Cyber-Hobby & Griffon

1/35 Panzer IV/J Mid Production with Griffon Update Set

Kit Number: Cyber-Hobby 6549, Griffon BPL35010

Reviewed by  James Moody, IPMS# 40010

MSRP: $65.00 kit, $62.00 detail set Review items supplied by Dragon Models USA: www.dragonmodelsusa.com The Panzerkampfwagen IV (Pz.Kpfw. IV), commonly known as the Panzer IV, was a medium tank developed in Germany in the late 1930's and used extensively during World War II. It saw service in all combat theaters, and has the distinction of being the only German tank to remain in continuous production throughout the war, with over 8,500 produced between 1936 and 1945. The Panzer IV was the most widely exported tank in German service, with around 300 sold to other countries such as Spain, Bulgaria and Finland. After the war, the French and Spanish sold dozens of Panzer IVs to Syria, where they fought in the 1967 Six Day War. A very solid reputation for a solid well built and well designed tank. Much of the same can be said for the very accurately depicted Cyber Hobby Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf J Initial/Early Production "2 in1" Smart Kit in the "well designed" category anyway. Dragon did their homework on this one, and it shows in the completed model. I have to admit that I am a huge fan of Cyber Hobby/Dragon Models and the kits they produce! I have built my share of these excellent kits and have run into very few issues with their offerings and this kit was no exception. Now, on this particular build I decided to use the Griffon Models Photo Etch "Premium Edition" detail set for the Dragon/CyberHobby Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf H Late Production and Ausf.J Initial/Early production kits. Griffon Model is a fairly new company based in Nanking China, a city located at the base of the Yangtze River, and quite frankly this is my first time using their products. I can honestly say that after using this detail set on my Cyber Hobby Panzer IV, I am very much looking forward to using more of their products in the future! The set I received from Griffon was their "Premium Edition" set for the Panzer IV which pretty much gives you everything you need to trick out a Panzer IV and then some. I do want to mention here that you definitely need some experience with photo etch, along with good reference material, to really make the most out of this set. I would not say that this detail set is any more difficult to use but just a lot more involved, and as such it provides a lot more details you can add to your model than your average set. Okay, let's get started. The Cyber Hobby Panzer IV kit contains a total of 1,041 parts (and no, you will not use all of them) to build either the Initial or Early Production model (as described on the box). This includes photo etch side skirts as well as photo etching to replace various small items on the kit such as the storage mesh on the turret sides, the air intake covers, engine deck ventilation grille, and detail parts for the idler wheels. There are also a metal tow cable and clear parts for the various view ports on the cupola (which can be built in the open or closed position by the way) as well as the forward machine gun. You also have the option of four different types of muzzle brakes so I would recommend having some good reference material handy to aid you in building this model to ensure you get the right variant or specific tank that you are trying to represent. Another plus for this kit is the ability to mount the side skirt and turret armor separately, giving you the option of posing this model in several different ways. The parts are crisp, clean and very highly detailed. I was most impressed with the hull/chassis detailing and how intricate it was. The kit also comes with decal options for three different tank units including the 3rd Panzer Division "Totenkopf" on the Eastern Front 1944, an unidentified unit serving the Western Front 1945 and the 6th Panzer Regiment of the 2nd Panzer Division "Das Reich" serving in France during 1944. Also included are the Dragon patented "Magic Track" individual track links, which I think are the next best thing to metal individual track links. The only problem I have with the "Magic Track" links are all of the ejector pin marks that you have to clean up.

Now, as I stated earlier, this kit gives you the option to build two different versions of this tank, so you will need to pay particular attention to the build sequence as to not get confused between the two versions. I decided I wanted to build the Initial version, so I used a yellow highlighter and highlighted all of the illustrations pertaining to any steps specifically for the Initial version prior to starting assembly. The instructions do get a little busy and there is a lot of information printed in the limited space of the instruction sheet, but for the most part the instructions are clear and to the point. And, as most of you well know, in the heat of slinging glue it might be possible to accidentally look at the wrong construction call out box and put the wrong part in the wrong place thus creating what I like to call a "hybrid tank". (I definitely do not need any help with that!). So, using the highlighter was instrumental in making the build sequence go smoothly. (Still, I did try to put the wrong parts in the wrong places a couple of times anyway, I guess I have a thing for hybrid tanks). I would recommend reading over the directions a few times before putting glue to plastic to be sure you are familiar with the steps and how you want to proceed with the build. Since I had decided to use the Griffon Models detail set with this build I also pulled out the directions for the detail set and compared those with the Panzer IV directions, and planned my build accordingly. Trust me, when using an update set of this caliber and with this much detail you will want to plan your build sequence and know ahead of time when to add what details, where and why. One item in the build sequence for the Panzer IV did confuse me. In Step One there is a call out to build a set of hoist cleats (which I did not recognize at the time), parts number A53, A50 and A51, A50. (That's right; you actually build the hoist cleats). However, these are not installed until you reach Step 17. Since I have never had to "build" hoist cleats ,I initially thought this was something pertaining to the chassis or suspension, although I had never seen anything like this on the suspension of the Panzer IV, hence the confusion. I set these assemblies aside and when I got to the turret (step 17); there were the callouts for the hoist cleats!! The only other problem I ran into was a small gap between part number B4 and chassis X. I am pretty meticulous about getting my parts sanded and cleaned up prior to assembly, so I do not know why this left such a gap. Nothing that a little putty did not fix, but surprising, considering how this kit went together beautifully with no other filler. A possible builder error? Sounds like it to me but I am pleading the 5th. Also, please decide early on if you want to put the side skirts on or not. You will have to open up some holes on part numbers E28 and E29 in step 9 (which I almost missed) to be able to install the side skirts later in the assembly. Otherwise, this build was very enjoyable and went very smoothly even with the addition of the Griffon Models detail set. I cannot say enough about these Cyber Hobby kits…they are perfect if you want to just sit down and build an accurately depicted model without a lot of the fuss and muss. But, as I pointed out earlier, I opted to add the Griffon Models Premium Edition detail set to this build and was quite surprised and pleased with the ease and user friendly qualities of this detail set and how well it fit on the model itself. This is the "Premium Edition" detail set number BPL35010, and it includes the following individual detail sets from their line of products: L35031, WW II German Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.H Late Production & Ausf.J Initial/Early Production which contain four frets of photo etch, one aluminum gun barrel, copper tubing, copper wire, ABS rod and a set of short and long springs. L35A059, Universal Track Fenders for WW II German Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.H/Ausf.J (All Production Series) which contain two frets of photo etch, copper wire, ABS rod and a set of long and short springs. L35A060, Late Type Turret Side Armor Skirts for WWII German Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.H/Ausf.J which contain two frets of photo etch and copper wire. The first set contains detailing parts such as muffler mounting hardware, mounting hardware for the tools, some of the tools themselves, tool boxes and related mounting hardware, spare road wheel holder, hatch cover handles, spare track link mounts, machine gun mounting brackets and photo etch ammunition belt, all of the mounting brackets for the side skirt armor and many more miscellaneous details. The second set is as stated, but also comes with the intake covers. One of the things I liked about the fender set is that the front and rear fender wheel guards are articulated and can be positioned according to your tastes. The third set is the turret side/rear armor, and comes with all of the mounting brackets as well as the wire mesh stowage panels that are mounted on either side of the turret stowage bin. Using this entire detail set is very straightforward; just follow the directions and you should have no problems. I did find that part numbers A31 and A32 on the fender instructions were transposed, as well as part numbers A17 and A16 on the turret armor . Now, if you decide this detail set is for you then I HIGHLY recommend that you use all of it! I had actually started the model before my detail set arrived, thinking I would get a jump on the build process. I thought I could just omit a couple of the items on the rear bulkhead (specifically the shaded areas on part numbers E39, B1, E40 and C7 for the initial version, which you are to replace with the photo etch version). Since I had already put those parts in place I decided then it was going to be to difficult to change those particular parts at that point in the build to accommodate the photo etch replacements since I had all of this area assembled. Boy did that come back and bite me later!!! When it came time to install the fenders and fender guards, I had to do some major work to get those parts mentioned above to fit in place the correct way. The thicker plastic parts that I had not replaced earlier now had to be sanded down now (you try sanding down plastic parts while avoiding all of the tiny, little itty bitty other parts that were already glued in place) and reconfigured in order to match up with the fenders. I used super glue to assemble all of the photo etch, but I think next time I will do the fender part of the build using solder. I had a couple of instances where the super glue popped loose (insert bad word here) when I applied pressure to different parts of the fender. I find that solder is more permanent but you have to be a lot more careful if your photo etch parts are already attached to the model as heat and plastic are not the best of friends! Also, you will want to anneal the turret rear armor to get the metal to conform and get the curvature you need by first heating the part and then dipping it in cool water, changing the molecular structure of the metal so bending it will be easier. (Boy, I wish my friends could here me now talking all sciency and stuff!). An Etchmate, Hold N' Fold or similar photo etch bending tool will be helpful when using this detail set (or any detail set for that matter) but is not necessary. I did most of the folding and bending with a couple of flat nosed pliers, and it worked out very well. I found the Griffon Models detail set to be accurate, complete, and again, very user friendly, especially when it came to cutting the parts off the fret. I also liked the fact that each fret was taped to a piece of black cardboard, so you could see the parts better. The cardboard is also stout enough that you can cut the parts off the fret while it is attached or sitting on this cardboard piece without damaging it. Other than the transposed numbers mentioned above, I found no problems with this set and I can HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who wants to dress that Panzer IV up "purtty" and make an outstanding model kit even better! I have already purchased two more of these sets for future builds. The only really tedious part of this build I came across (if you can believe it) was cleaning up the ejector pin marks on the track links. All that detailing stuff and I found the track links tedious (most people think I am a little odd anyway). Goes to show you the quality of the Model kit and the detail set and how user friendly these items are. Now, the only other thing I would like to see Dragon do with these Panzer IV kits is add more interior options as they did in their later Sturmgeschütz III/IV offerings with the addition of the fighting compartment in those kits. All you get with this Panzer IV is a simplified muzzle breach and mantlet combination. The mantlet guard can be removed to show the gun unloaded, but without any turret interior to speak of, this would not be very practical to do. The cupola interior is very well detailed, but again, without an interior this is somewhat of a moot point unless you throw in a really nice aftermarket tank commander figure to fill in the space. I guess you could get an interior set to add to the mix but then you would be flirting with AMS (Advanced Modelers Syndrome) and going over the edge headed towards a nervous breakdown. The only other thing I can say regarding this particular kit is that it does lack any callouts for Zimmerit to be added to the model despite the fact that the particular variants in the kit and the units depicted with the decals should have the Zimmerit paste applied to make this a spot on build. I did not want to do that to this model so I did a little extra research and found a unit that would have used this tank but did not apply the Zimmerit paste to their mounts, painted an ambush scheme and……voila! Done.

While I am glad that I added the Griffon Models Photo Etch Bonus set for the Panzer IV to this model, it's a luxury, not a necessity. This model builds up to a faithful and accurate rendition (less the Zimmerit) of this particular variant whether you build the Initial or Early version. The detail set does, however, make an outstanding model even better!!

Well, that about wraps up my first review for the IPMS Reviewers' Corps. I hope you found my information useful and entertaining and I want to thank Dragon and Griffon Models for supplying their EXCELLENT products for my review and I am looking forward to sampling more of these two companies' exquisite products in the future! Well done guys!!