Finished my build of this Tamiya and the paint job is finished but lots of varnishes, washing and weathering to go. It's a bit of a frustrating kit as most of the images are of the 3 roller no zimmerit later versions which were introduced in the second month but I guess Tamiya wanted to use their Panzer IV hull with the four rollers. Fortunately I found an image of a 4 roller with zimmerit and ambush camo in Hungary March 1945 so that is what I went with. The Atak zimmerit kit I used is superb and well worth the money. I couldn't imagine using the Tamiya sticker junk. Also I'm glad I had a half dozen Tamiya builds under my belt because the quality control and instructions on this one were by far the worst. Screws and nuts missing or the wrong size, no gluing instructions and no way would it go together smoothly if you do the assembly in Tamiya's step by step order. I have heard the Pershing is a nightmare for wire hygiene but this one has to come a close second as the usual 3 recoil, elevation and swivel mechs are all squashed into the low casement. But once it's completed I love it and it runs great. For battling the commanders hatch has to be detached though. The Schurzen is nice but I can't see it being practical running around the field with all the little twigs the tracks pick up but it can be quickly removed or put back on

Looks fantastic sir!!     

I'm gonna have a go at one using Taigen lower and Ludwigs kit. Another looooong term project though!  

Barry

looks great

I was pretty sure it was a Tamiya since the rear return roller was in the correct spot!

Looks really nice!

OMG that looks amazing !

Thanks for the compliments guys. It came together really fast paint wise. Basically 24 hours. I'm almost scared to blow it so I might see if Dean will perhaps do the chipping on it. I can handle most weathering but I'm always a bit tentative when it comes to chipping. So Mike are you going to build your Tamiya JP IV kit or still use it as a donor for the PZ IV? I have to admit now it's built I actually think it's such a cool and rare tank build I prefer it. I like Dean's old build thread from years ago and used some of that as a guide. A JP IV L48 build would be really cool too

I was just going to say that those Tamiya zim looks amazing, and alas it is not to be. The saukopf  and the MG cover looks amazing is it moulded replacement piece from the Atek kit ? I know they did that with the Elephant kit front glacis armour.

The mantlet. saukopf and machine gun cover, fahrer visor cover are all included in the kit and imo better than the Tamiya versions. Granted if you want to do non zimmerit the Tamiya mantlet has the casting number. I was so impressed with the Atak KT zim that I ordered the JP IV one before i ordered the actual Tamiya kit knowing now the 3 or 4 weeks it takes to get here from Poland vs the 3 day delivery from Japan for the Tamiya. The JP IV Atak is even better than the KT version. In fact I would say it is perfect. I had e-mailed Waldemar with a question about which adhesive other than epoxy to use and he said Mig's Ultra Glue. Again another absolute home run to go with the kit. Mike  I would highly recommend building the JP IV./70 kit you have especially since you are much more skilled at the innards of these things than me

Considering the insane price of the Tamiya kit to start with another 50 euros to make the kit fantastic is a good investment

https://atakmodel.istore.pl/en_US/p/ZM-1616-Zimmerit-JAGPANZER-IV70-TAMIYA-116/22730640

Very nice! Almost too nice to run around dusty and muddy battlefields. Cheers!

Shoveler74 wrote:

Very nice! Almost too nice to run around dusty and muddy battlefields. Cheers!

Almost.... LOL

Awesome looking tank destroyer!

Quote :

Almost.... LOL

This is said, just before being flipped over backwards into the river. Ha haa haaa. SEND IT!

This is coming from the guy that has lost count how many times my Tamiya Panther has been tits, errr, treads up.