Greif8 Posted May 6 Posted May 6 I sat on the fence for several days on whether to do a build thread as I was not sure if there would be any interest in one. Finally I thought, "What the heck, in for a penny in for a pound." I am building a Dragon Panzerkampfwagen IVe "Vorpanzer", that I am backdating to represent a Panzer IVd; there are only some minor differences so this will be an easy conversion compared to a few I have done in the past. I plan to set the tank in a diorama scene showing it pulled off the side of a cobblestone road with an engine problem. Those of you who have followed my LSP builds know I usually like to set the model in a small vignette that tells a simple story. This time I am going to do something a bit more complex, using a building section, as well as the street base for scene props. The diorama will also have several more figures then I normally add to my builds. I am looking forward to this project and welcome any of you to follow along and make comments or ask questions. The kit with an older Verlinden Productions interior set that I have had for several years. The set is one of the after market items I will be using on this build. After working with Gothaforce's state of the art 3D printed resin, the Verlinden kit is a throwback set using casting techniques from many years ago. Different challenges come with the set, not the least of which is getting things to fit, both with other a/m kit parts and with the base kit. I have spent the past several bench sessions cleaning up and test fitting the parts. I decided from the start to install the interior set first before beginning with the exterior portion of the build. I had to build up some of the basic exterior structure in order to install most of the interior parts. Following are some photos of that work. Group photo of what is mostly the lower hull stuff. The parts inside the lower hul have been glued in place, after a very large amount of measuring and test fitting. The set is pretty accurate according to text and photos of my source materials, though the positioning of individual parts is not 100% accurate to the last .1mm. The part that replicated the air intake cooling fans is cast solid. The engine access hatch that this part will be glued to will be open so I had to hollow out the part; the below shot is an "in progress" photo. The part glued to the access hatch. After cleaning up and smoothing out the inside area I glued a piece of .25mm plastic card to the lower section of the part so that that area looks entirely smooth. I also drilled out the area where the air intake ducting would have joined the actual cooling fan box. Most of the engine will not be clearly seen on everything is in there final positions so I opted not to do any superdetailing of the resin engine; I only added the heat shields on the exhaust outlets. I am ready to prime and paint the interior areas and the next update will show the results of that work. Ernest Sasha As, Dany Boy, Fanes and 18 others 21
LSP_Ray Posted May 6 Posted May 6 Nicely done so far! Verlinden stuff has always been a little shaky on fit so nice to see your having few problems. Good choice on the kit: the Dragon PzIV Vorpanzer was one of the best IV's in its day as it had several corrections over earlier versions. Greif8 and Martinnfb 1 1
Uncarina Posted May 7 Posted May 7 Go Ernest go! I’ve recently added to an ongoing armor build myself as an interlude from aircraft, and your work looks great. Cheers, Tom Greif8 and Martinnfb 1 1
Greif8 Posted May 7 Author Posted May 7 5 hours ago, LSP_Ray said: Nicely done so far! Verlinden stuff has always been a little shaky on fit so nice to see your having few problems. Good choice on the kit: the Dragon PzIV Vorpanzer was one of the best IV's in its day as it had several corrections over earlier versions. 1 hour ago, Uncarina said: Go Ernest go! I’ve recently added to an ongoing armor build myself as an interlude from aircraft, and your work looks great. Cheers, Tom Thank you Ray and Tom! Ray, the kit certainly looks good in the box and the parts I have built have fit quite well. I will be backdating the kit to resemble a Panzer IVd; not much to do as there were not many external changes between the d and the e. I am looking forward to further construction. The Verlinden aftermarket fit was good enough as very little of the interior will be clearly seen - or seen at all - once the gull and turret are assembled. I could have not used it at all and would have been fine, but I have had the interior kit for many years and decided to use it finally. Tom, I usually build at a 4:1 ratio LSP's to other subjects for the same reason as you, a change of pace. I will add to this project by using a building kit as a major part of the diorama I have planned. I have not built a building kit for over 25 years so this will be a different look for me to be sure. Ernest Martinnfb 1
Jim Barry Posted May 7 Posted May 7 Nice challenge with the extra size. We should always have a little extra something in store. Glad you chose to share the build! Martinnfb and Greif8 1 1
Greif8 Posted May 8 Author Posted May 8 13 hours ago, Jim Barry said: Nice challenge with the extra size. We should always have a little extra something in store. Glad you chose to share the build! I agree Jim, this will be a fun build as it will challenge some areas I rarely model. I hope at least a few folks will enjoy following along with this build. Ernest Madmax, Martinnfb and D.B. Andrus 3
Greif8 Posted May 9 Author Posted May 9 18 hours ago, Madmax said: I'm looking forward to it! 👍 Thank ou for the support and I hope you enjoy the thread. Ernest Martinnfb and Granger Davis 2
Gazzas Posted May 9 Posted May 9 I'm interested! That interior looks pretty great! I have the same kit, but will make mine into a plain E, someday. Martinnfb and Greif8 1 1
Martinnfb Posted May 9 Posted May 9 Great choice of subject Ernest, I am finding refreshing to change from aeroplanes builds to armour and back. Cheers Martin Greif8 and Jim Barry 1 1
Greif8 Posted May 9 Author Posted May 9 1 hour ago, Gazzas said: I'm interested! That interior looks pretty great! I have the same kit, but will make mine into a plain E, someday. 27 minutes ago, Martinnfb said: Great choice of subject Ernest, I am finding refreshing to change from aeroplanes builds to armour and back. Cheers Martin Thank you Gary and Martin! Gary, the interior is pretty good considering the interior set is around 20 years old. The fit was not bad and it adds to the look of the interior, though not a lot of it will be seen once everything is assembled. Martin, I also enjoy a change of subject matter from time to time. I am incorporating a section of a building and a cobblestone street in this build; something I don't do or work with. I am having a good time thinking through the challenges and of course building the objects. Ernest Gazzas, Javlin1 and Martinnfb 3
Greif8 Posted May 9 Author Posted May 9 I painted the interior base colors over a couple of spray sessions. I mixed my own shades of RAL 1001 Ivory for the turret and upper hull interior (with the exception of the engine area) and RAL 3009 Red Oxide Primer that was sprayed in the engine compartment, using Tamiya paints. The RAL 7033 Grey/Green on the lower hull is Tamiya XF22 which looked pretty close to my eye. Engines were normally painted black or very dark grey, I chose black. I still need to do the detail painting. I am happy with how the red oxide primer turned out. The street and building section arrived on Thursday. Below is what the raw street base looks like. The building represents a section of a typical Belgium townhouse that one often see in the Ardennes and Flanders areas. It came in several pieces, and I will attempt to turn this: Into this: Houston we have a problem! The gap is not supposed to be there. To fix that issue I used some hard foam board as a source to cut out some "bricks". Which were then placed in position. The final step was to grout the gaps, I used baking soda that I sprinkled into the gaps, after doing some fine positioning to firm up the positions of the bricks. I then used an old paint brush to work the "grouting" further into the gaps until a got a "look" like the rest of the building. The final step was using a dropper to wet the row of bricks with a mix of water and white glue. I also "grouted" the other gaps where the resin pieces came together. The building section is completely empty on the inside and I did not want it to be an empty shell, so I added some very basic structure starting with floor beams along the walls. Balsa wood flooring was then glued in place. The flooring was stained and the walls painted with some let over house paint. Once some minor touch ups are done this should look decent. And when you look through the window you can see the floor; much better than empty space. The lower hull and building positioned on the street so that I can get an idea of how the final diorama will look. I plan to show the tank pulled partly off the roadway due to an overheating engine and this basic scene should work well once complete. A challenge will be to articulate the suspension and track so that it looks right where the street and sidewalk meet. I am going to do this early on in the build process as it looks like there will be a significant amount of "tweaking" to be done. Ernest Christoffer Lindelav, Shoggz, Memphis and 10 others 13
TankBuster Posted May 10 Posted May 10 A very nice project you have started, I look forward to following along. Cheers. Greif8 1
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