's which I've never been into before? No reason - the Pz.III/StuG III variants will always be my favourites but I'm definately going to have to look into a StuG IV and I'm definately going to have to build an earlier IV too.

Tomorrow will see wheels on spikes and they'll be primed with standard rattlecan primer as will the tracks. I know it's not the way it would have been done but I like the look of nicely painted tools on a tank - they'd have more than likely been in place when the whitewash was applied(?) but who cares. I want to show the tools as having been removed while the whitewash was added. If nothing else they all add nice little shots of colour.

I'll paint the grey basecoat tomorrow and then add the wheels/tracks and decals all before the whitewash. Decals will obviously be masked off as will the tracks when the whitewash goes on. I'll be taking it very easy with the w/wash on the lower hull - perhaps just a few sprays of white on the lower hull wall behind the wheels.

Basecoat will be Vallejo Model Air German Grey and the white will be Tamiya Flat White as I understand that is easier to work with when doing a chipped w/wash? I'll use both AK Heavy Chipping and AK Worn Effects - this is getting me nervous now!

I've blasted through this build (bearing in mind I only build at weekends or on days off midweek) so I'm slowing down now as I've never attempted a 'proper' w/wash before and want it to be as perfect as possible (in my eyes)!

Update tomorrow - any advice on doing my whitewash will be great i.e. best paints to use, general method tips - anything!

Ben

[deafpanzer]

Don't make us wait too long. LOL You will just doing the hairspray technique as long as you don't over do it... just do one place a time and take plenty of breaks to look at it carefully to see if it needs more chipping.

[Hinksy]

Apr 20, 2013 8:26:29 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

Don't make us wait too long. LOL You will just doing the hairspray technique as long as you don't over do it... just do one place a time and take plenty of breaks to look at it carefully to see if it needs more chipping.

Hi fellas,

Andy - I'm all set for the w/wash application next weekend. I'm working tomorrow and am limited timewise otherwise I'd be doing it this weekend.

It's been a good day today - I was looking at my assembled Magic Track runs as I'd primed them with Tamiya grey rattlecan primer and had forgot to make a note of which hand was which so needed to do a quick dry fit of the Magic Tracks. Only when I did this did I realise I was going to have problems getting them in place due to the fenders and the bends in each end. I should have assembled the runs in two parts and done a 'saggy' length along the the top of the return rollers between 12 o'clock on the rear idler and to the 12 o'clock posistion then make a second run running around the front of the drive sprocket from the top, under the roadwheels and back around the back of the idler.I thought I'd be able to get them to squeeze into place but no, it was all a disaster and the tracks ended up in several pieces!

"Friuls" I immediately thought but then also thought about my shortage of funds this month. It was then that my day got good as earlier on in the day I'd put £5 on a horse running at Ayr this afternoon - just after the Friul thought came to me I got my text telling me that the horse had come in at 14/1! £75 was promptly collected from the bookies, £25 of which will pay for my Friuls and £50 of which will be mine for a new kit or something! What a result!

So, today saw me getting the grey basecoat laid down. I used Vallejo Model Air '71052' German Grey which is supposed to be the 'proper' colour - it certainly looks the part. As it's getting a w/wash I didn't bother with any pre-shading or modulation. It just has a simple coat of German grey built up using many very light layers. I added a few drops of Satin Gloss to the airbrush cup as this helps the paint harden up nicely and gives it that nice smooth finish - the new airbrush was just amazing btw! I'll make a start on the tools, too.

As for the white basecoat I'll be doing as much research as I can this week. It seems that Tamiya White is the paint to use - I understand that Vallejo White isn't as good for this job. I'll have a few questions to ask which I'll run by Andy

Photos:
(Note - the areas of white around the vision slitls on the Cupola are where the Blu-Tack has been so I need to tidy them spots up)













Wheels and Muffler - I brushed a layer of Mr Surfacer 500 on the Muffler prior to the paint:





Like I say, it's w/wash time next weekend as I have that weekend free. I'm going to pm Andy with a few questions as he used the same AK chipping products as I'm using for my build to do the w/wash on his cracking Initial Tiger I but if anyone else wants to chime in with any winter whitewash pearls of wisdom feel free!

EDIT - Should I use ATL-04 or ATL-05 Friuls? This is a 1943 Panzer IV

Thanks for looking guys,

Ben

[Leon]

Base coat is looking good Ben.Waiting to see how she looks in ww.

[hasenpfeffer]

Great job so far Ben. Really looking forward to you tackling your first proper WW. Nice call on that horse as well. That would brighten anyone's day.

[Hinksy]

Apr 20, 2013 20:27:53 GMT -5 hasenpfeffer said:

Great job so far Ben. Really looking forward to you tackling your first proper WW. Nice call on that horse as well. That would brighten anyone's day.

Cheers Dave

I'm looking forward to it but at the same time am bloody nervous about doing it. I have faith in my abilities but I'm still bloody nervous!

I want to see how the 'Worn Effects' and 'Heavy Chipping' Solutions from AK compare to one another so I'm taking my old Tamiya Hetzer, am going to basecoat that in a flat DY and lightly pencil a line over the top. One side will be airbrushed with Worn Effects and the other with Heavy Chipping. The white will go on and I'll see what's what.

I'll learn from the Hetzer test but I am thinking that when I start the IV a lightish misting of the entire tank with white will work well. It will act like a pre-shade allowing some of the the grey to show through before I even start. I want the whitewash to look weathered but not at the stage of falling off so will concentrate on removing white patches at areas of heavy use like hatch edges, around the base of the turret and areas where the crew would clamber about on her.

Btw, that Mr Metal Primer is the SHIZZLE! It's like water, brushed on you can't see it and the single coat of model air grey took to it perfectly! I like my RB Barrels as they are so much more to scale in appearance and not too thick, unlike most plastic barrels but by the time it's been primed with rattlecan primer that scale appearance has been lost - you have to try this stuff!

Finally, any suggestions on the Friuls to use?

Cheers lads,

Ben

[Hinksy]

Hi lads,

I've been working this afternoon but it's been very quiet so I have got the decals on and sorted the 7 link Glacis plate spare tracks run - oh, and painted the rubber portions of the tyres.

I usually use a gloss varnish but decided to go with a Satin for this build as I don't want the whitewash to come sliding off a glossy surface. The Satin looks good.

The skull emblems look good but weren't easy - they give you a white 'skull' base then, when that is applied, you have two tiny black 'line' decals that when you drop them on top of the white skull you get the detail i.e. jaw, teeth, eye sockets etc.! I don't know if this is usual as this is the first time I used them but I'm glad to say I just about managed it perfectly! The only other decals are the '332' turret numbers. Obviously these will all be masked off prior to w/wash application.

Onto the spare tracks on the Glacis (dry fitted for now). These were okay - the instructions sucked a bit here though. I managed to use two of the tiny plastic parts that make up the mountings for this spare run to the monster of the carpet so had to use the even tinier PE options which will look fine when painted.

Photots:











I'm really please with her so far - I've learnt a lot and I haven't even started the w/wash yet!

Talking of a w/wash, I will be starting that next weekend as I have the whole weekend free (still nervous)!

Have a good week fellas,

Ben

[afvfan]

Great progress, Ben.

[bbd468]

Hiya Ben, Man she's lookin awesome buddy! Thats a sweet lookin airbrush and its got some extra goodies. Keep it comin brotha Ben!

Gary