I am an aircraft modeler through and through (with occasional side trips to anything from wooden ships to Tamiya motorycles and F1 cars), but lately I’ve suddenly become fascinated by armor. Problem is, I have no idea how to model armor. I found an old Tamiya M-41 among my unbuilt kits. It was very basic, but I had great fun building it OOTB, mixing various shades of sunbleached OD, trying to figure out how to paint tracks (I think I failed there). I’ve bought a few reference books, but I’m wondering what would be a good subject to start out on. I have 38 years of modeling experience and some museum commissions under my ever-expanding belt. The other day I saw the local wino carrying a model kit under his arm! Turns out he found an old Revell/Italaerei Panzer IV H, dated mid-1970s, in someone’s trash! All the parts are on the sprues and the decals are still new-looking and unyellowed. Found out he’d just minutes before removed the cellophane. The box art screams “AMBUSH TANK.” It’s a great looking pile of plastic, even by modern standards. Very thin panels, fine detailing. Cost me two cigarettes and a dollar.
Anyone recommend this for a first real armor attempt for me? The only other armor kit I have is a JSDF Type 74 Winter Version, which doesn’t really get my juices flowing.
Any advice for me would be really appreciated. I want to learn a whole branch of modeling that I’ve sadly neglected because I thought it was nothing but a bunch of stuff that all looks alike and is painted an ugly shade of green. I now know this is not true.
Welcome! I wouldn’t build that kit from the 70’s, but I’d start with a tamiya tiger 1.
Welcome to the Darkside sharkskin.
No collection of armour would be considered complete without one the fine Shermans from Tamiya.
Hmm wish I could find a brand new un opened 1/16 King Tiger in the trash can.
Good luck building the Pz IV, I have never tried that kit, but with 38 years of experience Im sure you will do fine.
Post some pics of your progress.
Rollin’ drunks for models…You my friend have jumped into the Darkside head first. Welcome.
I’d be interested in some pics too, please include wino if possible.[;)]
I recommend a TamiyaT-55 or the Tamiya Pershing.
Panzer IV’s have an air about them. Nice build, good design.
If you want a start up, I’d say Tamiya’s Panzer II or one of the Tamiya Shermans.
German armor is the Beau Brommel of the armor world. Very unique and colorful camo. Designed by guys who had to rely heavily on being able to hide.
welcome to the armor side of the house. Panzer envy is a terrible affliction.
Welcome to the darkside, Tom. Sounds like the people guys above have given you some great advice. The Pz II Mike (Renarts) was talking about is shown in my sig, below. It is a fun, easy, very inexpensive build to do. (Unless you go the insane route like I did!) It is about the same era as the IV you have. It is a very simplified kit with lots of errors, but, as I said, it’s still a lot of fun. You really can’t go wrong with any of the newer Tamiya kits (just like in wingy thingies). I’d stay away from Dragon (DML) kits at first. They are some of the nicest detailed around, at least on par with Tamiya, and I dearly love them, but you don’t want to get involved with independent link tracks on your first one. This is especially true of their Sherman’s and derivitives!! My first choices for you would be the Tamiya Tigers or Panther G’s (note, not the Tamiya Panther A!!). I have never built one of the Tamiya Shermans (sorry, Robert!), so can’t comment there, but I’d take Robert’s (shermanfreak) word on anything to do with Shermies! His member id is no accident or exeration!
Welcome again to the darkside and the forum.
From what reviews I’ve read, some of the older Italeri kits weren’t bad for their time. Better than their Tamiya contemporaries (coughStuartcough). And the sky-high prices of Tamiya’s newer kits may be a bit much to ask for someone just starting out. I’d recommend building the Italeri kit as a “rough draft,” so you know where the trouble spots are (like painting the running gear), then buying a Tamiya kit. [:)]
You may be just a wee bit biased, there. [:D]
Oh yes, and welcome!
M.
Welcome to the darkside. I would try out something that is OD for a first one unless you really wanted to get into a camo job. Which I am sure you have done one or two on wingy things so it might not be a problem. Just stay away from indi track links, would not want to scare you away all of a sudden.
Another good first armor build would also be the T34/85 by Tamiya. Goes together nicely and no camo patern to worry about.
Man I never thought of hitting up wino’s for models. Maybe I shoud take a trip into D.C. next weekend.
Oh And welcome aboard to the Darkside.
Welcome!
I’d build the Winopanzer. Italeri kits are pretty good, and any issues with fit would be pretty easily overcome by someone of you experience. It would have some omissions/inaccuracies for sure, but that may not be paramount to you at the moment. Besides, how many kits have that good a story attached to them!
Edog is running a Panzer IV build at the moment, and he has probably forgotten more about them than I have ever known! He would be able to tell you whatever you wanted to know.
Have fun, I bet you will do a great job.
OK, guys, a Tamiya Sherman it shall be. Now, can somebody recommend a specific varient along with some nice brass fiddly bits to put on it? When it comes to a model in a box, I am simply incapable of leaving well enough alone. I must have multi-media or I’m left feeling unfulfilled.
Also, are any of those very few 1/35 WWI armor kits worthy of my time? I’m fascinated by those old tanks after reading a book about what those crews (some as large as 18 men) went through, wearing the chain-mail masks and all.
Again, Dark Siders, am most grateful at the kind reception you gave me my first day.
Welcome Sharkskin. I was going to recommend the Tamiya Panther or Tiger I late, but I see you’ve decided on a target…er Sherman. [:D] Robert probably has some good recommendations for AM parts.
Hi Sharkskin,
Welcome to the forum. The folks here are among the friendliest and most knowlegable I’ve ever met. You’re in good hands. WWI tank kits are not nearly as popular or as prevalent as WWII, so good luck in finding any kits. Your “wino tank” sounds like a real collector’s item. With your 38 years of modeling experience I’m sure you’ll do it justice.
I do have a couple of suggestions for you though. OD is a boring color for me too, so I really enjoy German armor and the camoflage schemes they employed. Plus German tanks also had zimmerit applied for a few years during the war, which is another plus.
Armor modeling is much more forgiving than aircraft modeling. Armor is supposed to be messy, dirty and torn up, so if you make a “mistake” you can usually cover it up and turn it into something good. I recommend trying your hand on a couple of easy kits, just so you can perfect your techniques, and then show off your skills on that rare Panzer MK IV. As for a Sherman variant, I’d recommend either the Sherman Firefly with the 17 pounder gun, or the Sherman M4E3E8 “Easy Eight”. Both of these kits will test your skills in the areas of research, creativity, scratch building, and extras you can add. If you’re looking for extra goodies, you can always add additional armor plates, periscope guards, wire hatch handles, and a real antenna.
German armor offers multiple variants for every model of tank, and within those variants, you can vary the paint schemes and whether or not you can apply zimmerit.
Don’t forget aftermarket metal barrels and Fruilmodel white metal tracks!
Good luck!
Okieboy
careful sharkskin when they smell the exhaust of a wingy thingy guy they go nuts trying to convince that individual the darkside is the place to be. lol. honestly though they are some of the most kindhearted people i have met. and very generous in advice. good luck with the armor, my first attempt at the darkside is a still unfinished 1/24 hasegawa jeep. however i have a king tiger and m4 (sherman) on the way.
joe
I would build the Italeri PzKpfw IV. It was one of their best kits and superior to Tamiya’s PzKpfw IV until they completely retooled them in the 90s. I’ve got the Italeri PzKpfw IV Ausf. F1/F2/G and it is a really nice kit.
Italeri did their best work in the late 70s with the PzKpfw IV, Leopard 1A4, M47 Patton, Willys Jeep, Kubelwagen and Schwimmwagen.
[#welcome] to the darkside sharkskin. Glad you enjoyed your first armor.
2 Shermies I can recommend:
1, Tamiya M4A3 105mm (assault support). Just finished this one and it look nice.
2, Tamiya M4A3E2 “Jumbo”. It has some inaccuracies but builds into a reasonable reresentation of a Jumbo and the errors can be fixed (Armour Research Et Al).
As far as PE, I have used Aber abd Eduard. The Aber generally has more parts But the Eduard is easier to work with IMHO. Both will give excellent results and if you pick and choose what you use from the Aber frets you can simplify things if you want (Aber’s 3 piece tool clamps are a bit overboard as far as I am concerned).
Sharkskin,
I would head back to “Wino-Models” and see if they have a Tamiya M4 that you can convert to either Firefly Ic or get an M4A4 aftermarket hull to make a firefly Vc like Oakie boy had recomended.
The Firefly has a boat load of aftermarket parts and makes a nice little research project as well.
This what one guy did
http://freespace.virgin.net/shermanic.firefly/home5.htm
Good luck
If your put off by the plain, dull finish of OD green, you might want to look into some of the USMC variants of the Sherman or the british variants. They painted them with a camo paint scheme that would certainly break up the overall OD. There are some pretty nice paintjobs on some of the Korean era shermans too. Tiger faces on the turret etc.
Some of the sherman afficionados could probobly steer you in the right direction for the specific variants.
Wino models…[:p] Can you get Sterno-geschutz there?