Wednesday 9 December 2015

Operation Winter Storm: Panzergrenadiers 8 – Panzer IV


The first German tank to be finished for my Operation Winter Storm project is a Panzer IV G.

Introduced in 1937, the Panzer IV was the only German tank to remain in combat and production throughout the entire WW2 making it the most widely manufactured "proper" German tank. It was of course constantly upgraded and adjusted to fit the ever-changing fighting conditions of the battlefields in Africa, Europe and the Eastern Front.


The Ausf. G model was introduced in 1942 and the upgrades included an increased front armour of 80 mm and the new, longer, 75 mm KwK 40 L/43 gun. These were both direct measures to counter the new, heavier, Soviet tanks such as the T-34.


This model is from Plastic Soldier Company and was my first experience with this manufacturer. I must say that despite a fair number of fiddly bits and somewhat spartan instructions it went together very well. The only problem was the driving gears which I at first managed to glue on in the wrong places – I switched the front and back ones on both sides – but this was all my fault for not having checked the instructions properly. I had to slice them all off and glue them back in their correct positions.

Other than that, my main gripe was the separate tracks which was a bit of a pain to glue in place to be honest.


I can't really comment on the historical accuracy of the kit, but when it comes to value for money it certainly scores high marks indeed!


As this was my first time painting a vehicle in winter camo, I looked at some tutorials to get familiar with the different techniques employed to get this particular effect. However, it wasn't until I got some excellent pointers from fellow club member and all-round nice chap Sören, I felt ready to have a go myself. Now, Sören is a much more skilled painter than me and I of course managed to botch up his instructions. In trying to salvage the paint job I did some experimenting which in a roundabout way lead to a camo effect I was rather pleased with and intend to use on all my winter vehicles for this project.


As for the weathering, I'm not particularly pleased with it – it's more than a bit overdone. I find weathering is an art, and one I have yet to master. Still, it's "good enough" so I'll leave it at that.

Next up – more Panzers!

Thank you all for reading!

18 comments:

  1. She's a real beauty Jonas, good work!

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  2. Love it, I really like your Winter Storm project. I had to do a double take before I realized this is 15mm. Wow!

    I've got some East Front Soviets under way for Bolt Action and Chain of Command. We're painting the same front, different sides.

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    1. Thank you Monty, that's very kind of you!

      I'm looking forward to seeing your Soviets! I'm saving mine for next year ... :)

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  3. That really is very lovely paint job:)

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  4. very nice finish. If I could make one minor criticism it would be that the sprocket (front gear wheel) and the rear return idler (the big wheel at the back) were all metal, and so probably should be in the same finish as the all metal parts, not painted as rubber. The overall finish is excellent though, feels very cold and dirty.

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    1. Thanks! And thank you so much for the info about the wheels for the tracks! With all the details to get right, I was certain I'd mess up something, and sure enough ... It seems I will have to do some slight repainting. :)

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  5. PS - the rust effect on the rear exhaust is just excellent! How did you do that?

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    1. Cheers! I started with a base of Vallejo Hull Red for the entire exhaust, followed by AP Dark Wash. Then I did a very, very light dry brush/stipple with Vallejo Gunmetal Grey, very lightly stippled on some Tamiya German Grey and finally dabbed on some Rust Effect from Model Mates. (You can probably skip the stippling steps but I think it gives a nice variation in textures.)

      The exhaust then got dirtied up together with the rest of the tank, which was basically just flicking on some watered down browns with an old brush.

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  6. Very nice Jonas and the weathering is great!

    Christopher

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  7. Very nice! You might have failed to follow Sören's instructions but the end result is still really good! /Mattias

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    1. Thanks Mattias! Yeah, all's well that ends well or something like that ... ;)

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  8. WOW - that paintjob is outstanding! The mud stains on the white wash is fantastic - you know I'm going to ask how you did that :0)

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