Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.H, GPM 1:25
- Thread starter snake7
- Start date
- Apr 5, 2013
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Beyond words!. Back in my plastic modeling days, I'd scrape rust off of metal, mix it with Clear Flat paint, till it was almost a paste, then paint the part, voila, rusty parts.
How do you do this?
How do you do this?
That are reaky small parts how are you able to cut all these parts without breaking them up.
Those are laser cut track parts
Snake7 - You could do a small tutorial of how to do the tracks with separate links.
Hi Tino. Of course, I will. It is a part of my building process. when I finish some steps, I'll post everything.
Hi everyone,
All this time, I've been working on the tracks.
I'm using a laser-cut track kit from Anamera. I ordered it many years ago in advance, but unfortunately, his site is now down, and I’m not sure if he’s still producing these kits. I always liked his kits—they were detailed, reasonably priced, and featured some interesting design solutions.
I also have a set of Tiger tracks in my stash.
The kit I’m working with includes track links (inner and outer sides), track shoes, and track teeth. It’s specifically the Type 5a, which was used from 1942 on vehicles like the Pz.Kpfw. IV Ausf. H, StuG III Ausf. G, StuG IV, and StuH 42.
Here's how I approached the build so far:
Step 1:
I removed all the components from the sheets, just like with regular plastic kits.
Step 2:
I started assembly like on a conveyor belt. The first task was gluing the two halves of each track link together. For positioning, I used 0.3 mm solder wire pins. I assembled three links at a time, leaving the pins in place until the glue dried, so they wouldn’t fill the pin grooves. Then I removed the pins from first one and vice versa.
Step 3:
I glued the two parts of each track shoe together.
Step 4:
Next were the ground holders. Since they’re tiny, I used a reverse assembly method—glued the shoes directly onto the holders while they were still on the alignment sheet, and only then cut them out.
Step 5:
I assembled the two halves of the track teeth.
Step 6:
I trimmed the edge corners of each track link. This will allow the chain to bend properly during final assembly. Did test stripe from several links. Connecting them was fairly easy.
Final result, about 230-240 links and their components
So far, this is only half the work. I still need to connect the links into two chains, add the track shoes and leading teeth—but I’ll do that after I finish assembling the bogies. That’s because I’m still not sure how many links I’ll need for each side.
Painting is also on the horizon. I’m hoping to borrow a friend’s airbrush and go with acrylics.
All this time, I've been working on the tracks.
I'm using a laser-cut track kit from Anamera. I ordered it many years ago in advance, but unfortunately, his site is now down, and I’m not sure if he’s still producing these kits. I always liked his kits—they were detailed, reasonably priced, and featured some interesting design solutions.
I also have a set of Tiger tracks in my stash.
The kit I’m working with includes track links (inner and outer sides), track shoes, and track teeth. It’s specifically the Type 5a, which was used from 1942 on vehicles like the Pz.Kpfw. IV Ausf. H, StuG III Ausf. G, StuG IV, and StuH 42.
Here's how I approached the build so far:
Step 1:
I removed all the components from the sheets, just like with regular plastic kits.
Step 2:
I started assembly like on a conveyor belt. The first task was gluing the two halves of each track link together. For positioning, I used 0.3 mm solder wire pins. I assembled three links at a time, leaving the pins in place until the glue dried, so they wouldn’t fill the pin grooves. Then I removed the pins from first one and vice versa.
Step 3:
I glued the two parts of each track shoe together.
Step 4:
Next were the ground holders. Since they’re tiny, I used a reverse assembly method—glued the shoes directly onto the holders while they were still on the alignment sheet, and only then cut them out.
Step 5:
I assembled the two halves of the track teeth.
Step 6:
I trimmed the edge corners of each track link. This will allow the chain to bend properly during final assembly. Did test stripe from several links. Connecting them was fairly easy.
Final result, about 230-240 links and their components
So far, this is only half the work. I still need to connect the links into two chains, add the track shoes and leading teeth—but I’ll do that after I finish assembling the bogies. That’s because I’m still not sure how many links I’ll need for each side.
Painting is also on the horizon. I’m hoping to borrow a friend’s airbrush and go with acrylics.
I always had a love/hate relationship with tracks, I loved how easy rubber tracks were, but hated how they looked...... And I loved how individual link tracks looked, but hated assembling them.
Thanks everyone for the positive comments!
When it comes to tracks and suspension, my speed always slows down. The repetitive assembling is something I really struggle with — kind of ironic, since I enjoy building tanks.
Here you can see all the parts for the wheels, mounts, supporting rollers, drive sprockets, and tension wheels.
Because of summer vacations, it took me about a month and a half just to advance with the wheel mounts. The assembly wasn’t easy — not so much because of mistakes on my part, but mostly due to poor design.
Honestly, I don’t know what the designer was thinking… the drawings often don’t match what actually needs to be built. Wrong part thicknesses, incorrect sizes, inconsistent instructions — you name it.
Also, the instructions never mention that you need to build the mounts in a 4-on-4 symmetrical setup. And of course, there’s no guidance about the correct direction for attaching them to the hull.
So just a heads-up: make sure to build four mirrored pairs. As for the direction, I’ll come back to that later when I assemble the entire unit.
The rocker arm design especially looked suspicious, and I doubted it could handle the weight of the finished model. The axis rods were basically just a strip with two disks glued on, split into three parts.
At first, I followed the instructions and glued part 153g onto 1 mm cardboard. Logically, I thought I could overlap the strip for extra strength — but since the strip and part were the same diameter, overlapping caused a gap.
At that point, I decided to go my own way with a bit of scratch-building. I scrapped the disks, cut a strip of 80 g office paper, rolled it tightly on a toothpick, and used that as the main axis.
This roll fits inside the rocker arm and serves as a much sturdier base. Part of the rod was made using the same technique.
For the mount springs, I tested how many would fit properly between the rocker arms. In the end, I removed one of the largest springs plus three smaller ones to get a good fit.
Now the mounts are complete, and I’ll set them aside for a while. Next step is to assemble the drive sprockets (to get the correct wheel offset), then build the main wheels, and only after that glue everything — mounts and wheels — into place.
When it comes to tracks and suspension, my speed always slows down. The repetitive assembling is something I really struggle with — kind of ironic, since I enjoy building tanks.
Here you can see all the parts for the wheels, mounts, supporting rollers, drive sprockets, and tension wheels.
Because of summer vacations, it took me about a month and a half just to advance with the wheel mounts. The assembly wasn’t easy — not so much because of mistakes on my part, but mostly due to poor design.
Honestly, I don’t know what the designer was thinking… the drawings often don’t match what actually needs to be built. Wrong part thicknesses, incorrect sizes, inconsistent instructions — you name it.
Also, the instructions never mention that you need to build the mounts in a 4-on-4 symmetrical setup. And of course, there’s no guidance about the correct direction for attaching them to the hull.
So just a heads-up: make sure to build four mirrored pairs. As for the direction, I’ll come back to that later when I assemble the entire unit.
The rocker arm design especially looked suspicious, and I doubted it could handle the weight of the finished model. The axis rods were basically just a strip with two disks glued on, split into three parts.
At first, I followed the instructions and glued part 153g onto 1 mm cardboard. Logically, I thought I could overlap the strip for extra strength — but since the strip and part were the same diameter, overlapping caused a gap.
At that point, I decided to go my own way with a bit of scratch-building. I scrapped the disks, cut a strip of 80 g office paper, rolled it tightly on a toothpick, and used that as the main axis.
This roll fits inside the rocker arm and serves as a much sturdier base. Part of the rod was made using the same technique.
For the mount springs, I tested how many would fit properly between the rocker arms. In the end, I removed one of the largest springs plus three smaller ones to get a good fit.
Now the mounts are complete, and I’ll set them aside for a while. Next step is to assemble the drive sprockets (to get the correct wheel offset), then build the main wheels, and only after that glue everything — mounts and wheels — into place.
Improvise, Adapt and Overcome...
I can now fully appreciate the hard work these GPM kits take to build, the amount of research I have had to do is insane.
Produced by people who don't really give you all the info that is needed 'utter demons'
Nice set of rockers
Produced by people who don't really give you all the info that is needed 'utter demons'
Nice set of rockers
Assembled driving sprocket.
No problems with the build so far - just had to figure out where the inner sprocket goes.
It lines up with the marks on the support triangles, but I also checked
the alignment with short strip o tracks I built earlier.
Really like the design here — the trucks fit perfectly on the sprocket wheel.
For now, I only glued the sprocket base to the hull.
In the dry-fit you can see there’s not enough space for a track strip to pass through.
I’ll glue everything permanently once the tracks are in place.
No problems with the build so far - just had to figure out where the inner sprocket goes.
It lines up with the marks on the support triangles, but I also checked
the alignment with short strip o tracks I built earlier.
Really like the design here — the trucks fit perfectly on the sprocket wheel.
For now, I only glued the sprocket base to the hull.
In the dry-fit you can see there’s not enough space for a track strip to pass through.
I’ll glue everything permanently once the tracks are in place.
That driving sprocket looks like the "real thing". You are doing an AMAZING JOB on this project!
- Apr 5, 2013
- 14,017
- 10,495
- 228