Well look what I picked up at Magic Box Hobbies today!
Another excellent job by the Master of box art, Ron Volstad.
So let's begin with Step 1. & 2.
Here all the parts needed all clipped from the tree and cleaned up.
the hull side
and bottom
the first part to go in place are the pieces Number E8 & E9 which get glued into the final drive mounting areaa on the hull part Y.
The fit and engineering here intimates a very pleasurable experience is in the offing. The plastic has a very perfect feeling in regards to its hardness and composition as well.
Let's take a look at some of the other parts needed in Steps 1. and 2.
The Idler wheels
the Drive sprockets
the Return rollers
the Road wheels
Here we see the front plate parts that include the towing bracket pieces
I'm not sure if I will but I may paint the inside of all the road/return wheels with the primer red color and paint the tires on the inside before I glue them all together.
As an aside here is a pic of me standing infront of the Pz. IV/G at Munster roughly a year ago. I got many pictures there on this vehicle.
Well Guys, thanks for the enthusiastic encouragement! This will just be a F2 outa the box.
Here is the progress of today;
So continuing with the drive wheels here we can see that the joinery is pretty much mapped out- there is one tab that is thicker than the others which is intended to fit into its corresponding slot.
all glued together
next to the Idler wheel assemblies.
Here a sample of what the road wheels look like together
a group foto
...just cause I am a bit anal I thought to get the inside rim of the tire painted in dark gray tire colour properly, rather than trying later with the wheels together I would paint the insides of the road wheels prior to gluing them together.
Here they are based out in flat black
and then the primer red colour (Humbrol 113) I like.
did it to the return rollers too.
you can see I have painted out the tire seam in gray here.
the out side will be painted later...
I based out the drive sprockets and the idlers while I was at it.
They will just go the cammo colour.
Perhaps at this juncture I will introduce a little music.
[url="https://panzerfaust.netfirms.com/Music/Shape%20Of%20Things.mp3"][SIZE="5"][COLOR="Red"]CLICK ME[/COLOR][/SIZE][/url]
Turning to more hull work here the parts E13, E26 and E29 have been glued in place on the back of the hull tub. Excellent fit and nice clean, crisp details.
the under armour plate Number E 11 is added.
a shot of the front tow point parts in place
So that is basically Step 1 and 2 done.
On to Step 3.
all the parts for Step 3.
the final drive housings are excellent.
the armour plating that surrounds the front aspect of the final drive housing comes in three separate parts that go together without any problem.
In this shot the top piece has been added to the other previous two.(arrow on the right)
The other arrow points to the mounting point for the suspension arms of the main road wheels. This area is very well thought out and has been made basically idiot proof, (good thing for me
)They have even drilled out the bolts holes for us!
In this pic you can see that the tabs of these parts have either one end or the other rounded. They will then fit in their corresponding hole on either side with the correct orientation.
A closer shot to clarify what I mean.
The dampers are also well done on this Panzer IV model- (It is fast becoming my favourite build ever!)
These come as two seperate parts
In this photograph, all the suspension mounting parts are glued in place as is the final drive, dampers, tow hooks on the rear and the fuel filler caps.
same as on this reverse angle
On to Step 4.
This will deal with the exhaust and the rear axle assemblies. In a word exquisite.
the parts.
The exhaust/muffler parts glued together an dry fitted to the body to ensure proper alignment.
There is a gap where the back plate meets the rear axle mounting point, but this is addressed with a slim shim part that is part of the rear axle mounting assembly.
Here you can see the gap.
the part that fits in there
in place. As you can see another "idiot-proof" feature is on this plate making it impossible to get the wrong sided parts glued onto the back end.
Rear axle parts
Pretty simple
but it works the charm
This kit is just a joy -it really feels like a whole new level of complete design. (and I don't say that just cause I do some box tops for Dragon... buy one and tell me it's not a fun build... I dare ya:p )
There are three different options for the rear tow pintle area included... I have chosen a middle looking variant, for no particular reason.
I'll leave you tonight with some shots of the front top glasis plate and the transmission access hatches..night nite
