DAK Pz.Kpfw. IV Ausf. G, 1942

[Guest]

For some time, I’ve been wanting to build a Panzer IV, and when browsing Scalemates recently, I came across Tamiya’s fairly recent early Ausführung G, which includes markings and figures for North Africa:

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Something about the vehicles used in the desert in Egypt and Libya (by both sides) has long appealed to me, but I’ve not built many models of it. I also haven’t built a Panzer IV in, at a guess, about 20 years, so after some contemplation and a little research, I decided to buy it and build it straight from the box.

That research consisted mainly of looking in a Concord book about the vehicles used in North Africa, and coming across this photo:

Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.F2 from Pz.Rgt.5, 21.Panzer-Division abandoned at El Alamein in November 1942. by Panzertruppen, on Flickr

That, BTW, looks like a scan from that book, given the clearly visible halftoning. Anyway, unless I’m very much mistaken, this tank is the exact one Tamiya depicted on the box art and as one of the marking options, so that settled it

Even better, when I asked on Missing-Lynx which colour it would have been in, somebody referred to a thread on another forum that has a second photo of the exact same tank:

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Both these photos are from British sources so the tank was clearly captured after the fighting at El Alamein.

However, that second photo shows that building it absolutely straight from the box is impossible: it had jerrycan racks on both sides, not a rack on the left and spare tracks on the right as Tamiya guessed. Oh, well, it’s not as if I’m honour-bound to go SFTB

Here is what you get in that box:

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Plus an instruction booklet and a sheet with historical background, but you can find those on Scalemates so I’m not going to put pictures of them up here

Though it’s probably not up to the standards of the RFM kits Los (Panzerwrecker) is building elsewhere on this forum, that’s fine by me — I don’t feel like doing hard work on models at the moment, so a quick (almost-)SFTB kit that’s basically accurate suits me fine.

[Steven000]

Looking forward to your build Jakko, I had the same "italery n°217" box as my very first 1/35 tank when I was a child, could look at that thing all day back then :smiling5: great memories...
Have fun and cheers
Steven

[Jim R]

I'll follow along. Interesting to see just how much research, improving, scratching etc you end up doing.
The North Africa campaign is interesting. Perhaps having two such iconic leaders adds to the fascination.

[Guest]

Looking forward to your build Jakko, I had the same "italery n°217" box as my very first 1/35 tank when I a child

The kit you could build as an F, F2 or G? I built more than one of that back in the day

Oh, and this one is tank 215, not 217

Interesting to see just how much research, improving, scratching etc you end up doing.

Very little, most likely Those two photos are all the real research I intend to do, and then just build the kit without bothering overly much about things that are wrong. As it looks now, all I’m bound to correct is the stowage on the right side and the way the tow cables are stowed (Tamiya would have you stick them on the rear plate, but the picture clearly shows one hooked up at the front). I doubt I’ll even add the stuff on the turret roof, on the basis that my model will have the kit’s figures in it and so doesn’t represent it at thee time it was lost.

The North Africa campaign is interesting. Perhaps having two such iconic leaders adds to the fascination.

It’s more the vehicles and the climate that makes it interesting for me, than the commanders You get relatively early ones on the German side, while the British/Commonwealth have both little-used British tanks and very early American ones, and all of them can have stowage and modifications you don’t see elsewhere, especially the American ones.

[Steven000]

The kit you could build as an F, F2 or G? I built more than one of that back in the day :smiling3:

Oh, and this one is tank 215, not 217 :smiling3:

:smiling5: well it was this one, a boxart in panzer grey but only instructions for 3 Africa corps paint schemes and the same figures. Cheers

[Tim Marlow]

Looks like that second one was originally 411 Jakko. Are you sure they are the same tank? There is also no number on the right side of the turret, which is strange if the first one has the left side numbered. Could be the second picture was a later replacement for the original after it was lost. Interested to see how you do the number overpainting on the turret bin though.

[Tim Marlow]

Road wheel mountings look different as well…..I think the second picture is definitely a different tank.

[Guest]

:smiling5: well it was this one

Yep, that’s the one I meant too — built a few of them, in different versions

Looks like that second one was originally 411 Jakko. Are you sure they are the same tank?

I’m not sure, and I’m starting to somewhat doubt it myself too. It could also be a replacement stowage bin only, of course.

There is also no number on the right side of the turret

I think there is. I’ve quickly tinkered with the image a bit to try and bring it out:

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Interested to see how you do the number overpainting on the turret bin though.

If I decide that is is the same tank, I’ll have to try and find a suitable decal for 411 and then just stick the kit’s 215 over it

[Guest]

A bit of work last night and just now got most of the lower hull together:

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I’ve left off (in fact not built yet) the muffler so I can paint it separately, because it was invariably rusted — see the photo of tank 411 215 above, for example.

As the kit includes link-and-(short-)length track plus an assembly jig, I’ve decided to install only the inner wheels but leave the outer ones off, except most likely the drive sprockets, to ease painting. It’s at this point where you can see very well that you’re building a Tamiya kit:

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I was worried that the wheels might be wobbly, which would throw off this entire plan, but if you just drop them onto the axles, they line up like the photo shows. All it then took was a drop of liquid cement around each axle to fix them.

[scottie3158]

Jakko,
Count me in.

[Guest]

The upper runs of the tracks are done too:

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Quite easy, I think each took me a bit over five minutes, that’s it. Just follow the instructions and you can’t go wrong — but be careful not to get glue between the track and the jig, of course (like the instructions also warn you about). I used Tamiya Extra Thin mainly because of the fine brush it comes with.

[Guest]

After that, I put the hull top together:

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It’s still loose, and I think I’ll leave it that way until after painting, so I can get at the tracks more easily.

Talking of which, once the upper runs had dried, I put the tracks onto the model:

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I’ve had kits where this was more of a chore than here. They fit well and go together pretty easily. The only thing I don’t understand is why the bottom run has to be assembled from seven pieces instead of being moulded as one.

[Steven000]

Nice and quick progress :thumb2:
Looking good

[Guest]

The speed surprised me too, I must admit Mostly it’s because the track fits so well, I think. I was worried that it would collapse a bit and I would have to take great care to keep it at 90° to the wheels, but the fit is so good that it doesn’t seem to do that at all. All in all about as painless a set of link-and-length tracks as I have ever built.

[Guest]

After adding more bits to the hull, it’s mostly done and I started on the turret:

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Tamiya says not to fit the flaps that can close the air intake and exhaust (parts F19 and F20) for the North Africa version, but the rear right photo of the real tank does show them, so I put them on them anyway. Which is to say: for this model I’m assuming that photo is indeed of the same tank as the first

I also had a very close call:

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When installing bits on the upper hull, separate from the lower, I knocked over my bottle of glue … Luckily, I managed to snatch the hull out of the way of the expanding puddle of solvent, but a big drop of it had gotten onto the right front mudguard. Forceful but careful blowing onto it helped it evaporate quickly without softening the details much. (This was before I added the separate parts there, BTW.)