I'm in the Mood for a Panzer IV ...

Modeling Subjects Armor
1

… and my eyes are begging me to stay away from small scales like 1/72nd & 1/76th.

Haven’t made anything in 1/35th for 30 years so …

What’s good nowadays, company-wise?

Anything with a P-IV chassis is good to go – I was always fond of that “look”.

2

Dragon.

3

Seconded. The Tamiya Panzer IV series is really quite awful, and nearly became the subject of an “I Hate Tamiya” group build[:(!] The Dragon kits are a good choice, I would recommend the IV/J kit-

http://greatmodels.com/~smartcart/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=DML6080

or the new Dragon up-armored “Vorpanzer”

http://greatmodels.com/~smartcart/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=DML6301

4

If you’d be interested in going to 1/48 scale instead, Tamiya has a Panzer IV Aust J.

5

If small parts are something you wish to avoid, the nice DML and Tristar Panzer IVs may not be for you. They’re gems, for sure but very complex and fiddly models to finish.

I’m not sure which Tamiya Pz IVs Hermesminiatures is referring to but both the Tamiya Pz IV ausf J (kit 35181) and the Tamiya Pz IV ausf H (kit 35209) are great to build and pretty doggone accurate IMHO. Standard Tamiya – well engineered, easy to build up into a nice model, pretty accurate. Vinyl tracks.

Maybe Hermes is referring to the old Pz IVD or Pz IV H?

6

Second the Tamiya H or J. I have the J and it lacks some of the details of the newer Dragon super-kits. It also doesn’t come with Thoma-shields either. However, you don’t need to zim it up either, for many of them were built after zim ceased. The tracks can be substituted, the Dragon indies might work, but someone might have a more definate answer than I. Sadly, they are spendier, unless picked up off of ebay.

7

Generally they’re nice but they both lack underside detail and the fit of the rear armor plate is not great, involving an interesting putty job to cover gaps around the idler arms. The old 35096 IV ausf D is a nightmare. If you don’t care about a few gaps and vinyl tracks, then maybe you’d like the Tamiya kits as a beginner.

8

Never knew the Germans did this; all I ever heard about was Zimm.