Battlefront's Flawed Panzer IV Ausf J

I am a huge fan of Battlefront Miniatures and Flames of War.  It's a game that lets me get my model building fix, miniature painting fix, and wargaming fix all in one.  Throw in the fact that they let me actually write, proofread and playtest for them, and you've got a winning combination.  Generally Battlefront's miniatures are some of the most accurate and highest quality you can get in 15mm scale, which is the main reason why their Panzer IV Ausf J (GBX68) is so disappointing.  I picked up a box a while back planning on using the Ausf J for several Very Late War armies.  With the release of Desperate Measures covering the Soviet Vistula-Oder offensive, I was finally ready to pull the trigger on these little beauties.

I'd always had a love/hate relationship with Battlefront's metal Panzer IV tracks.  Overall they look great when painted up, but they frequently require quite a bit of clean up, especially on the top of the fender.  I was looking forward to the new Panzer IV's because they came with the updated plastic tracks.  As with the earlier Panther tracks, you sacrifice a bit of track detail, but the wheel detail and fenders promised to be excellent.

I got the first five together, and as expected, the assembly was much easier and there was a lot of really fine detail on the tracks and fenders that was frequently lost or not present on their metal equivalents.  However, as I built them I had a nagging feeling that there was just something not quite "right" about them...

While letting some of the last details on the Ausf J's dry, I decided to pull out a couple of Ostwind to provide some much needed air support for my poor Germans (and to maybe keep those pesky AOPs out of the way).  The Ostwind includes the older metal tracks with the reversible first two roadwheel positions (so you can run steel wheeled or regular rubber tired wheels).  I looked at the tracks, and the metal version of the running gear looked "right."  So I tried to figure out the difference between the two...

Then it hit me.  The idler (the wheel at the back) on the plastic tracks is wrong.  It is supposed to have seven spokes, and it has eight.  The asymmetry of the idler is one of the characteristic features of this design, and Battlefront had botched it on the plastic tracks.  Unfortunately it is likely to be a very costly fix as the problem is in the injection mold itself.  As Battlefront has announced an all plastic Panzer IV Ausf H in the coming year, I hope they double check the molds for it.

So where does that leave me?  I'm a chronic rivet counter, and having the wrong wheels on an iconic tank like the final Panzer IV just doesn't sit well.  So I've developed a work around until Battlefront gets the mold fixed (IF they ever get the mold fixed).  First you have to remove the offending idler:

I have a dremel bit that is roughly the same size as the idler, so it's fairly easy to set the stylus tool for low speed, carve out the idler, and then hit the area with some liquid cement to smooth out the burrs.  I've cast up a bunch of idler wheels from the metal version that I use as replacements:

I left a little extra material on the "as cast" idlers so I can custom fit each one to the tracks.  Once the dry fitting is complete you simply pop in the replacement idler and you've got a corrected Panzer IV Ausf J:

As Battlefront has designed their plastic parts to be drop in replacements for the white metal, the fit is excellent.

Unfortunately this is a major screw-up for Battlefront.  Now that I have a reasonable work-around, I'll still buy some of the Panzer IV Ausf J's to round out the various armies, but a quick fix from the company (that doesn't involve going back to metal tracks) would be very welcome.

39(H) OP Ready to Go!

Finally got my commission 39(H) OP cast up and ready to go... to "some guy" down in New Zealand.  Pretty happy with how it came out.  May need some final clean up before painting, but overall I'm pleased with the result. 

Here's a couple of photos:

Amazing what a good camera sees that your eye doesn't.  I've since cleaned up the shovel some.

I went ahead and added the jack in styrene.  Now it just needs the machine gun and commander and it will be ready to go. 

I wasn't able to vacuum cast these for some reason.  I think the resin was getting a little old and was outgassing a lot more than normal.  Mold could still have been outgassing some as well.  I'm going to try and make up one more for personal use so I don't have to burn the master.

Lots of "stuff" going on this week so I'll hopefully have more to post later on!

502 Schwere Panzerabteilung - Early Tiger I Progress

In addition to the initial production Tiger I tanks fielded by 502. Schwere Panzerabteilung, there were also a few of the more standard early production vehicles.  The Battlefront miniature represents this type well, and fixing them for the specific vehicles of this unit is generally easier.  Well, sort of.

The first change was the removal of the shovel from the front top hull.  The other change is the unit's tanks lacked the characteristic side-skirts seen with the Tiger I.  The challenge for me was to find an easy way to replicate the hanging studs for the side-skirts (which were present - unlike on the initial Tiger I).

Ultimately I found a source that worked flawlessly.  Archer Fine Transfers has a line of surface details.  These surface details are resin on very thin, high-quality decal film.  Their catalog can be downloaded and has true size scans of the various details.  I found a set of rivets that looked to have the right spacing for the studs - granted they're round, not square, but at this scale it is going to be hard to tell the difference. 

I drew lines with a straightedge to guide placement of the decal rivets.  I ended up using set AR88083 which seemed to have the right spacing for the side skirts. 

 

I cut out the rivets in groups of four cutting the decal with a very sharp hobby knife near the top and bottom of the rivets.  I also didn't leave much space at the ends.

 

Placing the individual rivet decals was a bit challenging, but it went fairly quickly using the normal techniques you'd use for high-quality decals.  I did use a little diluted Solvaset to make the film snug down properly.

 

Before priming the studs looked a bit large, but after a prime coat they look pretty good.  The beauty of the Archer system is it is literally designed to be primed and painted over. 

 

I'm sure they scale out a bit large, but even up close they have the distinctive 4 sets of 4 studs look of the actual Tiger I.  They should paint up and weather nicely.  I'm still hoping to field this army in late October, and have a LOT of work yet to do... as always!

Tournament Organizer

One of the biggest challenges at any gaming tournament is quickly and easily moving your army from game to game.  If you pack everything back into the carrying case, you frequently lose precious gaming time because you have to get it back out again, for me frequently in multiple levels of a battle foam box.

Chris Fretts came up with a really nice tournament box option for flames of war.  The top of the box has ample room for your army and even some ground work to show off your nicely painted army when the painting judges come by.  The box includes a drawer and a couple of slots that can hold you small rulebook, army lists, PDF's, dice, templates, and markers.

I decided to do mine in a generic U.S. Army paint scheme of Olive Drab with a few stencils.  I've been experimenting with various sprays and stencils and this gave me another chance to try out a few techniques (pictures below).  I'll likely end up hitting it with a final protective coat as well.

Had to add the gag about "allow for expansion" because who really has enough FoW miniatures?  Really? 
So far I think he's only done one batch of these, but if he ever does another batch I strongly recommend any tourney player think about picking one up - or building something similar themselves. 
 

Mystery Project Update!

So here's some more photos of the first of the two mystery projects...  At this point people should be pretty close to getting it.

 

 

The basic hull is together, but I still need to do some clean up - I'll get it posted later this week... :D

Building the 39(H) OP

A while back I built a 39(H) OP vehicle for the 21. Panzer Division Beutestug list for a friend.  I was building one for myself at the same time, but other projects ended up taking priority and I never ended up finishing it.  I received several requests for additional ones, but didn't have the time to hand build each one, but I may have found a way to make it work.

Here's the original I built a while back:

 

 

I'll be posting some pictures of the "new and improved version" - along with hopefully a cast - later this week. 

502 Schwere Panzer Abteilung Update

I'm finally making progress on my 502. Schwere Panzerabteilung army... since I have a MW tournament coming up in October.  The point value is a bit different than I've run in the past at 1675, but I'm going to go with it.  I'm modeling the unit in early 1943 before the organizational changes characteristic of that year take effect.  As such I'm going with a purely winter themed army. 

The list I'm going with is here:

HQ: Command Tiger I E + Sd Kfz 9 (400 points)

Combat 1: Tiger I E, Panzer III N (495 points)
Combat 2: Tiger I E (385 points)

Support:

Grenadier Platoon = Command Panzerknacker SMG team, 8X Rifle/MG Teams (205 points)

Rocket Launcher Battery = Command SMG Team with field car; AT section with 3.7cm PaK36 with Stielgranate, 4X 15cm NW41 launchers with 4X Sd Kfz 11 half-tracks. (190 points)

Total = exactly 1675 points 

Yes - I know it isn't great, but any time you take a Tiger list you're dropping nearly 1200 points in your compulsory choices before you get to add the gravy.  Given the list lacks recon I figured I'd just go with some smoke and some decent infantry to cover the tanks.

Here's a couple of pictures of the first Tiger I going for its final priming:

 

The initial Tiger I's used by the unit didn't even have the hangers for the side skirts.  I'll have a total of two initial production and one of the early production variants (which also requires a little work).  I'll post photos of the early Tiger I later this week once I get some of the detailing supplies I need to finish it up.