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Introduction
Having made up Bandai’s 1/15 Stug
and Hummel with quite pleasing
results, I’ve wanted for a while to
try the Pz IV. I’d heard that it was
pretty basic, but I was inspired by
someone who’d built one with add-ons
and posted pictures on the net
(Panzer Projects).
I obtained my Pz IV from a friend,
80% made up, and painted all over
dark yellow. He’d given up on it,
and I’m not surprised! I can
honestly say that this Bandai kit is
the worst I have come across! Most
of the detail is inaccurate, and
even the basic dimensions of hull
and turret are wrong.
It has one saving grace though. The
basic hull, deck and turret moldings
are tough as old boots – 2 mm thick
or more, and able to cope with some
serious reworking!
 Bandai
was aiming at an Ausf F2, and I
decided to make it an early version
– the first to have a long L43 gun.
Because of the dimensions however I
decided not to bother striving for a
perfect replica. I did try to get a
good stand-off scale appearance
though, and I used Tamiya and
Italieri 1/35 kits as references. It
stretched my scratch building skills
somewhat, and took ages, but it was
rewarding.
Rear Plate Detail
I bid on eBay for a kit for this
that someone was selling, and didn’t
get it! So I made my own. The
break-through was the muffler, brass
sheet on dowel, with pieces of ping
pong ball on the ends!
Engine Deck
Bandai’s hatches needed to be
replaced and relocated. They also
required the making of the first
five of 25 hinges!
Front End and
Glacis Plate
Enhanced front towing shackles, and
a new spare track holder were
fitted. The glacis plate was
replaced, with new transmission
hatches (two more hinges).
Hull MG and
Driver’s Vision Port
The MG ball mount was made with
epoxy putty, and the housing
reshaped. Polystyrene stock was used
inside to retain the ball. Meanwhile
the vision port cover was also made
up from styrene (not easy!).
Main Deck
I had to reposition the hatch
openings twice! Initially I didn’t
leave enough clearance for the
turret to rotate. Also Bandai had
the turret centred, and I decided to
offset it. The hatches included
small vents – the Pz IV didn’t have
fan ventilation until the later
version Ausf F2s. ..Six more hinges!
Hull Detail
There were no plate lines or weld
marks, so I scored those in. I also
scraped off the tread grip on the
fenders where necessary, and bent
them a little with heat from a
lighter. The aerial is
spring-loaded, to be deflected by
the gun when it rotates in that
direction. The spare wheel box was
rebuilt, and various other details
added.
Turret Bustle Bin
This was reshaped, and fitted on
brass supports rather than glued to
the turret back. The lid was
replaced (three more hinges!).
Gun and Gun Mount
I chose to stick with the plastic
barrel, heavily sanded down, and
with styrene fillets in the muzzle
brake. The mount was a scratch built
half cylinder with bolts set in
brass tubes as pivots. These were
retained inside the turret front
plate with styrene held by
self-tapping screws, the opening
being reshaped off-centre. A Tamiya
Pershing recoil unit was fitted to
the inside of the mount. Outside the
mantlet was substantially modified,
and trim was added to the turret
front plate. A Tamiya elevation unit
was fitted to the inside of the
turret roof.
Turret
A Tamiya Pershing turret ring was
used, activated by a rotate unit
fitted between the driver’s and
machine gunner’s hatches. The turret
floor was reworked to fit inside the
turret (not under it), to sit flush
on the deck, and to be retained by
three screws.
Turret Doors etc
These were scratch built (four more
hinges), since the originals were
unusable after breaking them out. I
added some inside detail for when
the doors are open. Grab handles,
vents on the roof, vision ports and
hooks, etc were also added.
Cupola
The “Panzer Projects” guy said he’d
wished he’d cut the cupola off and
started again. So I did! I made it
up from pieces of three concentric
PVC plumbing fittings. The result is
a bit fat, but ok. The cuts in the
outer rings to make the five vision
ports had to be compensated for by
inserting styrene fillets. I hope
the paint’ll hide them ok!
Suspension
Wecohe spring suspension units
definitely make the performance more
realistic, and I’ve also fitted them
to my Stug and Hummel.
They needed work though to reduce
the “slop”.
I prised them open, put washers on
the pins that hold the suspension
arms, and superglued them closed
again.
I forced a piece of aluminium tube
over the shaft into the hull, and
drilled out the hull holes for a
snug fit. I carefully positioned the
retaining collar inside so that the
screw head hit the hull floor to
stop the whole bogey “flipping”.
The axles were also fitted with
brass sleeves to improve the wheel
fit (see below). The wheel retainers
needed to be scraped down a little
though to fit inside the sleeve.
Road Wheels
Bandai’s road wheels look like
cotton reels! So I cut them in two
and rejoined them with styrene tube
– to fit over the axle sleeve
referred to above.
Return Rollers
The rear return rollers were lowered
a little. I haven’t done this on my
Stug and Hummel, but I might one
day!
Bearings
I don’t run my tanks a lot, so I
didn’t bother with upgrading the
bearings – apart from the metal
sleeves referred to above. As long
as the wheels actually turn, I’m
happy!
Motors/Gear Boxes
I bought Wecohe units and just
whacked them in. Great!
Controls
The DMD and MF units were from a
Tamiya Tiger II. Using Y connectors
I added two servos with push on/off
switches to operate the lights, and
to switch between the hull and
turret machine guns.
Lights
The Bosch headlights (artistic
licence since I believe early Ausf
F2’s didn’t have any lights at all!)
were from Backyard Armor. The rear
light was scratch built – probably a
bit big. The bulbs are 1.5V and run
from two AAA batteries.
Tools
Some of the Bandai tools were
missing when I got the kit so I
added some King Tiger tools, and
made a crank handle, cleaning rods,
and a crowbar. Again, a bit of
artistic licence.
Paint
I decided on German Grey, which is
OK as the F2 came out just before
the change to Dark Yellow in 1942.
First I applied Tamiya surface
primer, then sprayed acrylic German
Grey. On top of that a coat of clear
matt acrylic, and when dry a weak
matt black enamel wash. The coup de
gras was a thorough going over with
light sand weathering pigment.
Scurtzen (Skirts)
F2’s were sometimes fitted with
skirts, particularly on the turret,
and I might do that later.
Meanwhile, it’s just about finished.
END :)
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