Side skirts for Tamiya Panther A

Can I be perfectly honest?  There's a proverb that says "Don't put a gold ring in a pig's snout"

The Tamiya Panther A is that pig.  It's, frankly, one of the most inaccurate 1/35 kits still in production.  Build it, have fun with it, paint it up.  

If you really want to add skirts, buy some 0.010" Evergreen styrene and cut rectangles yourself (0.005" would be more to scale but would be more finicky).

But to spend any money on dressing it up with PE skirts -- is a colossal waste of money. Plus, most PE skirt sets are NOT for the old Tamiya Panther A (40 year old kit?)

If your skills are beyond novice, then add a few extra dollars and find an inexpensive DML Panther A kit.  It'll be super accurate, have sweet tracks and side skirts.

I've got a set of plastic side skirts for an Italeri kit that you are welcome to.

Considering I haven't built a model kit in over 10 years, I'm generally disturbed by the prices they are as of late, which is why I bought the Panther from Tamiya. Sure it's got a list of errors I'm sure a mile long but I've never built a panther before and here was a kit that didn't break the bank (under 25$)

I'm having fun with it but yes, it's showing it's age (panel gaps, soft details) but so it goes.

Rob, I'll take you up on that kind offer. I'll drop you a PM

CD: you definitely have your eyes set on the most important goal -- having fun and having a completed model on your shelf at the end of the day.  Many of the rest of us can't often achieve either!  LOL

I hope your Tamiya Panther comes out great for you!

Local hobby shows, Ebay, some of the far east online shops (USD is very strong right now) or the trade/buy/sell pages of some modelling websites -- can offer you good deals on some more modern but super accurate (and fun) kits.

Have at that Panther!  Plz post pics afterwards and don't be shy about asking for hints/advice/guidance along the way.

It's the same reason why I still have the old Italeri Panther. I bought it from the clearance aisle at the PX while stationed in Alabama. It was like $5 and I hadn't done a Panther in forever. I know it isn't worth the money to add extras to it; any money spent on AM would equal a better Dragon kit. I acquired an Aber set for it and was given a set of Cavalier zimmerit. Not really worth the effort to fix major errors, but it'll look close enough to a Panther for me.

Okay, so I've finished the kit. As per usual Tamiya standards, it just falls together. This is the kit with a base coat on it.

And this is the kit with paint on it.

I had the Devil's own time deciding what to paint it, it's not like there were tons of options out there. Then I realized I hadn't touched my airbrush in over a decade, Wasn't even sure if it still worked. So I stuck with a basic tri-colour scheme. Now you probably can't see it, but I did start to weather it using some pastel chalks. I rubbed the chalks directly on the kit, then softened them up an old paintbrush. In person, so to speak, the weathering is acceptable to me, but on film (err..digial) it doesn't look like I did anything.

I've done some research on weathering but all the terms just leave me confused. Reading help guides implies you know what you are doing to begin with (a catch-22 if there was ever one) so if anyone has some real idiot's guide to weathering 101....I'm all ears.

As always, C&C are more than appreciated.

I have this exact same kit, where did you get the sideskirts? I built this kit about 10 years ago and I would like to bring it back to life as you can see it looks terrible, i had absolutely no skills back then

One of the members here was kind enough to send me an unused set.

I've had this kit for over e decade and over the last 2 years I have been slowly working it over into something at least good enough to look at. I've scratch built a lot of replacements for the stock parts and the kit is a bit of a sow, but it's not a hopeless kit.

You have an excellent start on your build but I do highly suggest adding periscopes and AM tracks. Those two details alone really bring this old kit up a couple of notches.

Other than that, have fun with it. It can really be a good looking kit on display after you've finished it, despite the inaccuracies.

Even with all the kit shortcomings, it came out looking very good.

If you go to model shows, you can often pick up great models, like the Dragon 1/35 Panther A Late Edition  kit # 6358 that I grabbed for $10. The turret was slightly started but the rest of kit was all complete in their sprues including the metal barrel and pe parts.

I think that there are two ways to do a model. the first is  to buy dragon or trumpeter's model and use a little PE. and finally it'll be a good model that was builded for little time .    But there are the second way. Buy model from Italiery or for example Zvezda and bought much PE, metal barrel, conversion kits (for example engine).    and the prices of this two way are equial.  but the second is more interesting because you build model but not just use glue for almost done kit. i want o say that it's not bad to use PE for bad kit.

I find it fun to work on some of these kits and try to turn them into something worthwhile. Other times I just like to glue them together warts and all as a way to get passed builder's block. When I bought the Italeri kit back in the mid 90s, I figured it was going to be as good as their kits of the same time. It's not quite categorized as a "waste of glue", but I think I can make a nice kit of it.

It's irritating, I had it decently weathered with pastels and charcoals and whatnot, and when I applied a clearcoat over it, the clearcoat spray I used (from an older airbrush I had) muted all the effects and made it look like I had done nothing at all.

What clearcoat do you guys use that won't wreck the weathering?

You've got to understand the nature of pastels, charcoal and pigment weathering -- their very texture is what gives you the desired visual effect.  Clearcoating it soaks up and blends the texture away -- dulling the effect.  The point is to use a binding agent (like Tamiya thinner) when applying the chalks/pigments.  And then NOT applying a clear coat.

(This also means you need to keep dust away from the finished model too)

NOW they tell me!

Oh well, lesson learned. I was concerned about using thinner, because it would eat the paint away underneath...but this is a safe mixing compound?

I figured I'd drag out the studio gear and throw some proper lighting on the kit. The other Panther is my son's. It was his first model kit. We bought them at the same time, so I could help him with instructions, etc. if he needed it. He drew the outline of the camo and picked out the colours, I did the airbrushing.

The next two are just different angles of my Panther, showing what little weather remained.

I like the look of it with the skirts. That makes me want to add some to my build.  :)

Your son has a good eye for camo.  ;)

Thank you, yes the side skirts complete the model, also prevents me from having to tie down the rubber tracks. And yes, he got into looking at historical pics of camo patterns for Panthers, deciding how to draw it on the Panther and what colour went where. He is now working on an M60A3 from Tamiya and I"m doing a Tamiya Chieftain. Eventually we both want to build Tigers but he needs more practice (and patience!) before he tackles such a kit.