All the major scratch building was now done and it was time to turn to the small items and the aftermarket sets that I had purchased for this model. The first items I started on were the fenders - Photo 1, I used the older Aber set for the, Panzer IV, with a multiple piece frame under the tread plate, whereas the newer one comes with this frame as one piece. The frame was soldered together because there are relatively small contact areas between each of the frame parts. Onto this the tread plate pieces were then fixed using superglue, which was chosen for two reasons; firstly, it allows me a little flexibility and extra time in the positioning of each of the tread plate pieces; secondly, my soldering skills are still fairly limited! With all the tread plates glued in place, attention turned to making the front and rear fender flaps. On a Panzer IV front fender flap, there was a metal tube along the bottom edge that followed the shape of the flap. In the Aber set however, you are given a flat etched piece for this component and it doesn't look right. Instead, I substituted it for a small strip of wire. The Aber fender flap was shimmed up with another sheet of brass to get the wire centred on the edge. It was then soldered to the Aber flap from what would become the inside of the flap.
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