"PzIVHs base coated" Topic

Hi guys

I broke out the airbrush today to paint the PzIVs for the 22nd Pz Regt, and my Iwata airbrush wouldn't flow air through it, something wrong with the plunger under the trigger, so I removed it to clean and oil, and being a clumsy git, I dropped it onto my wooden deck, naturally enough it fell between the planks, so I'll have to order another one, in the mean time I took a trip to my local hobby shop, they had a couple of cheap airbrushes, so cheap they don't even have an name on them anywhere, but funnily enough it did a pretty decent job for my first time on it.

I installed skirts on the PzIVs I had previously painted, and painted those, they don't quite match the tanks, but after adding filters and weathering I hope they'll look better, any colour variations I'll put down to the skirts being added to the tanks after arriving at the unit.

I painted up a laffly S45t as a recovery vehicle, I'm going to add a berg-panzer III or IV as well, also did an old print of a Citroen traction to see how it would paint up, I have a couple of ACE kits I can replace it with, or even a better 3D print, but didn't want to waste it, I'll make up one of the ACE kits and compare them.
link

The Pzkw IV's have a box to hold two road wheels on the port side of the hull. I like that on some of your models, one of the road wheels has seemingly been used and--usable space being usable space--something else has been stuck in the box.

That said, this got me to wondering why each tank should carry two spare wheels, especially since other tanks, like the Sherman, seemingly didn't carry any spares. Were the Pzkw IV road wheels a weak point in the design that frequently required replacement? Was a road wheel failure considered something the crew could fix for the Pzkw IVs, while Shermans with road wheel problems went back to company or battalion repair shops? In any case, this isn't a comment on Gunner Dunbar's lovely models, just a question about the real tank.

Grelber

They look good.

Shermans certainly carried spare road wheels, often as extra "protection" for the driver (actually almost universal), but many a wheel on the engine deck too.

I want to ask how the windows of the soft skins will be painted. Various shades of grey and gloss varnish I guess, but I struggle with that on Napoleonic Carriages (my remaining life at 70 is too precious to try to fit clear windows and create an interior)

I just do them black then gloss, it works OK

They're coming up nicely, Dan. When Murphy's Law wants to strike it really does. Mate, have a look at Runway 13 ( link ). Peter, the bloke who owns it, is a member of ACT Scale Modellers. I have their AB-134BKX and it's brilliant, much better than my old Badger 200 and Iwata Eclipse. Dual action, gravity fed, it has a trigger adjustment, minor pressure adjustment, three pots and four nozzle and needle sets (0.2, 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7mm) in the kit.

Thank Dal, I've saved the page for when I get the caps together, I'll grab one.

Sky blue then drybrushed with silver (or better, chrome) for the windows. Mostly they reflect the sky anyway.

Outstanding