Panzer IV Ausf. F2 1/76

[Dad Paul B]

I am currently building up my German vehicle collection for Airfix Battles (my son is doing the British). Unfortunately Airfix most of the military vehicles are absent from Airfix stocks at the moment so it is a case of picking up what I can.

The Panzer IV is one of the later vehicle toolings (1970) and this was nicely rendered in the usual modern grey styrene rather than the green which is common in earlier issues. It has some nicely rendered details for the tools, though purists like them seperate at this scale the integral mouldings are fine. As usual the running gear is a little fiddly (though I have encountered worse) and the vinyl 'rubber band' tracks don't sit all that well (I didn't try painting them as they take paint very badly).

The only fit issue I encountered was the undercut sections on the rear of the hull which were quite tight (though I fitted them after putting the hull top sections onto the main hull so it might be easier to assembly the complete top hull before fixing it to the base. Otherwise it went together well and has very little flash. The only addition to the 'out of the box' build was a commander in the cupola (an airfix German Paratrooper with his arm in a sling) and the whip aerial made from stretched sprue. The decals were 21st Panzer Division from The Plastic Soldier Company for unit consistency with my other vehicles. Due to limited availability it operates alongside 1/72 Pz IVs by Armourfast. However the scale difference is not that significant for wargames purposes (mainly height which makes the 1/72 version look more 'chunky').

Given that the Pz. IV was the most significant German Tank of WW2 it ought to be front and centre of the range (along with the Sherman, M3 Half Track, Sdkfz 251 Hanomag, Sdkfz 222 and Puma Armoured Cars and Cromwell, Panther and Tiger 1). The new Cromwell is very nice and ought to be joined with similar new tools of the other major vehicles of WW2 to generate cross sales with the Airfix Battles game.

Photos below were taken on the Airfix Battles maps and show the AF 1/72 version side by side to show the scale differences.

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[Kenneth ONeill]

I always had trouble with those undercut sections too, largely because Airfix moulded them correctly!

Any Airfix PzKfw IV I built was moulded in an approximation to Afrika Korps yellow though.

[nmcabecadas]

I have several Airfix PzKfw IV because then was the only option. Still, is a nice kit and a good wargame tanks.The 21st Panzer Div is very close to a vertical D, with a horizontal line in the midle./media/tinymce_upload/3006ae42ea0e92965201656c49345e07.jpgI also have a wounded commander in my last tank, but is different :)

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[Ratch]

 I've built a few over the years, here are just two of them. 15th Panzer Division, Afrika Korps

F.1

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1312/4776356/10047630/390272317.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1312/4776356/10047630/390272316.jpg

F.2

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1312/4776356/10047630/390272325.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1312/4776356/10047630/390272324.jpg

[nmcabecadas]

 I've built a few over the years, here are just two of them. 15th Panzer Division, Afrika Korps

F.1

 

 

F.2

 

 

I don't see the pictures, if are any...

[Ratch]

 I can see them

[nmcabecadas]

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[Alan Hamilton]

These form the second battalion of my wargames German Panzer Regiment.  These models date back to when the original kit was issued and was the most readily available 1/76 model of the PzIV.

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[Dad Paul B]

Nice unit Alan. This shows why these have a place in the range - people buy them in quantity which is why the Tiger II was a poor choice from a wargamers perspective since it is the IVs (or IIIs early on) that were there in numbers. So for 1944 you need Shermans, Pz IVs, Cromwells, Fireflys, Halftracks, Carriers and anti-tank guns before moving on to the fancy stuff.

What rules do you use? Airfix battles works best at up to Platoon level (base unit is the squad/section or individual vehicle) and has a nice card driven command system.

[Alan Hamilton]

David, I use a set of home grown rules that were originally written by my friend John (Slim) Mumford in the 1960s and have had only a few additions since.  We use a rough strength scaling of 1/5 or 1/6 giving a tank battalion depending upon priod of 7 -12 battle tanks.  We have played games at Brigade.Division level on an 8x6 foot table though we usually play smaller forces

Lots of pictures of my armies which include scratch builds, conversions and substitutions  http://www.morvalearth.co.uk/Inch_High_Club/Inch_High_Intro.htm 

If youwant a copy of the rules e-mail me info@morvalearth.co.uk 

[jopres57]

Just had another 'back to the future' experience with this old kit after seeing it back on sale in the Classics range. It seems a bit ropey now but I remember this was state of the art when it first appeared. It was certainly a big step up in quality from the Airfix  sixties tanks.

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The driver is a Preiser figure while the commander is from the Revell Luftwaffe set. I think it's been mentioned before on this forum that the latter figures are particularly good value. 

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After all these years I have only recently noticed that the drum on the back is an exhaust, I always assumed it was some kind of fuel tank. I built the model as per the instructions but can't help thinking that having a jerry-can full of fuel perched on top of a hot exhaust is probably not a good idea. Has anyone ever seen a picture of a real tank with this configuration?

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I've built up a bit of a squad of these over the years. The model on the right was built about ten years ago. The two to the left were both built shortly after the kit was first released. The latter were my first, slightly grim, attempts at weathering and modifications. I hope the kit continues to be released, but perhaps a bit of an update is in order.

[Ratch]

Maybe the Jerry can was filled with water. A WW2 tank commander I knew said they didn't carry fuel externally in case they were hit (and he'd had 3 tanks blown from under him).

[jopres57]

I think your old friend has a good point there Ratch. I remember in the seventies it was quite common to have fuel cans on the outside of British armoured vehicles, usually Kero (Paraffin) for cooking. It's likely that a valuable lesson in safety, learned the hard way, had been forgotten. Not for the first time and no doubt not the last.

[Kenneth ONeill]

5 gallons (that's real gallons, not US 'gallons' too) of fuel isn't much use to a tank!

Even though the Germans didn't know about Benghazi burners lubricating oil, paraffin or water all seem more likely.

[Afrika]

I remember the Airfix 1/76 Panzer 4 fondly . When it very first came out it was probably the only Panzer 4 model available in this scale. At the time I converted quite a few to the Ausf E version to wargame battles in North Africa with a school friend doing the 8th Army.

I have only recently returned to plastic scale modelling again , but have found that I am really enjoying it. My only disappointment is that there are not more 1/76 scale models of WW2 tanks available . I recently purchased a couple of 1/76 scale IBG Panzer 4 Ausf D plastic kits from their WW2 tanks range. I have been adding and correcting details, plus opening up hatches to add some crew figures. The tracks and wheels are moulded as single piece units , but are quite acceptable, and surface details are very good and in scale. These kits really show how moulding techniques have moved on from the 70's .I would certainly recommend them .

It would be great if Airfix would update their 1/76 Panzer 4 to new standards . I am sure it would sell very well , especially if it included crew figures . 1/72 model tanks don't really sit very well with 1/76 scale ones. The size difference in my opinion is very noticeable . 

All the IBG Panzer 4 versions are to 1/76 scale so give them a go , I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how good they are !.

All my references show water jerrycans on tanks , especially in Africa. It would never have been advisable to carry fuel jerrycans on a tank !.

[Shaughan]

I use Airfix's Luftwaffe Personnel to man my panzers following a mention in the forum pages.  At the time they were not been produced and it took me a while to secure a set.  No problem now though.  Good old Vintage Classics!

ps great work on the models

[Peter s]

German water cans were often the same Jerry can you'd carry fuel in but with a big white cross painted on it. Your average German tank crew were anything but dumb. Any jerry can in contact with the exhaust will get very hot. I'd bet the price of a Series 1 kit that they were heating shaving and washing water in the jerry can. The AFVs I used to crew had water boilers so we always had red hot water for hot drinks and boil in the bag rations.

 

PS A Full german jerry can was 45lbs in weight when full. Given the back deck of a tank can be 7 or 8 foot off the ground thats a fair weight to lift up. 5 gallons isn't going to get many tanks that far (about 5 miles.... ) so you might need 20 or even 40 Jerry cans to fill the fuel tank but they can be carried on trucks (or even horse drawn carts) and in the field are possibly the best way refuel. Bowsers are vulnerable and obvious targets & 1 bowser can only fuel one tank at a time. A truck full of Jerry cans can fuel a whole squadron at the same time. 

[Ratch]

A gentleman I knew was a tank commander with 2NY (D-Day to Berlin), He says they didn't carry fuel in cans because of the fire risk. The support trucks supplied their needs.

[Peter s]

A gentleman I knew was a tank commander with 2NY (D-Day to Berlin), He says they didn't carry fuel in cans because of the fire risk. The support trucks supplied their needs.

I'm not surprised.... its like driving around with molotov cocktails strapped to the tank. 

I HAVE seen plenty of pics of German tanks carrying fuel (I've got one somewhere of a Tiger with a 200L drum either side of the turret.... among other things this would stop the turret rotating) but these are clearly on road marches and don't expect trouble. I've seen Afrika Corps Panzers with racks of Jerry Cans on the roof too. I assume water, but can't rule out fuel although if fuel clearly they also don't plan on being in combat that day.