Pz.Kfpw. IV
1/15th Scale
Kit contents
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Bandai Pz.Kfpw. IV 1/15th Scale Kit contents |
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Bandai
did a fair amount of re-engineering of their Panzer IV line
(Pz.Kfpw. IV, Sturmgeshutez IV,
and Hummel) since their introduction.
The first release featured plastic bogey trucks, weak and unrealistic track links, one-piece bogey and tires, and gear boxes that looked like they were from a wind-up toy. These shortcomings are all gone now, thank goodness! When I first made this page, HobbyLinc Japan was the only company who had them and they are ¥ 16000 each, or about $135. Shipping on these kits runs about |
$60, but it is well worth it. My order took two weeks to arrive. The kit comes neatly packed with suspension and gear boxes mounted on bubble packs. The first impression is very good. Rumor has it that these have finally migrated state-side. I received a price list from APC Hobbies which showed them as available. Sad to say, but APC's price was still greater than HobbyLinc's even with overseas shipping!. |
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| What's in the box? | ||
| Track Links | All vinyl separate links. They seem to be pretty sturdy, but may not go the distance with extensive outdoor play. My only real gripe is the hinge points aren't authentic and the link itself doesn't look quite like the real thing. But I'm still satifisfied. |
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| Bogeys | Plastic with separate rubber tire. Idler bogey has a die-cast mounting. Track return rollers are all plastic with no rubber tire. | |
| Sprockets | Plastic. May not be suitable for extensive outdoor use. | |
| Suspension |
The Stug IV's suspension system isn't faithfully reproduced a
far as funtion goes, but the kit suspension looks scale and it
it made of durable die-cast metal. The bogeys are mounted
two to a truck and the truck pivots on its axle. Admittedly,
it would be difficult to manufacture the bogey trucks exactly
like the real ones with leaf springs, etc., so I ain't really
complaining. The trucks are secured to the hull with a vinyl clip. |
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| Chassis | Plastic. |
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| Turret | Unfortunately when Bandai re-engineered the running gear for this kit, they didn't upgrade anything else. The turret side doors have a vision port on each half that should line up, but don't. Also, the four bolts at the front of the cannon mount are too little. These deficiencies are easily repaired by a modeller with scratch building experience. |
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| Hull |
Upper hull is one piece. Unlike the Sturmgeshutz,
this hull is the product of an earlier engineering effort and contains
a few flaws. For one thing, the exhaust muffler is just half of a
cylinder and glued right to the rear plate. My photos show that it
was a full cylinder mounted on brackets. The Hull attaches to chassis with screws through the chassis into clips on the hull. Details are crisp and excellent although surface finish probably is too smooth compared with production vehicles. A mesh screen is provided for the air breathers which are hinged and can open. All hatches are hinged. This is definitely meant to be played with.
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| Gear Boxes |
Twin, separate gear drives without motors.
The instructions indicate RS-380PH motors which are easy to
get (your local hobby shop could probably do it). The twin gearboxes are stamped 1/16" steel with steel and brass gears. While they aren't as beefy as the gear boxes in the Tiger 1, they still look rugged enough--at least rugged enough for the pastic drive sprockets. None of the axles have bushings. |
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| Decals | The decals leave a little to be desired since they only depict 571 tank of the Afrika Corps. |
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| Motor Controller | Bandai provides all the parts neeeded, plus instructions to make an analog motor controller for this kit, but obviously an electronic speed controller (ESC) like Tamiya's DMD would be nice. In fact, you could use Tamiya's DMD with this model since it also uses RS-380 motors. The alternative is to use two ESCs, but that could be expensive. I'm sticking with the Bandai motor controller, at least for now. | |
| Instructions |
The instructions are 100% in Japanese with no English translation.
This is somewhat of a drawback, but the illustrations are well done
so an average modeller shouldn't have too hard of a time getting it
built.
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| Summary | ||
| This is an great model for the indoor AFV enthusiast! The details are crisp and the running gear is well done. At about $200.00 (includes shipping from Japan), this is an great value and will add an important AFV to you large scale tank colledtion. | ||
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