AFV Modeller - Issue 06 - 3 - Panzerbeobachtungswagen IV

Panzerbeobach By Tom Cockle

30

tungswagen IV he first time I became aware

T

of this unique vehicle was when I saw a color profile of it in the book, ‘Pzkpfw.IV Model Fibel’, by the Japanese

publisher Model Art in 1999. No way, I thought. A Panzer IV with a StuG.III commanders cupola! Where did they dream that up? Then someone pointed out there was a photo of one in ‘Battle of the Bulge, Then and Now’ with a cute little teddy bear perched on top of the gun. I don’t know how many times I had looked at that picture before without noticing the cupola, but there it was in black and white. Three more photographs of one lost on the Eastern Front appeared in two Russian publications, ‘German Camouflage and Insignia 1941-1945’ in the Armada-Vertical Series by Exprint Publishing Center and ‘Frontline Illustration Wehrmacht Panzer Units in 1945’ Part I. Information on it was scarce, then, just before Christmas, Osprey released their new book ‘Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf.G, H and J 1942-45’, by Hilary Doyle and Tom Jentz, and most of the pieces of the puzzle seemed to fall in place. The subject of the color profile in the ‘Pzkpfw.IV Model Fibel’ that had first caught my eye, had a large tactical number ‘B1’ painted on the rear quarters of the turret skirts. Where had this come from? Fortunately an inquiry posted on the Missing-Links Panzer Talk discussion group resulted in the answer. A scan of a photograph taken from a Ground Power magazine and sent to me by James Blackwell, along with a translation of the Japanese caption by Jeensang Jang, 31

placed it at Weisswampach in Luxembourg in early 1945. The best information, according to Stefan De Meyer, suggests that it probably belonged to 12.SS-Panzer-Division. The one clearly identifiable feature of ‘B1’ is that it was fitted with the vertical Flammentöter flame suppressing exhausts that were first installed beginning in August 1944. I decided that I would build mine with features that would place it in production in late September 1944. These would include having no Zimmerit applied but still retaining the early bolted on tow brackets. Records show that 12.SS-Panzer-Division received five new Pz.Beob.Wg.IV on 11 November 1944. It is shown here as it might have looked on the opening day of the Ardennes Offensive, 16 December 1944.

Choose Your Weapons My choice for a kit was the Tamiya Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf.J No. 35181. As usual, I started on the lower hull and running gear. Two bolt heads were added to the flat upper surface of each roadwheel damper and grease nipples added to the center of the idler wheel and each return roller. At some point during Ausf.J production, two bolts from the top row on the roadwheel mounts were deleted. In earlier cases, this is evident by two empty holes and on later vehicles, the holes were not drilled at all. I opted for a combination following the photos of the Pz.Bef.Wg.IV at the Brussels museum. The drive sprocket got the works though with new, more realistic looking bolt heads around the outside of the inner and outer halves that were taken from spare drive sprockets from the new Tamiya Tiger II. Nuts and bolts shaved from old Tamiya Tiger II roadwheels were added on the inner face of the inside half. The tracks are from an older set of Model Kasten K-2 nonworkable individual links that need to be glued together but look every bit as good as the newer workable sets when finished. I had noticed that the bottom intakes on the sides of the engine deck on the Pz.Bef.Wg.IV at Brussels did not curve up from the mudguard like the kit parts and so these were removed and replaced with sheet plastic. After this was complete, the upper and lower hull parts were glued together along with some .030 plastic card to close off the opening in the sponsons above the tracks. This was set aside to dry completely and I turned my attention to the turret assembly.

The Turret Takes Shape The first task was to remove all traces of the cupola ring molded onto the turret roof and to enlarge the hole to receive a cupola taken from a Tamiya StuG.III Ausf.G kit. I elected to just use the one from the kit that I will replace at some future

32

Panzerbeobachtungswagen IV

date by ordering a new sprue from

Dragon kits include it. Just to the right of

All the welded joints were vee’d out and

Japanese retailer ‘Rainbow Ten’. The

the ventilator, an antenna base was added

new weld beads made from Zimm-It-Rite

cupola hatch received some detail

where the ‘Nahverteidigungswaffe’ would

epoxy putty were added. Texturing was

attention in the form of bent brass strip

have normally been installed. The antenna

done using a round toothpick that had a

handles, a copper wire closing arm and

and base came from Dragon’s German

small groove carved in the end. This

Grandt Line nuts and bolts. The pattern of

Tank Antenna set. On the left side of the

applies to all the weld beads on the rest of

screw heads on the roof was traced on to

roof, a periscope was added. At its base, a

the model as well.

a piece of tracing paper using drawings

circle was scribed in and sectioned into

and transferred to the kit part using a

three segments using photographs as

compass point. They were then drilled out

reference.

No.034 were glued in place. A new larger diameter, reinforced ventilator cover was made from an old Tamiya Jagdtiger ventilator and Royal Model photoetch brass screws were added as well. This larger ventilator cover was introduced in July 1944, yet neither the Tamiya nor the

and allowed to dry thoroughly before filing the joint smooth and scribing in a new line

and photoetch brass screw heads from Royal Models Screws and Bolts Set

The turret stowage bin was glued together

New grab handles were made from bent

to separate the lid from the bin. The two

brass wire and glued into holes drilled

mounting points were removed and the

about a millimetre farther back. When you

groove in the bottom was filled with a

study the relationship of the handle to the

piece of styrene carefully cut to fit. The

Pilze and the rain gutter over the turret

bottom and side brackets are made from

doors, you can see it needs to be moved.

styrene strip. I added Royal Model hasps

New rain gutters were made from thin

to the rear of the bin but the turret skirt

metal printers plate bent over a steel ruler.

armour obscures their fine detail.

33

Since Tamiya thoughtfully provided a

plastic ring on the top left side.

moving. Aber gives you small pieces of

separate gunners vision flap in the front of the turret, I added two arms and glued it in place in an open position. A lightly tinted green clear plastic strip was glued in from the back after painting to represent the armoured glass. A small tin plate rain gutter was added above the gunsight opening in the mantlet. Pz.Bef.Wg. and Pz.Beob.Wg.IV were not equipped with a coaxial machine gun so I drilled out the opening and opened up the cooling slots in the top and bottom of the armored sleeve on the mantlet. After gluing the halves of the gun barrel together, I carefully sanded it by twirling it inside a strip of sandpaper while slowly moving it up and down the length of the barrel. Done properly, this will give you a seamless barrel. Three small rivet heads and three small screw heads were added to the armored sleeve in front of the recuperator housing and a small

the gun barrel to keep the turret from

The locking handles on the turret side access doors were separated from the hatch face and the bottom two were further drilled out and slotted. New hatch hold open brackets were made from sheet styrene and rod. Now comes the fun part. I bought a set of Aber photoetch brass turret skirts (35A06) thinking this would save me all kinds of time over scratchbuilding. I soldered together the brackets first, bending them to shape and laying them flat on a ceramic tile. They were held in place with small blobs of Blu-Tac. To properly align the skirts to the turret, I made a jig from sheet styrene with a hole the same size as the one in Tamiya’s upper hull and glued short pieces of .156 styrene strip around to support the bottom edge of the skirt. Two upright pieces were glued on either side of

brass with holes in them to glue to the turret but I decided to use styrene strip instead. I superglued these to the brackets which then could be glued to the turret using liquid poly allowing for some adjustment in the final position. Here I ran into my first major problem. Aber’s skirts are about a millimeter higher than both the Tamiya skirts and Hilary Doyle’s drawings and therefore, the top of the two rear brackets was that much higher than the top of the turret. To correct this, I simply melted off the gusset, adjusted the angle and soldered in a new gusset cut from the photoetch runner. The top of the bracket looks a little flat, but is not noticeable Aber gives you some photoetch bolt heads but for some strange reason, they don’t give enough. I was fortunate to have some left over from their Panther set I was able to

Panzerbeobachtungswagen IV

34

use. The nuts and bolts used to detail the inside came from Grandt Line.

Back to the Hull Moving back to the hull, the first thing I did was tackle the armored housing welded to the back of the hull that was unique to the Pz.Bef.Wg.IV and Pz.Beob.Wg.IV. I took a piece of .030 styrene strip and immersed it for a few seconds in boiling water. It was then quickly formed around a small X-acto knife handle and then run under cold water so it would retain its shape. The ends were cut to the angle of the rear plate and it was glued in place. The mount for the star antenna is recessed down from the top and a small piece of styrene was cut to shape and glued in. Three small drain holes were drilled into the housing just above this. The antenna mount itself came from the Dragon German Antenna set which, I believe, is no longer available. I’m glad I bought a few of them while I could as the antennas are perfect, especially the star antenna which is provided as a stainless steel photoetch piece. There was a special porcelain insulator on the base of this antenna, also provided by Dragon. The bottom of the housing is open and the heavy cable from the antenna passes through a rectangular hole in the rear plate. After reproducing all this detail, I came to realize that there was a sheet metal cover plate underneath that was supported by an angle welded to the rear plate and held in place by a pivoting wing nut on the outside of the housing. It would have been far simpler to just close off the bottom but, for my model, this plate is just missing in action. New Flammentöter exhaust pipes replaced the kit exhaust and were made from styrene tube. I made the inner pipe from another piece of styrene tube and attached it to the outer tube with four small styrene strip vanes. The double angle flange connecting the upper and lower hull was detailed with an additional styrene strip and numerous bolt heads and nuts. At the bottom of the rear plate, the idler mounts were actually fastened on with nuts while the kit is molded with bolt heads. This was a simple

35

thing to correct by simply gluing on small

instead of jumping around all over. The first

photoetch brass sheet. I made a little jig

stubs shaved from the bottom of a Dragon

thing to do is fill all the locating holes. After

with a piece of triangular plastic glued to it

Pz.Kpfw.IV hull. Coincidentally, about the

all this time, you would think the

to form them over so they would all be a

time I was doing this, there was a posting

manufacturers would realize how much we

uniform size.

on Missing-Links that pointed out that the

detest these molded in imperfections. The gun cleaning rods are from the kit and

large hex nuts on part D34 used to tension the idlers should really be octagonal. So I made a pair of octagonal nuts from .125 x .125 styrene strip and, using part D34 from another kit, made a master which I then molded and cast new ones in resin.

I started with the Notek light on the left

were detailed with brass strip mounts on

rear mudguard. It is the Tamiya kit part

the back to space them away from the hull

with the base removed and a new one

and Royal Models photoetch brass hasps

added from bent brass strip along with a

were added. The pry bar was made from a

very thin wire lead running down through a

piece of brass rod. I flattened and bent

hole in the mudguard.

one end with a pair of pliers and then filed it to shape. The brackets are my own

The rear mudguards had a styrene strip added to the back and outside edges. Small rivet heads were added to the inside faces, parts B4 and B5, lining up with the ones on the large flat face. To make the springs, I wrapped a thin wire around a small drill bit chucked backwards in to my pin vise. Remember to count the wraps so

mudguard for the engine air intake louvers are stainless steel photoetch ones from Tamiya. The one at the back below the standard antenna mount needs to have a small recess filed into it to clear the

design made from brass runners and another jig made using a piece of halfround styrene. Each one is two parts that are then glued to a piece of .010 styrene strip so they can be attached to the kit with styrene cement.

antenna base which actually projects down. I got the two sides mixed up and as

The spare roadwheel box was made from

a result, had to make a new one for the

.010 sheet and strip styrene using the kit

When it comes to adding the tools and

right side from brass sheet. The little

parts as a guide as they are actually thin

other details, I usually start at one point

spring clips that hold them up were made

sheet metal. The raised rib on the side

and work my way around the vehicle

from narrow brass runners from another

panel is a piece of half-round styrene.

both sides are the same.

36

The cover plates lying flat on the

I detailed the jack block with a wire spring and a photoetch brass chain. The clamp for the wire cutters is from an Aber workable set as are all the others used on this model. The short pry bar and brackets were made the same way as the one on the back except the bar is styrene. In the Osprey New Vanguard book by Doyle and Jentz, they state that S-hooks replaced the C-hooks on Pz.Kpfw.IV starting in June 1944 but I could not find even one photograph to substantiate this. I did, however, find several photographs of late Pz.Kpfw.IV fitted with mesh skirts (September 1944) and the rotating cupola hatch (October 1944) that still had the Chook bracket. Not having a photoetch brass detail set with one handy, I made one from styrene sheet. The C-hooks are from the kit and were thinned down a bit to fit in the new bracket. The fire extinguisher is one from the new Royal Models German Fire Extinguisher Set No.247, I modified the headlight mount by cutting out a slot in the base on the outboard side and adding a copper wire electrical lead down to the glacis. The headlight itself is one I had left over from an old Gunze Sangyo High-Tech Panther which I used simply because I had it and it is nicely detailed. You will notice that the two large wrenches stowed behind the fire extinguisher are not there as they were deleted at some point in Ausf.J production. At least they are not on Hilary Doyle’s drawings of the Pz.Bef.Wg.IV and Pz.Beob.Wg.IV in the ‘Begleitwagen Panzerkampfwagen IV’ book. This presented a bit of a challenge as the brackets for them are molded on the mudguard. I carefully ground them off with a flat Dremel bit and repaired the treadplate pattern by removing the small pieces from another kits mudguard, under the area where the engine intake flaps lie, and gluing them carefully in place. A couple of days after I finished the model, I picked up a new book published in Russia on Lake Balaton in which there is a photo of a Bergepanzer IV with the two wrenches mounted in brackets on the front and rear of the spare roadwheel bin. These two brackets were also on the Pz.Bef.Wg.IV in Brussels but I didn’t know what they were for at the time, so I had left them off. 37

Armed with this new information, I added

these as they did on their earlier Panzer IV

7028 Dunkelgelb and RAL 6003 Olivgrün

them along with the two wrenches.

kits because they are quite noticeable.

sparingly applied in stripes and patches with

Incidentally, the rear hinge on the right side

hard edges. The lower hull sides and wheels

hatch should be moved forward a bit, which I

were not camouflage painted. I like to use

did not do as I discovered it too late. Check

Testors Model Master Acryl paints, but there

out the drawings in ‘Panzer Tracts No.4’ or

is not a suitable color to represent the primer

the ‘Begleitwagen’ book.

and I used an old Humbrol color HG15

Moving to the front, the spare track links and brackets come from the Model Kasten SK-19 Late Model Spare Track set. The pins in the tow brackets are from the kit detailed with fine chain. The square transmission access

(RLM61). This matches very closely a paint

plate on the glacis had the hex bolt heads

The drivers and radio operators hatches in

removed and replaced with square heads

the kit are the earlier welded edge type

made from styrene strip. In addition, the

which were replaced with thicker ones with

simulated screw heads surrounding it were

rounded edges beginning in July 1944,

gently cleaned out with a flat Dremel bit

although existing stocks were installed until

twirled in my fingers to remove the raised

they were used up. I rounded off the edge

‘slot’ and Royal Models screws were glued in.

with a file and detailed the inside of the driver’s hatch with a new locking handle and

The hinged part of the front mudguards were detailed with a piece of styrene rod on the bottom edge and new hinges and pins made from a piece of telephone wire that had most of the insulation removed. The remaining insulation forms part of the hinge. The inside face of the mudguards had some small

bar. The raised edge was made by adding strip styrene around the hatch and trimming off the excess after the glue was dry. Just behind the hatches, there was a weld joint that is missing on the kit. I scribed in a deep

putty weld. This completed the construction phase of the

way as the ones on the rear.

model.

On the engine deck, I added several rows of

Time to Paint

raised blank bolt heads made by punching

vise. It’s odd that Tamiya did not reproduce

38

this, I sprayed on the camouflage using Model Master Acryl 2095 Panzer Dunkelgelb 1943 and 2097 Panzer Olivgrün 1943, mixed 50/50 with their acrylic thinner. When this had dried, the hard edges were touched up with a brush using the leftover thinned paints, which worked surprisingly well. As the vehicle would have been camouflaged in the factory with the Schürzen brackets still mounted, I touched up all the mounting lugs with primer color. The rubber tyres were painted with Vallejo acrylic that brushed on extremely well right

bolt heads and wire springs made the same

.020 drill bit chucked backwards into my pin

of Zimmerit coating from a Panther. After

groove and filled it with Zimm-It-Rite epoxy

details added from styrene strip, rivets and

out a piece of lead foil on an eraser with a

sample I have adhered to the back of a piece

In September 1944, German tanks began to leave the factory with a coat of RAL 8012 Rot primer with a camouflage pattern of RAL

from the bottle. I tried a new wash technique demonstrated by Chris Mrosko in his book ‘Panzer’s Tactics’. He uses a thinned black oil wash applied directly over the base paint which eliminates the need for the clear acrylic sealer coat and the messy, time consuming

effort required to wipe off the thick oil wash

first time.

reaction with the Tamiya acrylic thinner. Both tracks can be easily completed in an

that I previously used. The colors for drybrushing were obtained

hour.

The black oil wash is thinned with paint

by tinting the Model Master enamel

thinner, not turpentine, to produce a flat

equivalents of the acrylic colors and the

The lower hull and running gear was also

finish. A small amount of paint is placed on

Humbrol HG15 with white artist’s oil paint.

treated to a heavy coating of the three dust colored pastels to represent a dirty

a palette to which small amounts of thinner are added to obtain the right consistency. This is brushed liberally over the whole model. Next, after drying for a day, a ‘pin wash’, made from burnt sienna and Vandyke Brown oil paint, is applied around raised details to make them stand out. The area around the details is first wetted with pure thinner with a large brush and the ‘pin wash’ is applied with a smaller no. 1 or 2 brush. Wetting the area ensures the wash will only go where you want it and not all over the place. I eliminated a second ‘pin wash’ of Indian Red and Mars Black as I was satisfied with the results of the first wash. Although I am not a proponent of heavily rusted and paint chipped vehicles, I did apply some sparingly with burnt sienna, burnt umber and black designer’s gouache watercolor paints. The advantage of using this medium is that it can easily be changed if you don’t like the results the

I painted the tracks with a base coat of Humbrol 29 Matt Dark Earth enamel and weathered them with Rembrandt pastel chalks using Makoto Takaishi’s technique from the Japanese publication ‘Armour Modelling’. You will need 409-3, 409-7,

mud buildup. A thin wash of burnt umber artists oil paint was applied liberally to the area around the fuel filler caps on the left side to represent spilled fuel mixed with the dirt and also around the grease nipples on the road wheels and drive sprockets.

411-3 and 411-7 blended with 235-3 for the rust coloured inside face and 408-3,

The crosses on both sides and the rear of

408-7 and 234-3 for the dust coloured

the turret skirt armor came from a Third

outside face. I have ground a small

Group decal set for a Pz.Kpfw.III, mainly

amount of each chalk using fine sandpaper

because they were the correct size, about

into an egg carton with each number

7mm high. Before dipping in water, the

marked inside the lid for easy identification.

white outline was lightly scored with a

The pastels are applied by dipping an old

hobby knife to thin it down by half. Solvaset

no. 5 brush into Tamiya acrylic paint

helped snug them down to the model

thinner and then into the chalk powder and

without the benefit of a gloss coat. The

dabbing onto the surface of the tracks in a

tactical number ‘B1’ was airbrushed on

random pattern. Repeat the process using

with Tamiya XF2 Flat White using a home

different colours as you progress. Drybrush

made stencil cut out from a Post-It Note.

the wearing surfaces lightly with silver

The inside was hand brushed using Vallejo

Rub’n Buff. It is important to use an

black acrylic paint.

enamel for the base coat so there is no 39

The Vignette

The base is an old 6” x 9” walnut wall plaque award that I salvaged from work. I started off by masking off the lower edges

The figures are all Warriors resin products. The vehicle

with masking tape before applying the groundwork. The

commander and the driver are from the Waffen SS Panzer Crew

groundwork was made with hydrostone plaster compound mixed

#1 (35030) set but with their positions reversed. I used a resin

with some sand and model railroad ballast along with a

head from Verlinden (I think) on the commander and a different

generous dollop of burnt umber acrylic paint for color. The

Warriors head on the driver. The gunner and radio operator are

verges were slightly built up by adding more of the mixture in

from their Waffen SS Panzer Crew #2 (35031) set. I modified the

these areas. An old toy motorcycle wheel was used to provide

trousers on the radio operator sitting on the turret roof as they

the track impressions in the road surface.

were sculpted to represent some sort of coveralls. Standing on the ground is the Waffen SS Tanker With Map (35038) built right

After this was completely dry, the surface was brush painted with

from the box without modification except for two seams in the

a coat of Tamiya XF52 Flat Earth acrylic paint and then

back of his jacket that were added.

drybrushed with Humbrol SW4 (no longer available) mixed with a bit of white artists oil paint. The grass is green garden twine cut

I primed them with Tamiya XF2 Flat White and sprayed the faces

into short pieces and glued with white glue to the base. After the

and hands with XF15 Flat Flesh. The flesh areas were further

glue had dried, the pieces were teased out with a pair of

treated by applying a coat of burnt sienna tinted with a bit of

tweezers and all loose strands removed to produce a fairly

white which was then wiped off with a small gun cleaning cloth,

realistic looking tall grass.

which is as close to lint free as you will find. Uniforms were all painted with various Humbrol enamels and oils. A light ‘pin wash’

The wooden power pole is an Elefant product and the road

of burnt umber oil paint was applied and the figures drybrushed

monument is from a Plus Model set I picked up at a small hobby

to highlight the raised details. Faced for the first time with having

shop in Lucerne, Switzerland. The military signs on the pole are

to actually paint a map, I was forced to ask myself what they

from the Verlinden Normandy set. Hudson and Allen Forest Litter

really did look like? It turns out they don’t much look like the

was sprinkled around the sides of the road to impart an ‘autumn’

printed maps you get from Verlinden and others. Fortunately,

look to the base. The final touch was to add a title plate made

Ron Volstad has an authentic 1943 German map which is printed

from black art board with Letraset lettering.

on a sepia tone paper with black lines for the roads and contours, blue lines for the rivers and streams and green outlines for woods and forested areas.

All in all, I was quite satisfied with the end result. The information contained in the Osprey New Vanguard book allowed me to try a unique camouflage scheme seldom seen on models of the Pz.Kpfw.IV.

40