Tristar (!) Panzer IV Ausführung B

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Raoul Kunz
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Tristar (!) Panzer IV Ausführung B

Post by Raoul Kunz »

So here's one of my shelf queens...
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It's Tristar's (not HoBo... Tristar... that alone should tell you something about how long this has been sitting in it's current state here...) Panzer IV Ausf. B which I bought once upon a time to replace my old Tristar IV B which had been built and painted... let's say underwhelmingly... :oops:
On top of that it had the black letter "Prug" paint on it which was very likely a case of Tristar not understanding how to read black letter and it should be "Prag" which is Prague.
Oh and it was also grey.
For '39.

So here we are with a new one... "new"... ;)

There's some problems with this kit in it's current state, namely that I apparently used it's smoke launcher's candles somewhere else and all of the etch is gone.
Though by virtue of Tristar's fetish for tiny itsy-bitsy plastic parts it can still be built, I'll have to replace the jack but I have a ton of tools from various Dragon IIIs and StuGs, so no true problem here.

Here's the state I found it in =>
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I went ahead and added the lights, some minor parts like the fire extinguisher, track tool and exhaust.
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This kit has to have been a late release by Tristar because there where some problems with the moulds in the end, so behold (not a problem really, since it will be dusted or mudded anyway) =>
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Next I did the wheels, beautiful three (2 for the outer wheels) part constructions with separate tires with, oh shock, Continental, not Continentau, embossing. I always though this was a silly idea by Dragon to begin with since while Continental is still there it's very unlikely that they would press any cases (if they ever even noticed) that remind people of their involvement in armaments production during those 12 years.
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Aforementioned problem =>
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Next where the moveable 7-part wheel bogies. I have horrible memories of these being complicated and ending up glued in place... that proves again the age of my experience with these because they practically flow together and stayed moveable - like most Tristar kits they where engineered beautifully. I also included the very nice 9-part (six of those are bolts) =>
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And, as everything in a Tristar kit, even the sprocket comes with a maximum of parts, surprisingly the idler doesn't have etched inner rims... ;)
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And here's the current state of the kit =>
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Best regards

Raoul G. Kunz
Last edited by Raoul Kunz on 09 Aug 2018, 22:35, edited 2 times in total.
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Philipp Gross
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Re: Tristar (!) Panzer IV Ausführung B

Post by Philipp Gross »

Now that came out of the blue :shock:

Nice.....very nice!

Philipp
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Raoul Kunz
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Re: Tristar (!) Panzer IV Ausführung B

Post by Raoul Kunz »

I needed to do something for a quick build that is not Great War related :lol: ;) .


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Steve Hutchinson
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Re: Tristar (!) Panzer IV Ausführung B

Post by Steve Hutchinson »

Love a Pz IV, Raoul

I stopped building IV's when it was rumored Muller & Zimmermann were going to create another series for the IV, in the same vain as the Stug III.

I guess it might happen?

So many kits to build, never enough time to build them all:cry: :cry:

Looks like it will be primer and paint this weekend?

Has it cooled off yet?

How did the thunderstorms go last night?

Bizarre as it is, my supervisor at work, was on her mobile to her daughter most of the last 2 hours of the late shift.

She and 3 of her friends were grounded at Frankfurt airport due to thunder storms, they were put into a hotel and advised the fight might take off this morning.

So they went to town for night out.

Hope you are feeling better too?

Regards

Steve H
""I need to be creative, to feel ALIVE!""

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Philipp Gross
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Re: Tristar (!) Panzer IV Ausführung B

Post by Philipp Gross »

The mighty thunderstorms passed through in about 5 minutes with minimal damage but caused the closure of both airport and central station for an hour.... :roll: I didn't even notice anything besides a single gust of wind that rearranged a few papers on my desk.

My commute home, usually 30 minutes, was kindly extended to 2 hours. The so-called German efficiency does NOT extend to anything involving public transport.

Oh well, at least it's a lot cooler now. :roll:

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Raoul Kunz
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Re: Tristar (!) Panzer IV Ausführung B

Post by Raoul Kunz »

I have to sadly confirm Philipp's assessment of the situation here. Short gust of wind, minor rain, total shutdown of everything traffic.
I hope your supervisor's daughter had some fun in Frankfurt at least...

Bloody weather!

Still not entirely healthy so I was , for once, not involved in a commuting and traffic collapse - hooray for Crohn's disease? :lol:

Anyhow, I went ahead and sprayed the whole tank grey. And that's about it with colour.
I consulted my (utterly disorganized as they all are in spite of being generally good references) Spielberg on the IV (afaik the M&Z on the IV is coming and is being written currently, though since they will do it with the same degree of scholarship and depth of research and primary sources as the StuG volumes so it will take some time) and unearthed the fact that the additional frontal armour of a whopping 30mm in addition to the already monumental 30mm was introduced in February '41, I'd venture the guess that this was a reaction to the experiences with French tanks and AT guns during Red and Yellow.
So it will be grey.
For Barbarossa.
And it will be with one of the many PDs during this campaign. I think I have markings for most, and some aren't needed anyway, like the 6th PD which almost exclusively fielded the 38(t) and 35(t) (though it was also present in the 7th, 8th, 12th, 19th and 20th... remember my dio with four of those? ;) ) but most PDs had some left in their heavy(er) companies.

So any preferences?

Anyway - here's the current state with everything pre-shaded in grey =>
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And yes, there's a even brighter grey on some of more exposed elements of the roof, it's just not all that visible here. ;)


Best regards

Raoul G. Kunz
~fiat iustitia aut pereat mundus~

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Raoul Kunz
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Re: Tristar (!) Panzer IV Ausführung B

Post by Raoul Kunz »

Okay, some progress!
Yay!
It's still too warm by the way... :roll:

Anyway - I did most of the tools, the exhaust, prepared some stowage but the most effort was spent (why am I writing this in passive way... What's wrong with me? :lol: so: "what caused me to conduct most of the research and effort") was the markings.
Those are "Barbarossa era pattern markings" with two digit platoon-tank designators instead of the common three digit company-platoon-tank designator and another number indicating the division next to it's logo - because why use the simple pattern three digit number that had already been around since the late interbellum... :roll:
It also sports a "tank" rhomboid tac symbol.

Oh and I added a turret stowage box - early pattern add on box for the IVs that had the copula bulge in the back and thus could not mount the "new" box that sits flush with the turret and fixes on the rear facing turret hooks.
This one's left over from the DML IV E with Vorpanzer because this one uses a specific up-armoured box.

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Best regards

Raoul G. Kunz
who WILL do something for the Great War project soon... I swears!
Last edited by Raoul Kunz on 21 Aug 2018, 11:17, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Tristar (!) Panzer IV Ausführung B

Post by Steve Hutchinson »

Morning Raoul

Progress is still progress, well researched with the decals, sometimes they can be an after thought.

The weather is settling here, but a threatened tired ex hurricane and another mini heatwave are due for the Bank Holiday weekend,

It's just not British, nice weather and a Bank holiday!

Looks good too as you load her up with "stuff"

Regards

Steve H
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Re: Tristar (!) Panzer IV Ausführung B

Post by Raoul Kunz »

:o :shock: :? ..... :x :oops: :o :shock: :? :lol: :roll:

Put in a more concise, if also more embarrassing, way:


I've recently got a new turpentine-Ersatz-thinner-stuff for my oils.
.
It's a whole lot more powerful than the one I used until now.
..
The Tristar plastic never took well to any kind of solvent.
...
I had forgotten this.
....
Turpentine kills acrylics... usually insufficiently to cause trouble.
.....
It does when it's the super strong stuff... and on Tristar plastic.
......

.......

........

=>
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I immediately went ahead and coated the hull with PU varnish.
I hate PU for several reasons, but it's a fairly (annoyingly so, trust me... it's a work thing) resilient devilry, so... I'm counting on it also being this time ;).

So, like a cat I'm now in my corner of shame licking my paws pretending that nothing's wrong and if there is it's certainly not my fault... dumdedum! :lol:


Best regards

Raoul G. Kunz

edit:
It's definitely the Tristar plastic, I tested it on the DML tools I plan to use as well as remembered that I already used it no problem on the MkIV where it worked FINE... :roll:
Does by any chance anyone here know whether the HoBo re-issues of Tristar kits use a different plastic? I mean I suppose they would, it being fairly obvious and all, but I'm now a bit paranoid :lol: .
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Raoul Kunz
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Re: Tristar (!) Panzer IV Ausführung B

Post by Raoul Kunz »

Working on the turret...

Since it's been stripped of colour anyway I went ahead and did some improvements that I was disinclined to do in order to keep the paint job intact.

There is one repaired turret hook that went the way of the dodo when the whole "turpentine-ersatz-eating-through-everything" affair went down. Luckily Tristar IVs come with tons of redundant parts, especially the small ones.

Next up are a couple of bolts for the turret bin.

and then I went ahead and gave it a turned vehicle pattern MG-34 barrel while I was at it.

Now it's AB-ing once more and then give it a varnish coat of the horrible PU contraption ;) .

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Best regards

Raoul G. Kunz
~fiat iustitia aut pereat mundus~

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