Panzer IV, the major "workhorse" of the Wehrmacht, served at all fronts of Second World War in many different roles. It is extremely wide subject for any modeler, with plenty variants to pick from: short or long barreled guns, early, late or African versions, with extra armor etc. This model is to represent blitzkrieg campaign unit during first week of September 1939 (operation also known as Fall Weiss/Plan White). I've picked a unit from 3rd Army, 1st Army Corps, stationed in East Prussia, moving south, fighting against Polish Army Modlin, through Mlawa city, towards capital of Poland - Warsaw.
The kit comes from Tamiya, in 1:35 scale, there are no PE parts, supplied tracks are rubber, but not too bad (at least for me now), metal tracks look very good though, especially single - linked, in this case probably would exceed twice the price of kit, so it is going to be simple straight - out - of - the - box build with some new modeling methods being tried out. As the model represents the earliest unit just after breakout of the war, it does not have any additional armor or other reinforcements, just plain blitzkrieg equipment.
Assembly started with suspension components, road wheels, sprockets, idler wheels and return rollers. Trolleys (this kit is nothing close to Dragon PIV kits, it's simple, with many components provided as one piece) were glued to lower hull. Back/engine plate was glued on, with detailing left to be done after upper hull is in place. Next, major details were applied to upper hull. Because this version of Panzer IV is an early one, front & side armor plates (may come handy some other time) were omitted. When front panel with gun mantlet and driver's visor were in place I assembled the turret. All turret and hull hatches were assembled in closed position, main idea for this model is to put it into middle of German advance or assault, Panzer Grenadier set from Tamiya should fit here nicely.
Whit main detailing on the upper hull prepared, I put all wheels together, stuck them to masking tape to keep them in one place during airbrushing. The model was only dry - fitted up to this stage, decided to keep it all apart up until track assembly. For undercoating I used Chaos Black, what proved again, Citadel paints are not meant for airbrushing. Undercoating this panzer was somewhat of a horror, took only an hour using Citadel color (no flow, either paint dries too quickly or is too watery causing runs and accumulation along horizontal edges) but took only 5 minutes using Tamiya. As basic color I used XF50, Field Blue, which was picked after some research. Until 1940 all German vehicles were painted in single color scheme, here it was supposed to be XF63, German Grey, but I've seen building report of Panzer IV D in Military Modeller Illustrated Magazine, December '13 issue, which was painted using mixture of XF50 and XF63, what gave great result and I tried to follow. That started stage two of this build, the painting process. Certain components were kept in frames as usual precaution but painted along with whole model - tools, aerial and spare single track links. When model stands on it's own ... wheels all remaining details will be fixed on and finished off together.
I did try color modulation (using lighter color coat to show through thin layer of paint), but the result was rather poor for the first time, so I've hidden it below another coat of XF50. So far I was painting only with Citadel colors and washes (which I like and going to carry on using), but it seems not enough to try new approaches. According to what I read, oil paints can be blended easily enriching one color scheme. Before moving up to that stage, Devlan Mud wash was applied all over the edges in few thin layers. For early war vehicle it may be already too much, I hope this impression will disappear when grey & silver color is applied on top of the wash, to represent small chipping at frequently accessed areas (around entry hatches, holding bars etc). Next step is finishing washing down (lower hull + wheels), sealing it all with matt varnish, painting lower hull, wheels and tracks trying to follow (so many!) weathering tips.
Panzer IV, the major "workhorse" of the Wehrmacht, served at all fronts of Second World War in many different roles. It is extremely wide subject for any modeler, with plenty variants to pick from: short or long barreled guns, early, late or African versions, with extra armor etc. This model is to represent blitzkrieg campaign unit during first week of September 1939 (operation also known as Fall Weiss/Plan White). I've picked a unit from 3rd Army, 1st Army Corps, stationed in East Prussia, moving south, fighting against Polish Army Modlin, through Mlawa city, towards capital of Poland - Warsaw. 
Assembly started with suspension components, road wheels, sprockets, idler wheels and return rollers. Trolleys (this kit is nothing close to Dragon PIV kits, it's simple, with many components provided as one piece) were glued to lower hull. Back/engine plate was glued on, with detailing left to be done after upper hull is in place. Next, major details were applied to upper hull. Because this version of Panzer IV is an early one, front & side armor plates (may come handy some other time) were omitted. When front panel with gun mantlet and driver's visor were in place I assembled the turret. All turret and hull hatches were assembled in closed position, main idea for this model is to put it into middle of German advance or assault, Panzer Grenadier set from Tamiya should fit here nicely.
Whit main detailing on the upper hull prepared, I put all wheels together, stuck them to masking tape to keep them in one place during airbrushing. The model was only dry - fitted up to this stage, decided to keep it all apart up until track assembly. For undercoating I used Chaos Black, what proved again, Citadel paints are not meant for airbrushing. Undercoating this panzer was somewhat of a horror, took only an hour using Citadel color (no flow, either paint dries too quickly or is too watery causing runs and accumulation along horizontal edges) but took only 5 minutes using Tamiya. As basic color I used XF50, Field Blue, which was picked after some research. Until 1940 all German vehicles were painted in single color scheme, here it was supposed to be XF63, German Grey, but I've seen building report of Panzer IV D in Military Modeller Illustrated Magazine, December '13 issue, which was painted using mixture of XF50 and XF63, what gave great result and I tried to follow. That started stage two of this build, the painting process. Certain components were kept in frames as usual precaution but painted along with whole model - tools, aerial and spare single track links. When model stands on it's own ... wheels all remaining details will be fixed on and finished off together.
I did try color modulation (using lighter color coat to show through thin layer of paint), but the result was rather poor for the first time, so I've hidden it below another coat of XF50. So far I was painting only with Citadel colors and washes (which I like and going to carry on using), but it seems not enough to try new approaches. According to what I read, oil paints can be blended easily enriching one color scheme. Before moving up to that stage, Devlan Mud wash was applied all over the edges in few thin layers. For early war vehicle it may be already too much, I hope this impression will disappear when grey & silver color is applied on top of the wash, to represent small chipping at frequently accessed areas (around entry hatches, holding bars etc). Next step is finishing washing down (lower hull + wheels), sealing it all with matt varnish, painting lower hull, wheels and tracks trying to follow (so many!) weathering tips.
No comments:
Post a Comment