Expanding my horizons

Gents,

Decided on a Jagdpanther and bought the Tamiya late kit. Got the Aber (sp?) and Eduard photo etch sets, the new barrel, and the Verlinden zimmerit. Silly question...does anyone make a Jagdpanther interior resin set? Just curious. Sounds like am tackling a lot of work but I figured why not dive into the deep end of the pool. How do you expert builders recreate the side skirt plates on each side? When replicating them, how do you make them look beat up and bent. I am assuming you can take .10 plastic sheet and make these, bend them a little using some low-medium heat source? Also, if I wanted to make a side skirt look like it had a pretty good "hit" that did not go all the way through, how do you do that? Thanks again folks for all the help given this wingy thingy builder. I have really enjoy reading your inputs.

Last note...to all of you who have served in the defense of our country, those of other nations we have been allied with having fought tyrrany any where around the world... a very special thank you this weekend from this active duty USAF pilot. From my generation to your generation, we salute you!

another to the darkside. oh no...........................who will be in the a/c forum. a lot of us seem to be dabbling in the armor.

joe

Seems like Jon has you pretty much covered here.

Welcome to the darkside Sluggo !!!!

Slaggo,welcome to the wonderful world of armor.Even thou you are starting on a panther,there are a lot more kits to do.I mostly buy books at bookstores for referance material.Also you can check out www.osprey.com for books,and squadron.com.Digger

the little Shocked faces ment i was shocked when a wingy thingy maker wants to to a tank

1. Are zimmerit and ambush schemes mutually exclusive..., you NEVER have both on a Panther or any other German tank for that matter?
you could get ambush on a zimmed tank, it might have been repainted
zimmerit stopped being put on the Panzers on a certan date (Larry Dunns got a great book on Zimmerit) there were Kingtigers in the Ardennes with Zimmerit and ambush cammo
2. Any place for pictures inside the turrets of Panther tanks? I have two books I bought in Japan put out by I don't know who that covers all Panther variants. I think they are called "Achtung Panther!" and "Achtung Panzer!" By the way, I have never seen these two books again. Safe to say they are out of print now?
good books
3. Were there any variations to the main gun barrels...things like muzzle brakes, where the barrel joins the mantlet, etc?
none there all the same, but the Eduard barrels are different for the fixing points to the model

ive posted some links on the reference site for Panthers

OK, Caveman...

Meaning to the little faces on your first post? Is that the "Oh my gosh, another stupid flyer trying to make it in the armour world!" kind of face? Remember, I can make your tank into a target! Have some nice video of this kind of event in Iraqi Freedom by the way. All kidding aside ( I hope) thanks for the great information from all of you. The barrel thing did not even cross my mind inspite of the the fact I have looked at tafter-market barrels in model stores. You brought some more questions to my mind;
1. Are zimmerit and ambush schemes mutually exclusive..., you NEVER have both on a Panther or any other German tank for that matter?
2. Any place for pictures inside the turrets of Panther tanks? I have two books I bought in Japan put out by I don't know who that covers all Panther variants. I think they are called "Achtung Panther!" and "Achtung Panzer!" By the way, I have never seen these two books again. Safe to say they are out of print now?
3. Were there any variations to the main gun barrels...things like muzzle brakes, where the barrel joins the mantlet, etc?

Back to the "target" thing. I have had an idea for a diorama where I can include a tank kit and something from my modern jet fancy. An Iraqi T-72, all hatches open with guys running away from it and a GBU-12 suspended about 6 scale feet above it. Having seen the end product of this in a lot of pictures, I thought it would tell a story. In the pictures that I have of a few T-72s in the desert, it looks like some guy used a 30.06 on a squirrel!

Also...Thanks for the resounding welcome to the dark side!

Welcome to your new home Sluggo!

I am building Dragon's Nightfighting Panther G and and it is a good kit also.

A word on Barrels, if your barrel on either the Tamiya kit or Dragon kit isn't up to scratch, Eduard make an exceptional replacement.

Good luck,

Matt

Captain pretty much covered it including parts and kits , RE Parts : aber kits are second to none , you better have the PE chops for these or forget it ! Eduard barrels are also second to none , and fruil track , personally, I think are the way to go . I have tried others and while some are pretty good , they are just 2 frustrating to deal with in the long run .

Welcome sluggo. If you can stand it, try sifting through all the information in the Panther Group Build thread. Alot of information there.

Jon pretty much covered it but i'll add some for markings:
3rd PzDiv - Bear rampant (standing)
11th PzDiv - Ghost with sword
23rd PzDiv - Eiffel tower
There are many more and these were in addition to the units "normal" runic insignia.
As a side note: the peace symbol is the insignia of the 4th PzDiv invereted.

Edit: Avoid Tamiya's A, It requires a lot of work and new parts!

1. Did Panthers have the ambush scheme and what time period did they have it?
normaly late 1944 - early 1945 ill look for the dates but they stopped putting the dots on later on 1945
2. What are some good looking unit markings for a Panther at this time period?
just numbers (not as flashy as planes)
there was a nice Panther A late with a black panther jumping through a circle and lightning from the 1 SS panzer corp, i think it was Jochim Pipers tank
3. What type of mahine gun would the tank have up top?
MG 34
4. Which kit of the Panther should I buy? I am assuming Tamiya is a good place to start.
Tamiya Late G. Dragons Panther A's are great kits if you want to do an other Panther with Pipers markings on
5.Side skirtted or no side-skirts?
its up to you
6. Who makes good zimmerit for tank kits?
you dont need to Zim it if you want the late Panther
7. A good company / website for after-market engine deck grilles and photo-etched parts?
Aber http://www.aber.net.pl
or Eduard http://www.eduard.com/
you might want to check out Eduards Barrels too (very nice)
and http://www.archertransfers.com/ for some markings
friulmodel tracks are nice too

and the Panther group build for some more tipshttp://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9124

Welcome to the Darkside

I,ll get back to you