.jpg)
For this project I originaly envisaged a fairly new, lightly weathered vehicle. Having been hastily despatched to a new bridgehead, I planned to have it sat on a heavy duty SSys rail car awaiting disembarkment. No camo had yet to be applied yet there had been light damage to both track guards and the tools stowage box. To get this project finished I now aim to build this as a stand alone vehicle with maybe a few figures.
Quick construction builds or OOB (out of the box) builds are an immensely pleasurable activity in this hobby. Whether you are an experienced modeller or just starting out, swiftly creating a miniature replica by way of a simple construction process without any desire to embellish or create any unnecessary distractions, is one I regularly return to. A pure trip down memory lane.
The remaining construction went largely without hitch, but as you will see from the reviews you do need to conduct a little research beforehand if you want to model a particular vehicle. This is because the build instructions and the painting profiles for each variant is not 100% accurate. Zimmerit is not mentioned at all which is a little weird since two of the depicted versions require it! The kit tracks do look great once built up, but boy is it a mammoth task getting them cleaned up! I started one side then remembered I had a set of metal tracks already built up. Dodged a bullet there!
History
The Jagdpanther was preceded by two attempts at mounting an 8.8 cm gun as a self-propelled anti-tank weapon; Ferdinand - also known as Panzerjäger Tiger (P) - These used the ninety-one leftover Porsche-built VK 45.01 (P) chassis from the Tiger tank competition it lost to Henschel in 1942, and the Nashorn on the Geschützwagen III/IV (which used a combination of the Panzer III and Panzer IV components) chassis. Ferdinand proved to be too heavy, and Nashorn lightly armoured and under-powered.
Continuing on from the build in Chapter 1 way back in 2020, it has since been primed with Tamiya’s rattle can red oxide fine surfacer. It's a perfect foundation for German armour, especially if you fancy employing the hairspray technique.
Skipping ahead of fitting the few engine components, I mulled over how best to approach adding the hull zimmerit. The kit separately moulded side armour plates first require fixing to the hull tub sides. Spacing is dictated by some very chunky holes and they fit precisely, butting up perfectly to the rear plate.
Test fitting the ATAK zimmerit sheets against these side plates found that they also attach to the side profile of the armoured front plate. This front plate is not added for a few more steps in the instructions and is first to be attached to the top plate moulding. I didn't really want to add too many smaller parts before having to handle the model, so, ideally I needed to first add the armoured plate to the hull tub. Checking that fixing it to the hull tub instead would not disturb the build sequencing, or impede any other parts placement, I found it is possible. But only if the lower glacis plate is fixed in place at the same time. Two glacis plate options are offered. One with moulded on front track guards and one without, so you can add the PE track guards with the option of folding them back or adding damage etc.
As I was going to represent a vehicle with zimmerit applied to the front armoured plate, glacis, and bow plate, I could now attach all these parts and the zimmerit sheets at the same time. The hull side zimmerit sheets have a myriad of small square witness holes to open up to fit around moulded on track guard mounting studs and cable fixings. Once these are opened up with a sharp blade the zimmerit fits really well. Likewise, both front and rear sheets also mated up nicely. There is the inevitable small amount of tidy up to do where the sheets meet, but overall I'm happy with the way it's looking.
The first few steps build up the running gear. The lower hull tub is a one-piece affair to which you first add the front tow hook extensions, torsion bars, wheels, and rear plate. To take advantage of the adjustable torsion bar engineering you simply guide them through the hull and fix them into the curved grooved slots into small fixings on the opposite side. This system allows the torsion bar axle ends to then compress and rebound as they would do on the real vehicle.
My Panzerwerk Design tracks have turned up and I could not wait to check them out. They arrived securely and safely packaged. Inside the branded cardboard box there contained a small instruction sheet, two bags of links and two bags of half-pins (inner and outer) These bags were additionally packaged inside small individual plastic boxes. Both the links and inner and outer link pins were nicely rendered, and all of the pins were of uniform length and arrow straight. There are 220 links and pins which is more than enough for both Pz.III and Pz.IV running gear.
They assembled without an issue or breakage. Not a single pin broke and they all engaged into each link with a satisfying and reassuring ‘click’. I must admit the carpet monster consumed around three or four half-pins but that was totally self-inflicted.
They articulate well over the wheels and look absolutely stunning.
As we have seen already, there are a few features that were unique to both Alkett and MIAG that built the final batch of Ausf G's, but unlike Miniart, RFM do not specify which one they are representing. Most features you are instructed to add, do point to an Alkett built vehicle; however, a few others have been confused. If you know what features are particular to each manufacturer then it makes it easier to differentiate, and the inclusion in the kit of almost all the features of both, is a big plus.
If depicting an Alkett build, it is worth noting that RFM only include the original round type MIAG installed tow cable brackets. Alkett brackets were a unique square shape and as the kit part is moulded to the tow hooks, they ideally will need to be replaced along with aftermarket copper braided tow cables. Both Modelkasten and Panzerwerk-Design offer these brackets. Observing the details on the Alkett track guards; the tubular supports are not quite as faithfully represented as they could be. The shape is not 100% accurate, but inclusion of photoetch strengthening ribs improve the overall appearance. The rear convoy light RFM provide is not one that either manufacturer fitted. It should be of the tube type design. These can be found as spares in many Panzer kits. I believe RFM’s own Panther kit has them.
I’m currently building up the engine deck which comes as a separate moulding but I’m not going to attach all the parts permanently until I can confirm how the Legends Production stowage I have just ordered is contoured to fit.
Engine deck, armoured engine hatches, and gun box roof all test fitted.
One construction fix which was pointed out to me by a fellow modeller, involves the two strengthening ribs (parts D13 & D14), which you are instructed to add to the undersides of the gun box in step 13. What they do in essence, is create a channel which allows the gun box to align squarely onto both of the thin lower hull side plates. The problem is that they only need to be fixed a fraction off and the channel can become too narrow. To remedy this I can advise attaching these parts directly to the lower hull instead. There are alignment slots in the lower hull side plates too, so it’s a really simple fix and will avoid any potential fit issues.
Having recently finished building RFM’s Panzer IV Ausf J and currently still having lots of fun with their Panzer IV Ausf J interior kit, I really fancied tackling another one of their 1/35 armour kits. This year I’ve not started another soft skin, which is what I mainly build, as these kits have just been such a pleasurable experience. The engineering is so good, and the plastic such a similar colour match, that I keep thinking I’m building a Tamya kit😉
With the 80th D-Day anniversary just around the corner and just the one decade on since I purchased this, I have finaly got round to popping the lid!
What can I say about this kit? Well after 19 years since its
release it still looks to be the gold standard for Tiger I kits. Tiger
guru David Byrden had a hand with technical advice with this one and his
website https://tiger1.info/
is invaluable to anybody who likes to model these big cats. He even has
a page dedicated to pointing out both errors and fixes for pretty much
every Tiger 1 released to date,
Scrolling down on his webpage to this particular Dragon kit 6253 there are still a few small issues to address. No real cause for concern, just a few
little anamolies that David points out and advises how to solve. Looking at all the big box Takom builds on his site, I notice even these current releases still have there issues. Some of which were not present on
this kit 19 years ago 
The one big bonus they have over this Dragon kit, and one that the current crop
of Tiger I late kits over the last decade have adopted, is the inclusion
of moulded on zimmerit. Although some folks still prefer to make there
own or use resin sets, I think the majority of modellers welcome this.
Construction of the Drathgelflechtschurzen (mesh space armour).
In addition to having the option to fit all the spaced armour, you can build it without any of the fittings added by simply adding the kit provided blanking plates which fit to the upper hull. To replicate this option accurately you would still really need to drill lots of very small holes in the track guard side profiles, where the lower brackets would have attached. That will involve a very fine drill and a very steady hand!
The tubular top rails provided in this kit only come with cut-outs to allow fitment of the spaced armour panels, so if fitting them you have to attach all the panels. Unlike the most excellent Dragon Ausf J kit #6575 there are no additional tubular rails offered without any cut-outs. This addition allows you to still display the rail without any panels fitted. If you wanted to display the odd panel missing on this kit you would have to fill any appropriate cut-outs. I notice RFM in one of their CAD images simple show the brackets attached to the rail where a central spaced armour panel is missing, which is a little strange. In reality the bracket was welded or bolted to the rear of the spaced armour panel which then clipped and bolted over the rail.
The upper brackets connect the tubular rail to the rear of the panels. The lower brackets connect the rear of the panel to the track guards. These lower brackets are in two parts to allow for two fitment options. This was to enable the use of wider Winterketten/Ostketten tracks. The upper rail brackets are in one part and have two fixed positions, whereas the track guard brackets had to be adjusted to sit further out to accept the wider track type. The outer portion of this lower bracket needed to be positioned horizontally to clear the wider track type. In step 17 these are only shown fitted in the vertical position to accept the regular tracks included in the kit. The real bracket was hinged but you need to decide which option to you want beforehand (unless you fancy drilling and pinning all eight brackets!)
Track guard brackets postioned for wider tracks
With the upper hull fitment conundrum remedied it was time to move onto the turret.
The gun breach and cradle parts are exactly the same as on their interior kit. Although not called out, a few other interior items from this kit can be found on various sprue trees. There appears to be a few different boxings of this kit which will have slightly altered sprue layouts. Unfortunately, although the rotating turret floor moulding is present both are missing the crucial bracket parts that would enable you to add a full basket to the turret surround. However, even with what is available, there is still plenty of detail to eyeball, shoud you model any turret hatches open.
Putting asside the completed lower hull and running gear the next steps involve populating both track guards with all the pioneer tools and fittings. You are also instructed to assemble and fit the two part engine cooling louvres. These attach to the track guards before the Aufbau assemby is constructed and added. Again, everything fits extremely well. Unfortunately the C hooks were a bit of a disappointment. They both had two prominent and visible sink holes on one face and will require filler. I simply replaced one from the spares bin. I also sourced a 3D printed empty fire extinguisher holder.
After
inspecting all the contents and making a
note of what might be available
I started with step one as per the instructions. As this was RFMs first
Pz.IV kit, designed along with their interior kit released later that
year, the lower hull is built up in sections to allow for additional interior detail. Any opening hatches come as separate
items which is to be applauded. All
the flatpack lower hull parts erect positively and cleanly and although
there is no internal
bracing to fit at this stage it all lines up straight and true. It is
worth noting that due to the tight friction design of the sidewall to
floor plate connection, some pressure does need to be exerted whilst the
glue bonds, to ensure that both pieces sit completely flush along their
whole length.
A little bit of Ausf J history
The Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausführung J (Sd.Kfz. 161/2) is the ninth and the last variant of the Panzerkampfwagen IV medium tank family. This variant was distinguished by numerous simplifications made to prior variants to accelerate production and conserve valuable materials. This last variant included replacing the single-speed turret traverse electric power drive with a two-gear manual traverse, in favour of extra space used for fuel storage. This was a last-ditch effort to increase Panzer IV production rate and compensate for tank losses.
