1/76th Panzerkampfwagen IV - Pt 1 (of 4)

Anyone that has read my start and end of month progress posts may have noticed the ever present Cromwell Models Pz IVH. I bought this back in 2014 and it's been sitting either on my table or at difficult times banished to a drawer ever since. I even referred to it as my bête noire at one stage.

Like all Cromwell Models offerings it's a lovely kit, so what was the problem with it? The problem was it needed a lot of work. As I wrote in September "It's a resin kit with incredibly fragile turret schurtzen. All of the supports were either broken when I got it or have broken just by looking at them. Additionally the model didn't come with the side schurtzen or with the supports on the model which is pretty poor as all Pz IVHs had them."

When I got my WW2 mojo back on in October/November time I had a burst of inspiration. I have a poor old Fujimi Pz-IVJ that has seen better days built many years ago. Why not use the best of each kit to make a half decent model? 

The kits as they have appeared since 2014 - Fujimi PZIVJ on the left, Cromwell PZIVH on the right.

So that's what happened and if you want to read on you can see what I did in excruciating detail - I want you to share my pain.