Monday, October 21, 2013

AFV Modeller Issue 73

It seems like most modellers building German WWII armor prefer the more powerful Tigers or the Panther over the more common Panzer IV, but I was very pleased when Dragon announced they were to release kits of all the Panzer IV variants. I prefer the versions with the longer guns and my interest with the 1943 Kharkov battles made the Ausf. G an obvious choice for me when it was released a couple of years ago. I had long considered the idea of a model of a white-washed Panzer Grey vehicle fighting in and around the city of Kharkov and furthermore it would offer me a chance to try the hairspray method. When plan a new project I search for unique details which would make the model stand out and this approach also opens possibilities for a personal touch to the completed model. The inspiration for me to start this project was a collection of images of a Panzer IV I found on the web site Missing Links, showing a Das Reich Division vehicle from Kharkov. The most prominent feature on this tank was the mounting of extended Winterketten tracks on the left side, with ordinary tracks on the right. There are other details on this vehicle not seen elsewhere, and the fact that Echelon had released decals for this particular vehicle endorsed my choice of subject.

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