German Sturmgeschutz IV Tank

Decided to start building after 30 years away (long cold winters up north here). I dove into this as my first kit back in and quickly remembered why I loved Tamiya back in the 1980's. Great kit to get back into the swing of things (building this plus Tamiya's M4 w 155/mm until airbrush is paid off currently). I did decide to cut the side plates apart the other night after I had already attached the brackets, but w Tamiya's attention to detail the molding lines cleared all the small hangers so it was easy enough to accomplish. I can see myself building it several times for different schemes and maybe grabbing some aftermarket parts for the next one and scratch building the side plates from scrap for a more realistic thickness.

OK, it's not the greatest kit out there, but it sure looks good. The big armor plates on the sides make this tank look like a beast of a machine. I didn't paint the German camouflage on this one (I find their color scheme to be ugly) and used more modern colors. Now it looks even more powerful. In fact, I tempted to get a M1A2 Abrams metal barrel and sticking that on this tank to get the ultimate beast hybrid tank-thing.

I would have to say that this tank was one great build I've had. The details and the small parts make it a very excellent build do to the detail. The extra plat armor on the added sides brings out the tanks detail on it. I went with the basic paint detail on it. The figure has some great detail also.