Panzer IV projekt W 1466

[hansolo]

Hi guys,

While searching for a Panzer IV and wanting to do another oddling of course, I came across this picture:



It's a Panzer IV chassis but the hull looks more like that of a Panther!
Of course, I was immediately intrigued by this contraption.

I started looking for more pictures and information about this vehicle.

Here's what I found:

Based on a draft drawing (W 1466) by Krupp from January 1943, a projected further development of the Panzerkampfwagen IV with inclined armor plates was announced. This version should officially be considered H version. The modernization, combined with winter tracks, would lead to an increase in the overall weight of the Panzer IV to over three tons. As a result, a considerable load on the drive and the steering gear could be expected, especially since its originally calculated load had already been exceeded for a long time. Although improvements for the driver's view would have been achieved and the Bug-MG would have received a new bead, the Panzerkommission decided not to use the PzKpfw V "Panther" due to the expected inferior handling characteristics and a higher fuel consumption To implement this proposal.

In July 1944, Krupp, Essen, again produced a drawing (AKF 31941) of a simplified, six-edged turret for the Panzer IV. He did not have a simplified glare shield, but did not have either sight & MG flaps or a commander's dome. Instead, there were two hatch covers in the turret roof and a second two-door hatch on the left side of the turret. The commander would have his place on the left side of the KwK, which was placed further in the turret. In the course of the introduction of the Panzerjäger IV with the 7,5 cm KwK L / 70, this turret construction was also rejected.

New Connection Models has been offering both the slanting tank tops and the simplified turret as separate conversion kits based on the Tamiya Panzer IV kits. But of course I'm going to scratch build mine.

Here are some reference images of a guy that build the conversion, using those conversion kits.

I think this Panzer IV version looks really cool! It's a shame it didn't go into full production.











I bought this kit as the base for this project



Here are the contents:



















The build so far















Next up: The (even more) fun part!
Building the conversion!

[arilo76]

Keep posting mate this looks really good

[hansolo]

Keep posting mate this looks really good

Thanks, Antonio.
Will do.

[hansolo]

Hi guys,

I started of the conversion with the frontal armor plate



I had to fill in the top sides.



Than came the side armor plates and some filling with Tamiya Putty.



I converted the turret too. To the simplified one of the prototype.



I cut out the back, replaced it with a flat plate and filled the cupola hole too.



I straightened out the front edges.



And closed with a flat front.



Hull with turret. The gun still missing. Added square hatches on the turret. Later on I added some hand grips.





The part where the gun is connected to the gun mantlet is also different from the production model.
I made it from several plates glued together.



Glued together and roughly cut to size.



And sanded.



Glued it to a gun mantlet plate added bolts made from slices of strethed sprue.
And added a gun from my left over box that best resembled the prototype gun.



Simply glued the whole gun into place with and plate spacer in between.



Made a little machine gun dome from a left over Sherman hatch with some plate to complete the dome shape.



Machine gun dome and left over drivers hatch added.



Next up: Painting!

[hansolo]

Hi guys,

My plan for painting was to have the tank at the assembly line before painting.
So I had to mimic unpainted steel. I tried several ways to accomplish this on test pieces.
In the end - what gave the best result - was pencil over grey paint.
So I started of to test this on the turret. I painted it with German Grey.



And than rubbed a pencil over the entire surface. That gave it a nice shine.





Than I gave it a wash with Mig Dark Wash.





Than another wash with Mig Brown Wash in the nooks and crannies.





Than I did the same for the hull.
Weathering on the hull was done with dark blue to emulate weld de -colorations. The welds themselves I did with Eisen from Revell. Dust and rust effects with Vallejo Rust colors.







I painted the tracks with Eisen from Revell.



And did the detail painting.









I guess tracks will already be rusty in the factory. Probably laying around for weeks or months.
So I rusted them up with AK Interactive rust colors. Brought back the clean metal edges with graphite powder.







I bought this set from MiniArt to convert into factory workers.





I replaced the hats with hair, sculpted from Milliput.



Painted black.



Then grey blue.



Rest of the detail painting.



Did some dark washing with Ultimate Dark Wash and some dry painting with light blue.





That’s it for painting, folks.
Next up: The Dio.

[RonBurgundy]

Looks awesome !

[hansolo]

Looks awesome !

Thanks Ron!

[privatepete]

Hi looks like you've got another winner on the way,brilliant stuff
Pete

[hansolo]

Hi looks like you've got another winner on the way,brilliant stuff
Pete

Thanks Pete!

[hansolo]

Hi guys,

Started work on the dio.
I wanted to make a factory scene where Projekt W 1466 took shape.
A square factory floor, some concrete columns and some metal framework for cranes and stuff.

Started of with a plank of wood and made the columns from plaster. As always using the ever handy lego casting.





Made a frame to hold the plaster floor.



Plaster floor is casted.



Columns poured into their lego molds.



The raw columns. Kind of make me think of New York in better times..



Made the metal frames from strips of styrene. The bolts from sliced stretched sprue.



Made I frames to go on top and one I frame rail to connect a crane to.





I wanted to have a welding device, so I built one.

The gas tanks are made from styrene tubes with a round top made from DAS clay.



Clay tops sanded.



The cart I made from thick styrene, some spare parts and wheels and the hose is made from stretched sprue.





That’s it for now, folks.
Next up: More progress on the dio.

[arilo76]

WOW really outstanding work early Awesome .
Well done mate.

[hansolo]

WOW really outstanding work early Awesome .
Well done mate.

Thanks Antonio!

[hansolo]

Hi guys,

I painted the base grey and the columns white and blue.



The steel frame was painted grey. Then I gave it a wash with earth tone pigments and gave it a metal sheen with graphite powder, rubbed on with the tip of the finger. (Weathering can be seen only in later shots.)





When I placed the frame on the dio, I saw that it came out higher then the columns. So I decided to ad an extra part to the top of them. I took the opportunity to give them some angled extensions at the top to act as transitions to the (invisible) roof.

As I don’t have any angled Lego stones, I made some ‘steps’ which I later scraped into angled shapes.







From styrene plate I made a made a work bench and painted and weathered it the same way I did the frame.
I gathered some tools and parts to liven it up.



I made a banner to hang between the columns, from paper towel mixed with white glue and water.







For the print I took apart a poster that speaks for it self.



From this new layout I made my own decals to put on both sides of the banner.



On the factory floor I put lots of stuff that you may have found in a German tank factory around 1944.
Like tracks, wheels, engines, suspension parts en other parts.
But this will be revealed in the final reveals.

That’s all for now folks.
Next up: Those final reveals!

[martin57]

What can I say , absolutely stunning so far .
It will be stunning when finished , well done.

[SergioSolo]

outstanding!

[hansolo]

Thanks guys!

[chops1sc]

That is amazing!

[hansolo]

Thanks!

[JayCub]

Always appreciate your work, and this is just marvellous, and after seeing this the house really needs an extension having said that I really enjoy looking at creative work

[hansolo]

Check out the final reveals here: http://www.intscalemodeller.com/viewtop ... 52&t=20751