Pzkpfw IV Ausf. G - 1/72
The Panzerkampfwagen IV was one of the German Wehrmacht's most relied-upon weapons in World War II. Approximately 7,500 were produced, with the Ausf. G version consisting of almost 1,700 units during a single year from 1942-43 - significantly more than had been produced of the prior variant over a five year period.
The specific vehicle vehicle modeled was an early production Panzer IV of the 1st Panzer Division in Greece in 1943. The kit was a Dragon kit. The detail on the kit was good, but the kit design - breaking the upper hull up into several pieces - made it difficult to fit together, and there were large gaps at each of the major joints - two in the front and one in the rear.
I did not do a good job installing the flexible treads, and lost a number of the smaller parts, but on such a small scale it's not really noticeable. Paint was overall Tamiya XF-60 Sand Yellow, and I used the kit decals for the Greece unit. I did one light pinwash, but otherwise didn't spend time weathering since photos of the subject tanks in Greece didn't indicate much.
I modeled the turret hatch doors opened and painted the interior Elfbein with black viewing ports based on my research last year on the corresponding area of Tiger 131. I like to add some additional items even when doing a OOB like this, and in this case the addition was a large unditching beam on the right side. Almost every photo I consulted of Panzer IVs in Greece in 1943 had one.
You did a great job on this tiny armor kit, Michael @mcsmith1964
No signs of gaps and to me the treads look perfectly fine.
Well done.
Well done, Michael
Great work Michael! The tracks and running gear always are an alignment problem in 1/72 scale, I wish they would make them a single 3D resin print and be done with it!
It looks great ! Any subject in 1/72 is challenging.