Panzer IVd Diorama

[Gazzas]

2 minutes ago, Greif8 said:

 

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

 

I believe you about dirty.  For 8 months I lived out of the back of a 5-ton before, during, and after Desert Storm.  Honestly, I don't know how tankers ever get the dirt out.

[Greif8]

On 5/15/2026 at 10:57 PM, Gazzas said:

 

I believe you about dirty.  For 8 months I lived out of the back of a 5-ton before, during, and after Desert Storm.  Honestly, I don't know how tankers ever get the dirt out.

 

Dust on road marches is the worst.  I probably chopped a couple years off my life with the amount of dust I sucked down while in the tank hatch over the years.

 

Ernest

[Greif8]

Lots of "ankle biter" items got worked on this weekend and the tank is looking a lot more like a finished product at this point.

 

The engine in position in the first shot and the radiator fixed in place in the second.  The upper hull will be glued onto the lower hull in the next step.

 

 

 

I thought this would make for a cool photo.

 

Starting to look like a Panzerkampfwagen Mark IV.  The upper hull and turret have been glued in place and I have added some of the photoetch parts at this point.  The kit allows you to either use the complete IM parts for the pioneer tools, or PE for the brackets and latches.  I tested both and decided that the PE juice was not worth the squeeze in this case, the IM parts look pretty good and will be fine once painted.  A few PE things were, and will be added, as there is no IM parts for what they replicate.

 

The commander's cupola is just dry fit.  I painted both the interior and the exterior before putting the vision blocks in place.  The cupola will be left off for general painting.  The RAL 7021 Schwartz/Grau, more commonly called Panzer Grau, is my own mix.  I wanted to get a very faint bluish tint and like who the mix turned out.

 

The smoke discharger rack has photoetch chains, I replaced those with some small chain to get a better 3D look.

 

Unlike the fenders which took a beating on most German tanks during the Campaign in the West, the exhausts did not get very beat up in most cases.  Hard to see in the photo, but I have added some fairly minor dents in the kit exhaust.

 

I also deepened the hole and beveled to edge to give the exhaust gas exit a more scale appearance.

 

I primed and painted the hatches and most of the running gear.  Below are the hull and turret hatches primed in black and sprayed my RAL 7021 Panzer Grau.

 

The ivory interior and Panzer Grau mesh well together.

 

Ernest

[Gazzas]

Looking good, Ernest.  I admit that PE too brackets look great in highly magnified pics...  But from 2 feet away with regular vision, It doesn't matter as much to me. 

[Greif8]

On 5/18/2026 at 6:27 AM, Gazzas said:

Looking good, Ernest.  I admit that PE too brackets look great in highly magnified pics...  But from 2 feet away with regular vision, It doesn't matter as much to me. 

 

Thank you Gary!  I always assess whether photoetch is worth the effort; in this case some of it was and some of it was not.

 

Ernest  

[Greif8]

The build has a factory fresh coat of paint on it.  The grey is darker than most of the photos show as it was very bright when I took the photos which resulted in the color looking lighter then it really is.

 

The running gear painted and waiting for installation.  I'll weather the lower hull and suspension before doing so though, as past experience has shown it is easier to do that before the road wheels, etc. are installed.

 

The color of the panzer grey in this shot is pretty close to how it actually looks.  I used Mr. Color Rubber to paint the rubber part of the road wheels.

 

The following three photos show the Mark IV in fresh new paint.  I plan to do some work to the finish before a weather it.  I glued the pioneer tools in place at this point because I don't think it will be an issue for them to be in their locations prior to any additional work on the base coat of paint.  Pioneer tools were painted different colors depending on several different influences/situations.  I chose to paint the metal parts of mine black and the wooden parts a natural wood finish to break up the overall grey somewhat.

 

Ernest 

[Jim Barry]

Mr Color Rubber? Now, I’ve seen everything. 
 

Nice work. The research still such a strong point. 

[Javlin1]

This coming along Nicely Ernest!

[Greif8]

On 5/19/2026 at 4:28 PM, Jim Barry said:

Mr Color Rubber? Now, I’ve seen everything. 
 

Nice work. The research still such a strong point. 

 

20 hours ago, Javlin1 said:

This coming along Nicely Ernest!

 

Thank you for the kind words gentlemen!

 

Jim, I find researching my builds as rewarding as actually building the model.  I am shooting for historical accuracy with this build so I am making sure my historical i's are dotted and t's are crossed.

 

Ernest 

[Greif8]

I spent the last two bench sessions working on the base color to vadd some interest to the monotone Panzer Grey finish.  To do that I decided to airbrush a filter on selected areas to lighten them and then use oil paint rendering to both tone down the light areas and accenuate some of the edges, corners and, few though they are on a Panzer IV, curved areas.  I also started weathering the lower hull and running gear.

 

I sprayed a light colored filter to highlight most of the horitzontal areas and edges/curves.  I sprayed the effect quite strong as it will be toned down significantly once the oil paint rendering (OPR) and dust weathering is done over the tank.

 

I am almost finished with the OPR of the turret.  I concentrated this technique on the edges and along the seams where the light colored filter and base color meet.  I added some very minor streaking effects running from the top edges.

 

 

 

A closer view of one side and front of the turret showing how the filter and OPR meshed.

 

I also used the OPR to simulate some wear and tear in areas that saw a lot of crew movement over them.

 

 

The weathering of the lower hull and running gear is 80% finished.  I am keeping the weathering to built up dirt and dust as the waether during Case Yellow was quite nice with dry ground conditions.  Even with those optimal weather conditions tanks get real dirty, real fast - I sometime thought my tank got dirty just being driven across the motorpool.  Dirt/dust builds up in no time at all when tanks drive on dirt roads, which was what most of the roads in the Ardennes were in 1940; and if they had to manuever across the ground the dirt build up was/is immense.  The roads wheels are not glued at this point as I still have to position the tank on the base.  Once I am satisfied with the final position I'll lock both the suspension and road wheels in place with glue.

 

The below shot was taken without any overhead lighting and it gives a better impression of where the build stands color and weathering wise at this point.

 

Ernest

[LSP_Ray]

Very nice!

[Greif8]

21 hours ago, LSP_Ray said:

Very nice!

 

Thank you Ray

 

Ernest

[Greif8]

Finished the OPR of the hull, fenders and tools with the exception of the hatches and the cover for the gun cleaning rods.  The paint job looks more interesting now that the monotone color has been broken up.  The next step will be to add the weathering to the rest of the tank.  That will be mostly dust with a small amount of dirt staining continuing up a short way from the running gear with most of that concentrated at the rear of the vehicle.

 

 

 

 

Macro of the jack.  I added a large amount of grease staining as well as shadows and highlights.  Several other details can be seen in the photo as well.  I kept the darker staining along the edges heavy as that will be toned down quite a bit once I add the dust weathering.  

 

Ernest

[Jim Barry]

Love seeing a pedestrian model/subject work so well. 

[Martinnfb]

You have a unique touch Ernest.  Of someone who can relate to the real aspects of machinery of this kind. The weathering is spot on. 
 

Cheers

 

Martin