Tomcat's 1:76 Panzer iv ausf F2

[Tomcat64]

Being late to the party (again) and knowing time will be tight between now and the close date I've decided to come in on this SIG with what I hope will be a fairly quick build, and something that takes me back to the type of small-scale armour kit that brought me back into the hobby a couple of years ago.

so my offering will be:


This kit was originally produced back in 1971 although this version is far more recent and the box indicates "made in India" and refers to things like Twitter and Facebook on the back.

The contents:


The sprues all look fairly clean with minimal flash - if I manage to get through this build without pinging at least one of the tiny return rollers into hyperspace I'll be happy:


And the instructions are a fold out sheet:


With two colour options - although they use the same set of id numbers the DAK option does include the DAK insignia:


The kit allows for building of an F1 or an F2 and I'll be building up the F2 variant in the Russian Front grey colour scheme, and I plan to add some whitewash using the Ultimate white winter wash, so this will be a bit of test bed for using the wash again on larger models later on. I'm aiming for something along the lines of this scheme depicted in "Panzer Colors" (I know it refers to a Panzer III but I suspect the scheme would have been used on IVs as well given the way that it was applied in the field):

[Tomcat64]

Panzer IV - F1 & F2 - from Wikipedia

On 26 May 1941, mere weeks before Operation Barbarossa, during a conference with Hitler, it was decided to improve the Panzer IV's main armament. Krupp was awarded the contract to integrate again the 50 mm (1.97 in) Pak 38 L/60 gun into the turret. The first prototype was to be delivered by 15 November 1941. Within months, the shock of encountering the Soviet T-34 medium and KV-1 heavy tanks necessitated a new, much more powerful tank gun.[30] In November 1941, the decision to up-gun the Panzer IV to the 50-millimetre (1.97 in) gun was dropped, and instead Krupp was contracted in a joint development to modify Rheinmetall's pending 75 mm (2.95 in) anti-tank gun design, later known as 7.5 cm Pak 40 L/46. Because the recoil length was too great for the tank's turret, the recoil mechanism and chamber were shortened. This resulted in the 75-millimetre (2.95 in) KwK 40 L/43. When firing an armor-piercing shell, Pzgr. 39, the gun's muzzle velocity was increased from 430 m/s (1,410 ft/s) to 750 m/s (2,460 ft/s).[28] Initially, the gun was mounted with a single-chamber, ball-shaped muzzle brake, which provided just under 50% of the recoil system's braking ability. Firing the Panzergranate 39, the KwK 40 L/43 could penetrate 77 mm (3.03 in) of steel armor at a range of 1,830 m (6,000 ft).

The longer 7.5 cm guns were a mixed blessing. In spite of the designers' efforts to conserve weight, the new weapon made the vehicle nose-heavy to such an extent that the forward suspension springs were under constant compression. This resulted in the tank tending to sway even when no steering was being applied, an effect compounded by the introduction of the Ausführung H in March 1943.

The 1942 Panzer IV Ausf. F2 was an upgrade of the Ausf. F, fitted with the KwK 40 L/43 anti-tank gun to counter Soviet T-34 medium and KV heavy tanks. The Ausf. F tanks that received the new, longer, KwK 40 L/43 gun were temporary named Ausf. F2 (with the designation Sd.Kfz. 161/1). The tank increased in weight to 23.6 tonnes (26.0 short tons). Differences between the Ausf. F1 and the Ausf. F2 were mainly associated with the change in armament, including an altered gun mantlet, internal travel lock for the main weapon, new gun cradle, new Turmzielfernrohr 5f optic for the L/43 weapon, modified ammunition stowage, and discontinuing of the Nebelkerzenabwurfvorrichtung in favor of turret mounted Nebelwurfgeraet.

Three months after beginning production, the Panzer IV Ausf. F2 was renamed Ausf. G.

I personally like the ausf. F2 variant because I like to see the Panzer IV with a long gun but I'm not a big fan of the look of the Schurzen that was fitted to the later models - just personal taste.

[Tomcat64]

I finally managed to get to my bench to get this "quick" build started this evening.

As always with a IV it starts with the wheelathon. I really like Stokesy's idea that the war was finally won due to a lack of wheels.

So far no losses to the carpet monster but there's time yet and still some cleaning up to do on these.

The upper hull with most components fitted, I'll save the more breakable ones until I've got the major sections together. One minor trick on the instructions was listing two components as part 75 but otherwise no major problems:


The turret is a different matter and I have some adjusting to do here due to a really poor fit all around


And here are the four main components with the addition of the lower hull and rear plate. The exhaust is just loose fitted here as I'll remove it to do the rusting while the main coat and camo scheme is going onto the hull.


Thanks for looking.

[Tomcat64]

Managed to grab some bench time on Saturday afternoon and again this evening.

Filled and cleaned up the turret, added the hatches, rear stowage and the gun after drilling out the muzzle brake


Fitted the upper and lower hull, filled and cleaned up where necessary and then added the smaller components


And then the same with the rear plate, and drilled out the exhaust


This evening I've also cleaned up the wheels and got them mounted up.

Hopefully I'll get chance to throw some primer at the whole thing tomorrow and make a start on a simple base that I've got planned.

Thanks for looking.

[Tomcat64]

Have managed to grab 10 minutes here and there throughout the week to keep this moving.

The tank itself has been primed and base-coated, will add decals and pick out details before matt-coating and adding the white-wash:


Then onto the base... I though I had some foam-card left but apparently not, so used some offcuts of plastic sheet to give a rough start (maybe something for a 3d printer project - vignette bases):


And then thought it might be an idea to see if the tank would fit...


Covered the whole thing in a layer of squadron Green Putty and added some wood-debris to act as a fence


And then a topcoat of Vallejo dark earth textured paint; I cut out two strips of thick paper and placed them where the track runs should go to act as masks - next up will be a layer of snow and addition of some snow-dusted scrub:


And that's it until at least Wednesday next week. I'm hoping to get enough time in at the back end of next week to finish this off, but I think if anything's going to trip me up it'll be the drying time between coats.

Thanks for looking!

[Tomcat64]

Managed to get the decals onto the tank just before Christmas and then have grabbed some decent bench time today to pick out the equipment and get a layer of matt varnish down. Hopefully I'll get another coat of matt down this evening to give it time to set before adding the whitewash tomorrow.


The wheels have all been brush painted, and gave me my first vocabulary expanding event of the build. I'd been keeping them all in the box tray to avoid dropping them, turned around at the bench and promptly caught the box with a stray elbow launching the wheels across the carpet... anyway after a careful search they're all accounted for (Tomcat 1 - Carpet monster 0). There's some touching up to do after this escapade but it's a minor price to pay for getting them all back.


And then some work on the base, the snow is a mix of Woodlands Scenics Soft Flake Snow mixed up with Vallejo Water Texture and then stippled on, with some more snow flakes then scattered on top. The bushes have been coated in watered-down pva and then mixed with snow flakes before being glued to the base - this is pretty much done now unless I get time for some final fettling after the tank is added. Top Tip here - don't sneeze when you're working with a box of this stuff... goes even further than wheels...


Thanks for looking.

[Tomcat64]

I seemed to spend most of yesterday waiting for coats to dry before spending a few minutes actually working but we're getting there...

First up with a rough coat of Ultimate white wash applied in stripes


This was manipulated and then sealed with matt varnish before I added grime and black washes to begin the weathering, and added the first of those pesky wheels


And making sure the wheels fit into the tracks that I'd left on the base


So I've got a day of final assembly and weathering ahead; we've got friends over for New Years Eve so realistically this is the final day unless I can grab an hour tomorrow morning for any final work.

[privatepete]

Hi Neil looking very good, grab that hour my friend, so close
Pete

[Tomcat64]

Hi Neil looking very good, grab that hour my friend, so close
Pete

Thanks Pete

Well I managed to grab the couple of hours I needed this morning - the running gear went on without any problems, the exhaust was finished and added, and then it was just the fun of muddying everything up and adding some final snow!

So I'm calling this one done, just in time

The final reveal is here

[panzerman825]

Tomcat, your Braille scale Panzer IV looks great. I love the winter camo scheme. The base is awesome too.
Bill

[Bissyboat]

Amazing work.

[Tomcat64]

Tomcat, your Braille scale Panzer IV looks great. I love the winter camo scheme. The base is awesome too.
Bill

Amazing work.

Thanks guys - much appreciated