Small Scale Military Headquarters

Am I correct that this is essentially intended to be a Panzer IV Ausf. D but for some minor inaccuracies in the turret? I note some differences in the side hatch ports, and of course the turret armor. Are there any other glaring differences that I am overlooking?

it's closer to an 'E' or early 'F' than a 'D'. The storage compartment on the back of the turret was absent from the 'D' model (well most of them anyway) and was not introduced as standard until the 'E'.

This tank is best suited as an 'E' (or early 'F'), early Russian front vehicle or an Afrika korps vehicle (many of them in Africa were dark grey and did not receive camo paint of any kind until months after they were there, if at all....just give it a good coating of dust).

You could make it look more like an early war Panzer IV by removing the storage compartment on the back of the turret and adding a small curved area to the back of the hatch area (look at pics and you'll see what i mean). Then it could represent anything from invasion of Poland, France etc. Several small details are off but it's not bad.

In any case you have to take off the turret skirts...no D's or E's or early F's had those.

Neat little tank.


I've since added back the bustle. I just like the way it looks.

TTT

I grabbed one last night. I recall reading here that there were problems with wheels breaking when using the R/C features? Did I recall that correctly? I had planned to just play with it for a couple minuted before returning it to diorama status (IE non-moving) but I don't want to break anything.

Also, is there a relatively easy way to make the turret move without the R/C controls?

IIRC, the IVE had add-on armor (easy enough to add), and the IVF had a straight front vertical plate. But to me, it has a lot of hull features that suggest a IVF.

Regardless, it is nice, just needs some bits to make it bit more correct looking.

Here are some useful PzIV pics...

http://community.webshots.com/album/375961412VcUmDh

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepage ... efault.htm

http://www.achtungpanzer.com/pz3.htm#panzer4

pcb122605 wrote:I grabbed one last night. I recall reading here that there were problems with wheels breaking when using the R/C features? Did I recall that correctly? ...Also, is there a relatively easy way to make the turret move without the R/C controls?

On the old one the wheels would snap off where they connected to the hull. Don't know if this has been fixed.
And the Turret and gun were hard to move without using the RC, don't know if this is still the case.

My turret won't move at all without the RC on. I don't want tp break it so I just use the RC.

TTT

I mentioned this in another posting but currently they are priced in my area for around $30.00. I am hoping to see them on further clearance sale and when they do I plan on getting at least two of them and striping them of their RC parts and making a 1/18 Tiger RC or waiting for the 1/18 King Tiger to come out into a RC tank. I intend on customizing these remaining Panzers for static displays.

I still have one that was drop kicked at a local WM - I don't really have the skills to turn it into a early PZ IV. I have it stripped out - created openings for the side hatches - removed the cargo case - stripped the RC parts from inside - now I'm ready to clean, paint and glue all the broken parts back on -
I may turn this into a destroyed Ausf F2 or G maybe it burned from a hit - give me some ideas -

Stuka, the latest model you can pull off with the short barrel is an F1.

At any rate, at kocked out tank diorama sounds like a pretty good idea.

Yeah - well broken one is a SI version with the darker camo - i picked up some panzer gray spray paint last night - I know this has been answered multiple times but do i need to apply anything to the plastic before I spray?

$30 on clearance this morning. They have about 15 on the clearance aisle.

TTT