Hey Joe, glad you like the Panther, and thanks for the compliments. This will be my best build by far and I'm happy to share. (Of course this is my most expensive build as well... wanted to go all out for the first GB and all.) Anyway, to answer your questions:
1. Tools were painted off the vehicle and glued on later. When/if you decide to go back and look, you'll see the progression from "naked" to "dressed" so to speak. As it stands now, the tools that are attached had the basic paint job before they were glued in place. Touch up and weathering will be done now that they're on. There are a few that still need paint, and those are just test fit on the vehicle. The same applies to the spare links, however, in this case they are extra Friul metal track links and were burnished with Blacken It (very similar if not the same as the AK Burnishing fluid). Nothing else was done to them yet as they look pretty cool just after the treatment.
2. The tracks are Friul Model white metal. They are individual links, and truly can't be beat for realism. On the advice of Andy (deafpanzer) from reading through his Pz III and It's Variants GB, I used 0.5mm dress pins as the track pins instead of the wire that is provided. They are much stiffer, and just overall more realistic. It's pretty much like a real track in 1:35 scale. I used the Blacken It solution to burnish them. It turns them a nifty darker color with a slight rusty patina. It'd be harder to paint them that way for sure. I then mixed up a batch of MIG pigments, 2:1 Dried Mud to Russian Earth and made a sort of thin paste of it with mineral spirits. I brushed/dabbed that onto the tracks, especially into the areas between the cleats. Let dry and then dry brushed (no paint) and used a brush with mineral spirits (not much here, just enough to moisten the brush) to even out, blend and basically get the look I was going for. Finally, I used a small piece of sand paper to go over the cleats, inside of the teeth and some other random areas to expose the bare metal again.
3. The tank itself was primed with Tamiya Hull Red (XF9), and then sprayed with Tamiya Dark Yellow (XF60) with ~10% Tamiya Flat White ( XF2) - others use Deck Tan to lighten as it's more neutral, but I've had pretty good luck with the white. I spray this on to cover, but some of the deepest nooks, etc, remain mostly the Hull Red. This is ok as it is kinda like pre-shading in a way. This was followed up with a lighter shade (~20% XF2) on the upper surfaces and upper edges of the vertical surfaces, and then even lighter (~30% XF2) on the upper most surfaces. The last two coats of lighter DY were done somewhat sparingly. These main coats were done at 15-20 psi. The camo is Tamiya Dark Green (XF61) and Tamiya Red Brown (XF64). Both were lightened slightly with Flat White. (Can't recall the %, but I'd guess around 10%). This was sprayed on in short spurts pretty close to the model closer to 30 psi. I still got more overspray than I wanted, but looks ok for this camo pattern. Plus it gets toned down some with filters, washes, weathering, etc. I just got a new Iwata AB earlier this year and I'm still trying to fine tune the settings for different applications. Finally, following what Marc and some others had done I sprayed diluted Tamiya Buff (XF57) (95% Thinner to 5% paint) over the whole thing to bring it all together. This was done how Marc instructed. ~12" from the model to mist it on in light coats. I didn't go as far as Marc as I had no experience with how it dries etc. I figured I could add more later if I wanted to.
So... a lot of info. Let me know if I need to clarify any of my ramblings.