Desert Short-Gun

Historical Background

Conceived by Generaloberst Heinz Guderian, the Panzer IV was intended as a support tank for use against enemy anti-tank guns and fortifications. It was not intended to fight enemy tanks (which was the job of the Panzer III). In 1934, the German army issued out what is now called a request for proposals to a number of defence contractors. The new vehicle would have a short 75mm gun as main armament and weighed 24 tonnes. As Germany was still (in theory at least) bound by the Versailles Treaty, the RFP was given the cover name Begleitwagen (accompanying vehicle). Krupp's proposal was selected to be developed further. Production began in 1936.

The first production version, Ausf. A was powered by a Maybach HL 108TR engine producing 183.87 kW of power. Maximum road speed was 31 km/h. it was armed with a KwK 37 L/24 7.5 cm low-velocity tank gun and two 7.92 mm MG-34 machine gun (1 co-axial with the main gun and another in the front plate of the hull). Armour was 14.5 mm on the front plate of the chassis and 20 mm on the turret - only good for stopping shell fragments, small arms fire and light anti-tank rounds. Subsequent variants have progressively thicker armour and correspondingly higher weights with Ausf. F started production in April 1941. This variant is protected by 50mm thick armour on turret and hull and 30mm on sides. Weight has increased to 22.3 tonnes (from 15 tonnes in Ausf. A) necessitating the usage of a wider track (400mm from 380mm) to reduce ground pressure. 464 units of Ausf F were built. In May 1941, as a result of combat experience, it was decided to upgun the Panzer IV with KwK 40 L/43 7.5cm gun. Ausf. F tanks were selected to be the first recipient of this new gun. This resulted in the short-gunned Ausf F to be redesignated Ausf F1 and the long-gunned variants Ausf. F2.  The Panzer IV was given ordnance inventory designation Sd.Kfz. 161.

The Panzer IV was the only German panzer that remained in production and combat throughout World War 2. Measured over the entire course of the war, it formed 30% of the Wehrmacht's total panzer strength. At the start of the war however, it and the Panzer III only formed 10% of the total strength. Despite increased production rates, the majority of German tank strength on 10 May 1940 were still light tanks. Even the 75mm L/24-armed Panzer IVs found it difficult to engage tanks such as the British Matilda II and the French Char B1 and Somua S35. The KwK 37 gun could only penetrate 43mm of armour at a range of 700 meters whereas the Somua was protected by 55mm of armour while the Matilda II had 70mm of frontal armour. The Germans only managed to defeat the Allied armour through the usage of tactical radios, better training and superior tactics and also through the usage of the 88mm flak cannon in the anti-tank role.

In the North African campaign, the Panzer IV equipped the 5th Light Division (later the 21st Panzer Division) and the 15th Panzer Division of the Afrika Korps. The short-gunned Panzer IV was still handicapped against British infantry tanks and it was also outperformed by the Panzer III (especially those armed with the KwK 39 L/60 50mm gun) with respect to armour penetration. Consequently they saw limited tank vs. tank engagements and mainly serving in their original purpose as an infantry support tank. The Afrika Korps only received small numbers of the longer-barreled Ausf. F2 variant which was able to penetrate all British and American tanks in the theatre at ranges up to 1,500 meters. The appearance of KV-1 and T-34 tanks during Operation Barbarossa also prompted the upgunning of the Panzer IV. The longer KwK 40 L/43 75mm gun allowed the Panzer IV to destroy the T-34 at ranges up to 1,600 meters.

The Panzer IV, being the workhorse armour of the Wehrmacht,  was also used as the chassis for other armoured fighting vehicles such as the Panzerbefehlswagen IV command tank, Panzerbeobachtungswagen IV artillery obervation vehicle, Bergepanzer IV armoured recovery vehicle, Hummel self-propelled howitzer, Sturmgeschütz IV assault gun, Jagdpanzer IV and Hornisse/Nashorn tank destroyers, Sturmpanzer IV Brummbär infantry support self-propelled gun, and antiaircraft tanks Möbelwagen, Wirbelwind and Ostwind. More than 8,500 Panzer IVs of all marks were built during the war.

The Kit

In 2008, Dragon released a 1/35 kit of the Panzer IV Ausf F1 as part of a new wave of Panzer IVs from them which utilized the 'Smart Kit' concept, starting with the new-tool Panzer IV Ausf F2(G) in 2007. The kit came in massive 18 light grey sprues, one clear sprue, a hull pan, 'Magic Track' track links, a twisted metal wire, a small PE fret and a decal sheet. The plastic parts feature slide mouldings to capture difficult shapes while reducing reliance on PE parts. All the hatches and ports can be opened although no engine or transmission parts are included. There is however a rudimentary interior for the turret and all hatches have clear plastic inserts. Decals provide markings for ten F1s:
1. Pz.Rgt. 31,5 Pz. Div. Russia 1942
2. 3./Pz.Rgt. 35, 4 Pz. Div. Russia 1942
3. 4./Pz.Rgt. 31, 5 Pz. Div. Eastern Front 1942
4. 8./Pz.Rgt. 36, 14 Pz. Div. Eastern Front 1941
5. 3./Pz.Rgt. 21, 20th Pz. Div. Eastern Front 1943
6. Unidentified Unit, Kursk 1943
7. Pz.Gren. Div "Großdeutschland" Voronezh 1942
8. Major Szalimov's Battalion, Leningrad Front 1942
9. 4./Pz.Rgt. 5, 21 Pz.Div. Libya 1942
10. 8./Pz.Rgt.8, 15 Pz.Div. Libya 1942  

Construction

As usual, construction started at the lower hull. The first step is concerned with the assembly of the wheels and I decided to stick to them, just to get the second most tedious job of building a Panzer IV out of the way. Once assembled, they were set aside and I continue with the lower hull. The hull tub was mated with the rear panel and various small parts were assembled onto it, from the tow eye mounting to the final drive cover. As this is a 'Smart Kit' there are no PE parts, but there are plenty of small plastic parts which are small and need some care in handling. The suspension is fitted to the hull and the completed wheels were placed onto the model. They are not glued at this time however. Next came the most tedious part - assembling the tracks. However, by this time I am quite comfortable with Dragon's Magic Tracks and did not take too long a time as before. Once the cement has fully cured, the tracks and the wheels were removed and set aside.

I then continued with the hull, adding the glacis plate first. The upper hull was in the main, made up of six panels, of which detail parts were added to where appropriate and these include the vision blocks for the driver. The bow machine gun deserves a mention here, being made of six parts, ensuring great detail although it would be mostly hidden. The completed wall panels were then cemented to the upper hull plate, taking care of the alignment of the parts. The fenders were cemented first onto the lower hull and this was followed by the completed upper hull shell. Other details were then cemented onto the hull and the fenders but I leave the on-vehicle equipments off to facilitate painting. The headlight was fitted but like the tools, the clear part was also left off temporarily. At the same time I added a strip of plastic on the left of the hull to act as a bracket for jerry cans. Another bracket was made on top of the rear hull.

Work on the turret began with the assembly of the main gun. Dragon provide a fairly complete assembly, allowing the interior to look quite 'busy'. The turret also include the vision blocks as with the driver's position. They were duly assembled and fixed to the interior of the turret. The completed gun assembly was then affixed to the turret. Perhaps I should have dry-fit the turret face on the turret first to check its angle and then glue the gun to it at the desired angle. The angle which I actually fixed the gun is OK and within the range of the real stuff and with hindsight, perhaps the best (more on this later). Like the Panzer III Ausf. J I did before, the Panzer IV kit also include complete vision blocks for the commander's cupola (and cause problem to fit figures inside it). The turret hatch doors are left off as I was thinking of adding figures. Finally the storage box was assembled and cemented to the back of the turret.

Painting and Decaling

As mentioned before, Dragon includes 10 marking options for this kit and I was quite at a loss as to which colour scheme to pick. Anyway, looking at the models I have already completed, I found that I have only one panzer in North African markings, a Tamiya Tiger I. So without further ado, I chose an Afrika Korps Panzer IV. There are two of them however and at a toss of a coin, I chose 'Black 8' of the 15th Panzer Division. Afrika Korps panzers were originally painted Schwarzgrau and were repainted Gelbbraun as base colour. I can't remember the exact mixture but I used a mix of Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow and XF-64 Red Brown. It might not be accurate for purists but it looked good enough. I then add 'scratches' using XF-63 German grey, simulating the original paint exposed by scratched/peeled Gelbbraun. It started as just as a handful but end up with the ones you see in the photos!

Remembering that I wanted to pose the doors open, the interior was painted the ivory colour (Elfenbein) seen inside German tanks. I do not have such colour in my arsenal and decided to simply tint XF-2 Flat White with a bit of XF-60 Dark Yellow. The decals were then applied with no problems. I however replaced the kit's Afrika Korps' palm tree-and-swastika emblem with an old Tamiya spare decals in my stash. The reason is that the kit decals was made up of three parts while the old Tamiya decal is a one-piece affair, so the Tamiya one was easier to apply. Sometimes being politically incorrect does have its advantages!  

Finishing

The wheels and the painted tracks were permanently fixed to the model. Once that was done, the remaining loose parts were cemented.  In the meantime, I managed to buy Tank Models' Afrika Korps Tank Crew figures set. They certainly lived up to their billing (yes, they're expensive and costs almost as much as the model itself) being well-sculpted. The uniform for the commander and the (I believe) gunner was painted Desert Yellow while the loader's was painted light olive green. The pipings and armbands were from Tamiya's excellent WWII German Military Insignia decal set. The figures were duly placed on the open hatches. The loader and gunner figures had some problem fitting inside their hatches, so to help them fit, I amputated their legs at the ankles. Even so, I found that the figure sitting on the left-hand turret hatch sat rather awkwardly with the moulded-on crease on his thigh did not match up with the hatch sill.  I eventually swapped the figures (although now both of them have rather awkward arm poses!). While the figure of the commander includes a pair of headphones, I decided to leave it off.

A trio of jerry cans from Academy's Allied and German Tank Supplies Set was placed on the bracket on the left side of the hull. For the bracket on the rear of the hull, I added jerry cans from AFV Club - 14 of them! Most of the cans were painted XF-63 German Grey while the remainder were painted XF-60 Dark Yellow. At one point I actually thought of substituting a number of them with other accessories but since there are 12 of Heer fuel cans and 12 water cans and the remainder of my German AFV models do not need that many cans (or to be build as SS vehicles), I decided to load up the rear hull entirely with jerry cans. The leftover track links was assembled, formed to shape and hanged between the front towing hooks with the space between the spare tracks and the hull filled with the spare road wheels. There is still quite a number of leftover tracks from this kit plus from my earlier Panzer III Ausf. J build (they are the same 40-cm wide track common to Panzers III and IV) so I was thinking of adding a length of the track to be draped on the turret roof. But with the model already looking overloaded, I decided not to.

Conclusion

What else can I say? Another great kit from Dragon. The parts are well-moulded and have great fit while the 'Smart Kit' concept simplify matters (although not by much) without sacrificing detail. The Magic Track track links also reduces the amount of work when dealing with separate link tracks. Despite being not workable, the kit tracks lend itself in building tanks which have sags in the tracks.