Trumpeter

1/35 German Pz.Sfl.IVa "Dicker Max"

Kit Number: 00348

Reviewed by  Tim Darrah, IPMS# 8821

MSRP: $42.95 (Great Models - $25 on sale) www.trumpeter-china.com Kit Specs: Length: 220.3 mm / 8.67 inches Width: 82.5 mm / 3.24 inches Height: 76.6 mm / 3.01 inches Total plastic pieces: 631 Total Sprues: 18 Extras: small etched brass sheet copper towing cable both vinyl single piece and plastic individual link tracks No figures Vehicle History: The following info was taken from Ampersand Publishing's "Allied-Axis #17". This book is essential with 6 very good clear black and white photos of the single surviving vehicle. In 1938, Germany saw the need for a "bunker buster" to be able to cut through the Maginot Line for the upcoming invasion. By the time this vehicle was in prototype stage, German troops were already swimming in the English Channel, so a tank destroyer version was envisioned. The manufacturer Krupp took a standard Pz. IV and heavily modified the chassis by changing the engine from a 265 bhp HL-120 V-12 to a 180 bhp HL-66 Pla straight 6, resulting in a severely underpowered machine. The gun that Krupp used was the 10.5cm K18 L/52 cannon using two-part ammunition, with two different types of projectiles - anti-tank or field artillery Only two vehicles were built and put into service with the 521st Tank Destroyer Battalion on the Eastern Front in January 1941. Approximately 100 vehicles were to have been built starting in the spring of '42, but that wasn't to be. In July '41, both vehicles were in transient to the front when one vehicle was totally destroyed by an ammunition fire caused by the engine heat to ignite the ammunition powder. The surviving vehicle went on into combat and was sent back to Krupp for refit in late-'41, it returned to the front in mid-42 only to be lost by the end of that year. The book does not state where the surviving vehicle is located, but it has photos of it. Construction: Opening the large box resulted in a great plastic overload, rubbing my grubby hands over the kit; I couldn't wait to start. Remember that all good things happen to people that wait, well I didn't and am paying for it. WARNING! Pay attention to what part goes where. The instructions call out part numbers that are not correct, such as in step 16, it tells you to install part A-13, the rear fender springs. Well those are actually part A-3!! This goes on throughout the instructions. I started building the model at our August build night and promptly lost a couple of pieces in the Library's carpet monster. I started by applying the etched brass rings to the idler wheels. The instructions are a bit hazy on the placement of the rings, using the photos in the A-A book; they go on the inside of the wheel. One of the idler wheels had a broken spoke, so I've had to fix that. In step 2; you have to add 15 rivets each to parts B-4 & B-6, the drive housings. You have nice dimples on the face, but on the side, I didn't see any kind of placement marks/guide at all. As these rivets are very prominent, you've got to add them, I used Tamiya Thin Clement and it worked very well on these small and difficult parts. Thankfully, Trumpeter gave us some extra rivets as I lost a few. In step 5; you are instructed to add the rear tow hooks parts B-12 & B-13 wait until after the top hull is added. I didn't and you can see the result in photo # 3. The fenders touched the hooks in such a way that the hooks couldn't be used. In steps 9 through 12, you get to build the excellent drivers compartment (see photo on right). I had originally hoped to detail this area and leave it open, but after I had started painting the area Elfenbien (interior buff), I test fit the top hull to the lower. Well, the opening on the top hull for the drivers' seat was way off. The seat is a good ½-inch forward and ¼-inch inboard of the opening. This mismatch was very noticeable with the open panels on the front glacis plate, so I stopped the work on the interior (see photo on left). I wished that I had checked that before I started gluing and painting, I could've used these parts on other projects. Step 15, attaching the upper hull to the lower will take you a couple of days if you don't use thin super glue. They didn't fit too well, and I had to use heavy cement to get them together. Plus, the fenders bowed up, so I had to tape them into position and then they were slanted down after the glue set!! See photos 008 through 011.

Some nice options are being able to have the rear doors opened or closed and the gunners' seats up or down. Be careful, on the rear panel, part E-17, you have a lot of punch out marks that will have to be filled before you can construct that section. And that is not the only punch out marks that you'll have to deal with, they are in some very strange places. Somewhere along the line, part F-8 was missing, and as it's on top of the gun, I've had to scratch build that part, no biggie. Before you add the etched screens PE-7 & PE-8, paint the underneath area flat black. I suggest that you paint the interior (fighting compartment) of the vehicle between steps 20 and 21. If you don't, you might not get paint in all of the nooks and crannies. You also might want to try and temp install the gun platform, part E-1, on to the hull in step 17 then dry fit the "turret". See I didn't and the air intakes, parts F-34 & 35, were at a wrong angle, plus they didn't reach the top of the "turret". So I suggest, dry fit these pieces then glue the air intake trunks into the turret at that time. Also pop over to step 23, 24 & 25, add all of the interior parts; if you don't, it'll be difficult to install them later. I did not install the ammo bins in step 24 or the scissors-binoculars in step 26 until after painting. In step 20, they have you attach the grab handles, part F-45 & F-49. The joint between the "tube" and the "handles" is very small. I lost one handle during construction and the other one sometime later. What happened to it, I don't know. Take a look at photo 007, it's the grey bit above the gun. I suggest that you attach F-45, the tube, at this step, but wait until very late in finishing up the model before you add F-49, the handles. Photos 012 through 015 show the kit all built up and ready to paint. In these photos, I still haven't attached the ammo bins and the scissors-binoculars. Before I'll paint it, I'm going to use some blue painters low tack tape and mask off the already completed interior so I won't dork it up. Ok, you know me; I'll dork something up at this stage.

I painted the kit Panzer Gray using the Testors spray can. To show some fading I added a bit of Testors Piping Pink to the Panzer Gray in the bottle and sprayed the mixture with my airbrush. I hit the areas in the middle of the panels leaving the edges original Panzer Gray. I then used a light gray to do some dry brushing after I applied the decals. If you need to do some touch-up, you can use FS 36118 Gunship Grey, it's pretty close to the faded shade. The kit gives you individual track links or vinyl tracks. I used the vinyl ones, as they looked killer with open track horns!! Even DML hasn't done this yet. I suggest very strongly that in step 3 you don't glue on parts E-21 & E-22 and the Idler Wheels in step 6 yet. See I did and when I added the tracks, they are too loose. If I had not glued the idler wheels on then I could've adjusted the tension. So now I have tracks the flop around. The decals went on with no problem, since the Balkenkreuz goes over the weld seams on the sides, I used Solv-A-Set on it and they sucked down fine. I've had to some touch ups here and there, but that's normal for my models. Once the decals were dry, I hit it with two coats on Dull Coat then a few days later I hit the running gear with a semi-heavy coat of Dark Earth to represent dust then I misted on the Dark Earth to the rest of the model to tone things down a bit. I'd like to thank David Bridges for giving me this kit to build for the Newsletter.

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