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Modeller Build Logs
Tristar Panzer IV Ausf. C |
| By Paul A. Owen |
| Started: | May 11, 2006 | | Updated: | Feb 11, 2008 |
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Recently Tristar released an excellent kit of the early Panzer IV in the form of an Ausf. C. Moulded in pumpkin coloured styrene the kit features individual track-links, photo-etched parts and an excellent finesse of detail and a high level of accuracy.
Initially I thought a kit of the early Panzer IV would have limited appeal, I certainly wasn't that interested in one. After some research the subject began to interest me more. According to Panzer Tracts No. 4 there were 134 of the Ausf. C produced. This kit represents the later type, with a small rain shield above the driver's view port, which was also retro-fitted to earlier tanks. Later in their service these vehicles where retro-fitted with stowage boxes on the rear turret, additional 30mm armour plates on the hull front, a Notek lamp amongst other small details.
The Ausf. C was introduced into service in 1938. It was fielded in Poland, France, the Balkan campaign (Yugoslavia and Greece) and the early part of the Russian campaign. A few survived in service longer, in Normandy even! I have never seen one in service with the DAK in North Africa however. The specific tank that I want to model belonged to the 6th Panzer Division during the opening phase of Operation Barbarossa. These tanks typically had all of the late features and the retro-fitted turret bin.
I plan to borrow a turret bin from Tamiya's Ausf. H kit, replace the tracks with a set of the new Model Kasten 38cm tracks (I have a "thing" for kasten tracks) and use the new Aber fender kit. I also want to correct all of the small detail errors in the kit, most of these have been documented by Kazutaka Yokota in the Kits forum ( http://www.track-link.net/forum/modelling_kits/4332 ).
Tristar sent me this kit as a review sample, since I have been too busy to do a good review I thought I'd start this BLog now to document what I have been doing. Thus far I have assembled the lower hull...
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| Weld Beads | Feb 11, 2008 |
I made the weld beads on the hull from Slater's 0.25mm polyrod, that's the red stuff in the photographs. I simulates the Pz.IV's thin, smooth welding quite well.
I chose this method too because the Tristar kit has thin grooves along the joins were the weld beads should go, the rod will... more |
| Bogie Assembly | Dec 14, 2006 |
I was planning on making the next chapter about cleaning up the hull and adding the various weld bead detail, but it is taking a long time. So I thought I'd show one of the bogie assemblies instead.
I usually work on a project's repetitive tasks like bogies and tracks while other parts of... more |
| Hull Side Engine Vents | Dec 10, 2006 |
The early Pz. IV's hull side armoured vents where an open box with three cross slats, all welded together. It was constructed of thin armour plates, probably 8 or 10mm. The Tristar part, while good as-is, I felt could benefit from some thinning down.
To thin the part out I used files, sandpaper... more |
| Fixing the Upper Hull | Aug 19, 2006 |
I have attached the upper hull. The upper hull consisted of the top plate, rear deck and frames that the fenders were attached to. The side and front armour plates then are to be glued to these internal frames. Since I am using the new Aber fenders for this kit I cut off the moulded on fenders.
Without... more |
| Lower Hull - Rear | May 23, 2006 |
| The rear lower hull on my kit also suffered from some fit problems. Referring to the photograph, the top image is the assembled rear hull before I corrected it. I added strips of styrene along the edges to square them up, as can be seen in the bottom image. I made a mess of the join on the little angled... more |
| Lower Hull Front - short shot corrections | May 13, 2006 |
I glued on the glacis plate (part no. A-10). It fit well but due to some "short-shot" problems with these (and all) very early production kits the "lip" is missing from the top of the front plate and the sides of the front plate need more definition.
Referring to the photograph... I add a strip of... more |
| The Lower Hull - Tub Assembly | May 11, 2006 |
The lower hull consists of a bottom part, two sides and a front and rear plate. There are also two internal braces for strengthening. I found assembly a little tricky, after several dry runs with tape and rubber bands the following sequence worked the best.
I first cleaned up the bottom (part F-1),... more |
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