Panzer IVd Diorama

[Chippyminton]

Very nice indeed. I recently finished Dragon's Flakpanzer 38(t) which came with a full interior. It went together beautifully, and although their 'Magic Tracks' are fiddly and time-consuming to do, they look great once everything's nicely sagged over the wheels. As an aside (and on-topic for a Panzer IV) - around six months ago I built a Panzer IV Flakvierling from a 1978-vintage Tamiya kit I picked up on eBay. Remarkably good for a 48-year-old kit. 

 

Looking forward to your updates !!

[Jim Barry]

I built that Panzer IV Flakvierling too. It was my first spray camo. 1980 probably. I kinda like the Halftrack more for visibility and the winter figs. That was my first Tamiya 1/35 and pulled me away from planes for a long time! 
 

Ernest, The diorama is taking great shape. Wonderful layout. Get your Shep Paine on! 

Edited May 11 by Jim Barry

[Gazzas]

This will be cool.  I took a ride in a resurrected Pz IVj a couple years ago and was amazed at how little the bogeys seemed to rock on their axes.  Kinda disappointed actually.  I was hoping to do a dio where the tank was surmounting an obstacle that really put a tilt on those bogeys.

 

Initial interior shades look nice.

[Greif8]

On 5/10/2026 at 1:11 AM, Javlin1 said:

This should be cool Ernest!

                                                       Kevin

 

On 5/10/2026 at 12:53 AM, LSP_Ray said:

Nice setup! Finish is looking good!

 

On 5/10/2026 at 4:06 AM, TankBuster said:

A very nice project you have started, I look forward to following along. Cheers.

 

22 hours ago, Chippyminton said:

Very nice indeed. I recently finished Dragon's Flakpanzer 38(t) which came with a full interior. It went together beautifully, and although their 'Magic Tracks' are fiddly and time-consuming to do, they look great once everything's nicely sagged over the wheels. As an aside (and on-topic for a Panzer IV) - around six months ago I built a Panzer IV Flakvierling from a 1978-vintage Tamiya kit I picked up on eBay. Remarkably good for a 48-year-old kit. 

 

Looking forward to your updates !!

 

15 hours ago, Jim Barry said:

I built that Panzer IV Flakvierling too. It was my first spray camo. 1980 probably. I kinda like the Halftrack more for visibility and the winter figs. That was my first Tamiya 1/35 and pulled me away from planes for a long time! 
 

Ernest, The diorama is taking great shape. Wonderful layout. Get your Shep Paine on! 

 

14 hours ago, Gazzas said:

This will be cool.  I took a ride in a resurrected Pz IVj a couple years ago and was amazed at how little the bogeys seemed to rock on their axes.  Kinda disappointed actually.  I was hoping to do a dio where the tank was surmounting an obstacle that really put a tilt on those bogeys.

 

Initial interior shades look nice.

 

Thank you for the comments and compliments guys!

 

Ernest

[Greif8]

The past couple of bench sessions have been dedicated to working on the lower hull.  There are a lot of parts associated with it and the instructions are very "busy"; you have to pay attention that you assemble in the right sequence and get all the parts put in place - nothing some attention to detail can't deal with though.  The key element of the lower hull for this build is the suspension parts. The tank will be displayed on an uneven surface and the suspension/tracks will have to be fit so that they can be adjusted to account for the curb height.  The parts are designed to go together in a way that would work will on an even surface, not so much for an uneven surface though.  I burned a few brain cells thinking of a way to construct the suspension parts so that have some "play" to enable them to be correctly positioned later in the build process.  Below is what I came up with.

 

The "challenge"; as you can see there is a significant step caused by the curb.

 

The way the parts are designed to be glued in place won't work in this case as not only is there a height difference, but due to how I want to display the tank there is also some asymmetry in the suspension/tracks between the two sides.  Below you can see that the suspension sub-assemblies are glued in place by a simple "rod and socket" type joint, which is fine for level ground, but there is no way to adjust the suspension to account for an abrupt change in surface height.

 

After thinking through some ideas, I settled on drilling the holes where the suspension joins the hull deeper and inserted 1mm brass tube into the holes.  These will act as small "axles" onto which the suspension sub-assemblies will be inserted onto.

 

I then drilled 1mm holes through the suspension parts; these already have holes in their front area for caps to be glued onto the area between the two suspension arms.  I drilled completely through the parts as you can see, the photo shows the backside where the two "pins" were.

  

Each suspension sub-assembly was test fit and any adjustments made.  The fit is pretty tight which should allow me to position the tank with the tracks dry fit in place, glue the suspension parts to lock them in position and then work the track into the correct configuration or "look".  That is the theory at any rate.

 

I dry fit the inner roads wheels and placed the lower hull into a few different positions to test if my idea would work.  The results were very promising and I think I will be able to get both the suspension and the tracks realistically positioned when the time comes.

 

Ernest

[Chippyminton]

@Greif8 I forgot to tell you - Dragon's 'Magic Tracks' are moulded in ABS - not polystyrene. You'll need to use the acetone-based 'quick setting' Tamiya Extra Thin (the one with the light green top). The regular stuff (dark green top) doesn't work. Hope that helps.

[Greif8]

Just now, Chippyminton said:

@Greif8 I forgot to tell you - Dragon's 'Magic Tracks' are moulded in ABS - not polystyrene. You'll need to use the acetone-based 'quick setting' Tamiya Extra Thin (the one with the light green top). The regular stuff (dark green top) doesn't work. Hope that helps.

 

Thank you man!  I plan to use the magic tracks and if I remember past builds correctly they have some flexibility once assembled which will be important (see my post above) when it is time to get the tracks positioned correctly.  If the magic tracks turn out to be a "no go", I will use some Fruil tracks.

 

Ernest

[Chippyminton]

2 minutes ago, Greif8 said:

 

Thank you man!  I plan to use the magic tracks and if I remember past builds correctly they have some flexibility once assembled which will be important (see my post above) when it is time to get the tracks positioned correctly.  If the magic tracks turn out to be a "no go", I will use some Fruil tracks.

 

Ernest

 

You're most welcome !! 

[Greif8]

Looking through photos of German tanks during Case Yellow/Red I was struck by how few had even one intact front or rear fender.  It seems some things don't change much as the front fenders of the M1 series tanks I served on were bent up more often then not.  I decided to  do some relatively minor damage to the front and rear fenders of the Panzer IV and chose to do so be first thinning the plastic until it was very nearly translucent and then manually bending the fenders.  The end results were pretty decent; below are some shots of the finished fenders.

 

I chose to mount the fenders to the lower hull instead of the upper hull as I think getting them positioned correctly is easier on this kit.  Having worked with Dragon's Magic Track in the past I am confident I will be able to position it without too much trouble, even with the fenders in place.  The below photo shows the underside of one of the thinned fenders, bent up and in place.

 

The same fender  photographed from above.

 

Both side fenders in place on the lower hull.  I did not damage the fenders very much as the diorama I am doing will show the tank during the first few days of Case Yellow.

 

I banged up the rear fenders as well.  You can see that I have positioned the right fender to suggest that it no longer fits downwards like it should.

 

I bent up the support for the left rear fender as well as the fender itself.  

 

I also worked on the section of house and street base, finishing the basic interior structure and priming the outside part.

 

 

The upper and lower hull sections are nearly ready for priming and painting, but they will wait until I have finished work on the turret as I want to spray the parts in one or two sessions if possible.

 

Ernest

[Jim Barry]

It’s all about fender damage:weathering seems. Looking good! 

[Javlin1]

Luv'in it!!

[Greif8]

On 5/14/2026 at 12:27 AM, Jim Barry said:

It’s all about fender damage:weathering seems. Looking good! 

 

19 hours ago, Javlin1 said:

Luv'in it!!

 

Thank you guys!

 

Ernest

[Greif8]

I have nearly finished the interior and only have a couple of small things to do before I button up the hull and turret.  I considered scratchbuilding a few things but ultimately decided against doing that as almost nothing can be clearly seen once the Mark IV is assembled.  The weathering consists of chipping, wear, dust, dirt and - in the engine compartment oil staining.

 

The dust does not show up well against the ivory color, though one can make it out when looking at the actual parts.  The chipping and wear show up much better.

 

The cannon breech was often painted ivory, with the exception of the breech block and inner area of the breech; however the paint wore quickly and after only a few rounds fired the rear area of the breech invariably showed some major paint wear. 

 

This macro shows the wear better, as well as the coax machinegun.

 

The lower hull got some heavy dust.  I plan to show a Mark IV belonging to 1st, 2nd or 10th Panzer Division.  These divsions belonged to Guderian's XIX Motorized Corps and advanced through the Ardennes to Sedan where that corps forced a river crossing on 13 May 1940.  Few country roads were paved in the Ardennes, or anywhere else for that matter in 1940, and as the weather was dry for almost all of Case Yellow dust would have been heavy.  Any of you who served on armored fighting vehicles and trained at places like Grafenwöhr or Hohenfels Germany, The NTC at Fort Irwin or just about any other training area belonging to the U.S. Army or USMC know what I mean about the dust.  I gave the interior a heavy coat of it.

 

I did not dirty up the sub-turret floor as it will not be seen.

 

The hull machinegun in place, which it probably would not be with the radioman not in his position as it blocks easy access through the opening.  I wanted to show the machinegun with its mounting system as it looks pretty cool though. 

 

The engine compartment is the dirtest place in the interior of nearly all tanks, and I went very heavy with the dust and grime here.  Below are the two engine access hatches and the radiator.

 

I liberal amount of oil, dirt and dust was added to the compartment floor and side walls.  The "oil" is still drying, but will have a sheen once dry.

 

I need to do a couple of small things to the engine, but it is nearly ready to install.  While the dust shows up well, the oil grime does not, but it is there is quantity as that fits the diorama story I want to tell.

  

Ernest

Edited May 15 by Greif8

[Gazzas]

All looks very nice, Ernest!  What color did you use for the floor around the turret basket?   I've always wondered if the floor was red primer, that ivory color...  or something else.  Is that oil just paint?  It looks really oily.

[Greif8]

19 minutes ago, Gazzas said:

All looks very nice, Ernest!  What color did you use for the floor around the turret basket?   I've always wondered if the floor was red primer, that ivory color...  or something else.  Is that oil just paint?  It looks really oily.

 

Thank you Gary.  The color is Tamiya XF22, a color close to RLM22; or in this case green/gray that was the color of lower hulls in German tanks.  The brown tint is a dirt wash that I put down over the base color.  Turret floors  real dirty real quick during combat ops; I'll see if I can find any interior photos of one of my tanks in Iraq, you'll see what I mean when you look through a couple of those!

 

Ernest