Academy/Airfix Panzer IV Ausf. H

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Philipp Gross
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Academy/Airfix Panzer IV Ausf. H

Post by Philipp Gross »

Hi Folks,

I've given in to curiosity and started the Academy/Airfix Panzer IV H I reviewed a little while ago. I've worked two evenings on this kit and as of now I wasn't disappointed.

I'm not building one of the kit's options but rather an early Ausf. H of Panzer-Regiment 35, 4th Panzer Division. There are two photos of this tank in Peko Publishing's Panzer IV on the Battlefield, and they were kind enough to put them on their website:

https://pekobooks.com/wp-content/upload ... l10_76.jpg
https://pekobooks.com/wp-content/upload ... l10_77.jpg

The lower hull went together extremely well with a precision to rival Tamiya or even Tasca. Almost Lego-like! The tracks are only fitted for the sake of demonstration, since my tank has early tracks with open guide horns I need to use something else. They are a little simple for my taste anyway.
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As mentioned before the tyres have some very nice markings. Also note the tiny weld seams on the rims. The ejector marks on the hull side were all slightly raised, which allowed me to cut them off with a chisel blade. Not a lot of effort but still a more than questionable design choice. The drive sprocket needs a little filler, which I didn't really notice before taking the photo. Also, the roadwheels don't have mould seams in the middle!
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The hull rear consits of various bits and pieces, all of whom fell together without any issue:
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Since I'm building an early version I used the bolted applique armour kindly provided by the kit. The purists among us will notice the nuts aren't castellated - there are resin replacements available, but as of now I'll keep it as it is.
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The upper glacis plate rests on the internal support plate, which gives it a lot of stability. If you want to build an interior, there are now better options on the market.
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Philipp
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Vincent Power
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Re: Academy/Airfix Panzer IV Ausf. H

Post by Vincent Power »

You've made good progress Philipp. :) The tank you've chosen will make a make an interesting subject.

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Philipp Gross
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Re: Academy/Airfix Panzer IV Ausf. H

Post by Philipp Gross »

Thank you Vincent!

My original goal of going mostly OOTB didn't last long and I've thrown in some etch by Griffon and Eduard while still trying to keep things reasonable. Suffice to say, after two days fiddling with tiny brass particles I'm glad the turret will need a lot less of the stuff :lol: As with the hull before, the plastic itself went together very well - upper and lower hull went together with amazing precision.

Anyhow, the hull is now basically finished:
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I've replaced the kit tracks with Tristar individual track links, thankfully I still had a set from when they were still in business. They pretend to be workable but really aren't, so it's best to glue them together in the traditional way. The fit around the sprocket was not perfect but reasonably good. The little white dot is an armoured plug for the old antenna hole. There were still upper hulls with the superfluous hole made for several months after the transition to the flexible antenna mount at the rear. The wooden tray was retained on purpose for a while to serve as a storage bin for spare antennas. Finally, I replaced the fairly poor jack with one by Tamiya.

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I was going to simply chop off all the mudflaps when I noticed the left rear one was still present and folded upwards. Getting the etch replacement assembled was quite an exercise in keeping mental balance... :lol:

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On the front one of the flaps is halfway unhinged (not unlike I was after all this). I replaced the lifting hooks with resin hooks by TMD I had ordered for no particular project years ago.

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And finally, another weird design choice by Academy....open sponsons. On a 2018 kit... Some plastic sheet solved this little problem. Strangely enough, their Stupa and Stug IV kits are closed all around.

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Bryan Krueger
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Re: Academy/Airfix Panzer IV Ausf. H

Post by Bryan Krueger »

Very nice progress. That's a decent looking kit. I keep putting off building a PzIV but this kit looks really good.

I'm surprised by the sponsons too.
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Shawn Ramsey
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Re: Academy/Airfix Panzer IV Ausf. H

Post by Shawn Ramsey »

The PE really improves the detail for sure.

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Philipp Gross
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Re: Academy/Airfix Panzer IV Ausf. H

Post by Philipp Gross »

Thank you everyone!

Except for some minor touchups I think I'm done with construction:
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The turret wasn't much different from the hull, but I noticed the overall fit was slightly off, thus the putty. Nothing extraordinary though, as long as you get all the major parts assembled at once and manage to adjust them before the glue has set. The turret snaps onto the hull with three little hooks. It's an extremely tight fit, so I widened the turret ring a bit to prevent damage when I have to get it off again.

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I added a metal barrel that came with the Griffon etch set I mentioned before. The kit barrel is perfectly fine though, as it's cast as a single piece with only minimal mould seams to clean up. Since my tank has an early muzzle brake I used a spare Dragon part.

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The cupola has a rudimentary interior, but nothing worth showing off with an open hatch. I'm going to add a figure, so I left the lid open. Academy completely forgot about the little aiming point in front of the cupola, thankfully most etch sets come with one. The splash guard around the cupola was extremely fragile and bent immediately when I tried to cut it off the sprue, so be careful there.

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The turret skirts were fairly easy to assemble, but as with the turret shell it's important to get everything together at once to assure a good fit. The insides of the skirt doors have two pin marks each, but that's all. The support brackets are fairly fragile, but that was to be expected. Other little additions are TMD hooks and an RB Model turned barrel.

...Oh, and I just noticed I forgot to attach the other end of the lamp cable... :? :lol: :lol: :lol:

Time to sort through my four moving boxes full of figure sets :lol:

Philipp
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Bryan Krueger
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Re: Academy/Airfix Panzer IV Ausf. H

Post by Bryan Krueger »

Nice progress.
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Vincent Power
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Re: Academy/Airfix Panzer IV Ausf. H

Post by Vincent Power »

Looking good Philipp.

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Re: Academy/Airfix Panzer IV Ausf. H

Post by Adam Durrant »

It’s turned into a nice looking build Philipp, looks like airfix and Bronco use the same orange/yellow plastic!
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Philipp Gross
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Re: Academy/Airfix Panzer IV Ausf. H

Post by Philipp Gross »

Thanks once more gentlemen :D

After a few last minute touchups and addons I'm finall done building:
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The crew figure was found in the darkest dephts of my spares box and got upgraded with a resin head. Turns out I have no more crew figures in winter gear...

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