1:35 Jagpanzer IV L/70

The Eastern Front against the Western

The same machine looks different according to where it served, and on the late German tank destroyers that holds twice over. Vehicles heading east tended to have coarser, more contrasting blotches figured for open country and in winter a lime overspray went over them. In the west, in the densely overgrown bocage and in the woods of the Ardennes, the bet was on finer mottling, plenty of green and above all on branches and camouflage netting, which were meant to break up the unusually long outline of the gun. That barrel overhung the nose so far that in shallow terrain it dug into the ground.

Markings at the end of the war

According to the manufacturer the set holds two insignia sheets and wheel discs. On vehicles from the last months of the war it is useful to know that the insignia was often not painted at all, or only small and without a white border, because a cross on the side made an excellent aiming point. Anyone building a machine from the spring of 1945 can make the insignia smaller or place it less conspicuously. Anyone doing an example from a training unit or from the autumn of 1944 will reach for the full form with a light outline.

Wheels in the depth of the suspension

The suspension derives from the Panzer IV tank and rests on eight small wheels a side, ranged in four bogies. They are low, partly covered by side skirts and with little space between them, so outlining a rubber tire with a brush means working blind. A stencil does this part of the work in a few minutes. It is worth removing the side skirts dry, spraying the wheels separately and assembling the suspension last. The vehicle then looks orderly even in the places that cannot be reached once the build is finished, and the builder saves himself touch-ups in dark paint, which tend to be more visible than the original mistake.