Small Scale Military Headquarters

Hey everyone, I mentioned in my Achilles thread that I was working on turning a 21st Panzer IV D into an F1. Well I have been taking some pics of it but just hadn't gotten around to putting them up since I am kind of focusing on my 1/32 Achilles TD. Here a few work-in-progress shots of it:

First batch of pics are to show what I'm changing it from:












And here is what it looked like after its first two coats:










-Kevin

Here it is, one step closer to completion. I'm stuck for now while I wait for the decals to arrive in the mail...







-Kevin

Did some more work on this over the weekend, I'll post pics this evening.

Looks great!!!

Very nice, can't wait to see it complete!

Alright, as promised, the Panzer IV F1! Not yet weathered, but I'm waiting to do that and the sdkfz 233's weathering at the same time to get similar results. Anyway, here are the pictures:











And the motivation behind wanting to do this custom: My panzer III ausf N, and panzer IV ausf D.

The pz IV F1 and the pz III N


The pz IV F1 and the pz IV D





Let me know what you think! I promise to post more pictures once it's weathered!



-Kevin

Those are great, have you got your weathering done yet? looking forward to more pictures.

Actually I haven't gotten to it yet, but I have good reason .

I had an idea a few days ago that I wanted to work on before I went back to painting/weathering. I thought about making a new gun to swap out in the ausf. F1's turret to make it an F2 (Early G). Well the gun swap just doesn't work, so I set out to make a whole new turret with the new gun, that way I can just swap turrets and I have a different tank. Maybe later I'll give it its own chassis but for now it will just be a swappable turret with the F1. I also thought I'd go and make it a really good turret by giving it opening side hatches, and a full interior. I have finished the new gun and muzzle brake, and I have just about wrapped up the turret's side hatches and all the little tweaks that have to be made to the exterior of the ausf D turret I'm using. I have done some turret interior research, but I have a feeling I'll need some more photos before I'm satisfied enough to do the actual fabricating. I don't anticipate it being too difficult though, as usually the turret interior consists of a turret basket, some seats and optics etc. I already stole the breech from another kit so i won't have to fabricate that.

The main reason I'm not doing this while simultaneously working on weathering the other two is because I want to wait til I can have a solely painting session. If I do it that way I won't have to have multiple sessions and that means more times I have to clean my airbrush...

Don't fret though, the F1 only needs and over spray of Tamiya buff, and some dusty washes from the airbrush, and then the enamel top coat and it will be complete in my book.

I'll try and get pictures of the new turret I'm making up this evening. I hope to have the working hatches installed before I go to bed tonight.


-Kevin

I take it all the interior will have to be scratch built

Yes, but I should have all the material on hand. I anticipate some use of styrene sheet and some styrene tubing, which I have in abundance, and then some plastruct tread plate which I have left over from the 233 interior, and then some wires, which I can always find pretty easily. The only thing I think I might not have are the Kwk 40 L/43 rounds. Depending on how visible the the interior is through the hatches I may or may not need them though. I anticipate it taking about a week to do, once I get the research done.

I'm thankful that I haven't decided to do the hull interior as well, as I think that would be far more time consuming.


-Kevin

As promised, here are the pics of the F2 turret in progress.









Still a lot to be done.


-Kevin

Another member with awesome skills!! (someday I want to be like you guys! ) Looks great!

Thanks!

I spent some time working on the turret side hatches last night. And by some time I mean about 4 hours...

What a pain those things are, and the small pieces involved! I completed one in four hours. I am hoping to complete the other tonight. Then it's on to the cupola hatch, then the turret interior. Pics will be forthcoming.



-Kevin

Been about a week, but I've been fighting some darn bug that is going around lately and I really haven't had time to do much work until last night. I'm done fabricating the opening/closing hatches for both the new commander's cupola and the turret sides. Next will be adding interior details to the hatches, then the actual turret interior itself.


Hatches Open:









Hatches Closed:









Comparison shot F1 vs F2:



On the Chassis:






-Kevin

Thats looking very good, is that all 21st century parts?, as the turret doors and such.

I try and use as much existing stuff as possible when doing these things, especially since fabricating can eat up quiet a bit of time (and time is hard to come by these days). The only thing I can say is exclusively my doing is the cupola hatches, as they are made from Evergreen sheet styrene. I added the interior details to those hatches last night, and I think I'll do the interior details for the side hatches tonight. Then it's on to the turret interior. That has still got me spooked, but I found some spare thin copper wiring and the treadplate I need, plus styrene, so I think I am ready to take it on!

Give me a few hours or so (I have to fire up the ol' grill and make some dinner), but I'll take a few pics of what I've done in the last day or so.


-Kevin

Here, I primed it so you can get the idea of how everything has fit together (rather than the multi-colored Frankenstein look ). Also added cupola hatch details. Tonight is the other hatches turn.










Also check out the pics I put up of the stug I finally put some paint on. Waiting for Tamiya to get their paint situation straight is what delayed it so long...



-Kevin

Another update gents!

I was able to do quite a bit of work today, and I think i might try and finish everything tonight! I still have to do a lot to the interior of the turret, i.e turret traverse mechanism, gunners optics, more periscopes, etc, etc, but I may be able to power through it if I get in the zone.

Anyway, here is what I did today:


We'll start with those interior side hatch details I said I was getting to:







Next I have some shots of the turret basket:







And here is the main gun's interior parts(haven't added the MG yet):





Now it all together (Remember it's not quite done yet):










More to come!



-Kevin

.......... It's quite obvious you're goin' all out on this thing ,.. L@@Ks great ! ! ! *


* You do some really neat 1:32 mods Kevin *



- MG

That is going to be so cool when its done, can't wait

Ok guys, the turret interior build is DONE!

After posting this I think I'm going to head outside an prime it and see about painting it tomorrow (or at least starting to paint it).

First is the Turret roof:


Close-up of back turret wall with MP stopfen and other little stuff


Now to the turret ring area where you can see some more details added, most prominent being the turret traverse mechanism.


Above view of turret ring:


Now the main gun assembly; added the coax MG, gunner's sights, and the shell casing basket:






What you will see through the hatches:





As always, I'll keep you posted once I make more headway.


-Kevin

Alright, here is the latest progress (this is getting to become a weekly update I guess).

I was able to paint the interior today!


















Last two are from the outside. It is really hard for me to get good pics of what it looks like from the outside with my dinky digital camera and less than ideal lighting. I guess you'll just have to take me for my word in saying it looks like I intended it to

Very impressive, that is some amazing detail work

This week's update will be the last one on this project! It is done. I may touch up some of the weathering and/or add stowage, but that is not what I would consider part of my finished project.

Anyway, the panzer IV F2 turret and interior are complete! Here are some pictures:
































So there it is. I think my next step is to build the interior of the hull. It will probably be about the same amount of work, only because not having to paint the exterior will save time. I will have to decide how extensive the hull interior build will be, as I will have to make decisions regarding whether to do things like the stuff behind the engine's firewall, the transmission, brakes, final drive, etc. I think I am going to take a break from this for a few weeks though, as I still have to finish that stug III and the t-34, not to mention paint a sdkfz 232 and do some work on a jagdpanzer IV L/70(A). Always so much left to do....


-Kevin

Thats some fine art!