Sammy Pearson builds Dragon’s classic 1:35 scale Panzer IV Ausf. H Late Production.
Production of the Panzer IV started in late November 1937 and continued on for the duration of the war, up until March 1945. The Ausf. H was the most produced model of the Panzer IV series with well over 3,000 being built.
The standout features of the Ausf. H are its long-calibre 75mm gun, use of schurzen armour on both the turret and hull and zimmerit paste, which was applied to a majority of Hs that were built from late 1943 onward. x
40 Model Military International -June 2024
The screw and weld details on the top of the turret are sculpted quite well
The quality of Dragon’s kits never ceases to impress me
With some pin washes the top of the hull will have some impressive details
Eduard’s etched zimmerit is wafer thin yet full of details
IN THE BOX
The kit is Panzer IV Ausf. H Late Production from Dragon Models released in 2014. Inside the box is a plethora of spues in Dragon’s familiar grey plastic. Some photoetched parts are included for the hull schurzen and general details. The decals include units from the Eastern Front and Normandy, I managed to find a few reference images of these tanks online so I decided to go with the one sporting the designation 823.
The kit has some nice detail but as always I prefer to add some aftermarket details. In almost all of my kits I add a set of white metal tracks from Friulmodel and this kit is no exception. Reference photos showed the Hs from the 2nd Panzer Division 8th Company having Zimmerit applied to the hull and turret. As luck would have it I managed to source set of Eduard etched brass Zimmerit for Academy’s Panzer IV H for a discounted price at ModelExpo 2019 in Melbourne, alongside a set of very nice photo etch turret schurzen by Eduard and some fenders from Legend Productions made to fit Dragon’s kits. Once I mad more etched brass than I could poke a Panzerfaust at I then began the construction.
CONSTRUCTION
From the lower hull, everything went together well as expected from a Dragon kit. The etched brass Zimmerit was applied to the lower hull parts before any major details were attached. The road wheels were roughed up with sandpaper to take the edge off them before a razor saw was used to add some heavier damage, giving the impression of well-worn and used rubber. Having had experienced some breaks in the past with return rollers the attachment points were drilled out with a 1mm drill bit and reinforced with a cut down piece of paperclip For the tracks, the ends were drilled out with a 0.5mm drill bit and then assembled. After assembling them a drop of superglue is applied to the protruding wire, which is then trimmed when the glue has dried. The finished result are functional and realistic tracks that perfectly capture that distinctive Panzer track sag.
The fenders were bent into shape with my trusty hold n fold, and held together with small clamps whilst a few drops of CA glue were used to firmly bond them.
The upper hull was pieced together with the completed fenders then being attached to hull. The on-vehicle tools were kept off the tank for easy of painting and weathering and attached to a cork block, I find this useful with details on armoured vehicles, especially when large amounts of masking are involved for camouflage.
Zimmerit applied to the lower hull
Moving onto the turret, construction was yet again simple and smooth. Opting to use aftermarket schurzen on the turret the only additional work was filling in the gaps for the kits original plastic mountings. The schurzen was assembled but left unattached to make the painting process quicker.
I always prefer to have my vehicles covered in stowage to add more visual interest. The Stug III and Panzer IV stowage sets from Legend were both used alongside