Tamiya Panzer IV ausf. J with Friulmodel Ostketten

[TheNordus]

Hello, I think this is my first time posting an actual model on these forums. I bought this Tamiya Panzer IV ausf. J and Ostketten about half a year ago, when I had my last modelling inspiration. I wanted to try building the revered Friulmodel tracks everyone seems to have the hots for, and it was extremely easy. However, after building the kit I left it sitting in a box until a week ago, when I noticed my local hobbystore got Dragon's Panzer IV ausf. B in stock for relatively cheap which sparked my inspiration to do modelling again. I decided to start with this old project, which I'm sad to say I kinda screwed up.



Here's the model basecoated. There are seams on the barrel and the housing for it, but I was too lazy to fix it up after all this time, although I really should have.



And here I've put on the primer colour for the tracks, done some paint chipping with a sponge and the camouflage and decals from a Dragon Panzer IV ausf. H kit. Definitely not accurate to how it was in the real life! I'm not very good at using my airbrush so I couldn't get the camouflage pattern to be thin enough, and my cheapo airbrush kept spitting. The sponge I used caused the chipping colour to go on in giant splotches in some parts too!



Here I've started the weathering. I used a lot of pigments as I don't have any oil-based weathering products whatsoever. I'm happy how the streaking turned out here, actually. I applied some Vallejo acrylic engine stains on the cap in the back. I wanted to make the tank look like it had been going through mud a lot, so I applied generous amounts of vallejos mud and grass mixture all over.



Here's a picture of the front, where my pigment weathering failed me. I ended up covering the whole front plate in pigment, and it just muddied it up and hid all the details. You can also see the Tamiya open sponson here.







Finally, here's some pictures of the final product as I decided to leave it. To top it all off, I ended up dropping the thing and the jack block fell off and went back on crooked!
Please excuse my dirty table and horrific living conditions. I'm about to move as I just got a place to study at an university, which will mean more space for model tanks.

[AdamLuscombe]

That looks great Nice weathering

[digger303]

I think your being a little hard on yourself...looks good....perhaps your seeing a couple of things we haven't noticed.

[d6mst0]

Very nice work, I hope to do as good at my next attempt.

[mickszym]

You are definitely too hard on yourself - this is one of the coolest looking Pnzr IVs I've seen so far. The camouflage pattern might not be 100% accurate, but... I think it looks more interesting than the real one;) The only thing I'd change is the tracks - they are great, but it seems they are sagging a bit too low (the last pic), perhaps you could remove a link or two?

But as I said: Outstanding!

[ElCapitan]

As above, not sure what you've screwed up! I would be delighted to get a result like this - Great work on the weathering!

[TheNordus]

Thanks for the kind words everyone! I personally believe if I let myself feel good about what I've produced I'm going to get complacent and stop improving. I compare all my work to the few youtube channels I follow (as I haven't had much contact with the community here in the forums), and I always think their stuff looks way better than mine, for example Coen's, BlitzGriegModelwork's, Hamilkar Barkas's, John Moore's or ScaleModelAlberta's.
I think I should pull out a link or two out of the tracks, yes, although I wanted a really, really extreme sag since Friulmodel allows it.
Thanks again, I'm working on my Dragon Panzer IV Ausf. B (which is a right paint in the arse) and Tamiya Leopard 2A6 (noticeably less of a pain), I'll possibly make new threads for those eventually.

[digger303]

yeah the track sag in service wouldn't have been allowed to get that bad as there would have been a very good chance of throwing a track when there lives depended on it . damn nice build though

[ManuDellaValle]

I echo the others as saying that you're a bit too hard in yourself!
That sag would translate into a thrown track at the first sharp manoeuvre and I think that you'd still remove a couple of links!
The camo looks a convincing field-applied one and as far as the weathering is concerned(I love the mix of grass and mud!) I think that the glacial plate is the one of a tank fresh out of a crater full of thick,gooey mud and if you feel that it covers too much detail just try to gently wipe it off with a stiff brush or a q tip dipped in thinner until you'll get the look you like..,Gunze's organic thinners like Mr.Levelling are the best to do that but be gentle and use a nearly dry brush because you'd run the risk of taking off the base paint as well!
Cheers
Manu