Steel Cats (Sept. 2012-Aug. 2013)

Thanks, all. This camo scheme is a definite step in a different direction for me. I thought it was interesting when I saw it in the Osprey book, and thought it had a nifty, last-minute look to it. I could only find one good prifile of it, so everything other than the right side is speculation.

And the masking agent is silly putty. The pic shows it partially dissolved after the application of the dk. yellow, very scary. I learned a lesson there, don't over-use the silly putty.

Work permitting, I may make some more progress next week, and maybe even examine the rest of the work on this GB. What I have had time to look at is simply outstanding.

Rbaer-  Great work on the camo!  Always wanted to try that scheme on one of my armors one day... can't wait to see the result. 

Hasen- Stunning Panther build!!  You definitely have hit home run with this.  Now I am more determined to build Panther in 2013... thanks a lot!!!

Marc- Have to get me one of those ATAK Zimm sets!  They are harder to find here in USA... my LHS sells Cavalier and I see plenty at shows but not ATAK.  Again, great work on the Zimm... one of my fav patterns. 

Guys- Quick update on my Tiger... yep, it has paint on finally. LOL It was still wet when I took the pic... 

Paint is taking much longer to dry because I added too much thinner to the paint.  DUH!  I am not too concerned because 90% will be covered with winter camo over the weekend. Started working on the figures... just base coat and some work on the flesh.  Still in early stage of painting you know...

More to come... thanks for looking!

wow, awesome work going on guys, i'll have individual comments later, for now a couple of pics of my turret progress.

Marc , the zim looks good from here .but then i didnt have to put on .

Andy , man its a crime all of the brass got painted over .................

Duke , i like  !

Hasenpfeffer - Dave - Great looking panther - love how the road wheels turned out with the dusting / mud on the lower hull / road wheels and track spot on ... noted nice detail around the upper turret hatches and MG mounting and wear on top ... engine deck looks nice with usual wear ... subtle oil / smoke. Noted the small detail on the storage tube (chain) .. only suggestions I see be would a little more water streaking, rust, wear on the turret and upper hull. However, don't know the timing / situation / time period of the vehicle ... Armor86

Thanks all you guys. I'm flattered. I'm also glad I was able to share my best build to date. Couldn't have done it without all of the help I got from this and other forums.

Marc - ya didn't have to go and copy me now...  ATAK makes 4 different patterns for the A Late. LOL You must have been coerced subliminally.

Thanks Andy - you'll like your Panther build. I liked it so much that I may be building another Panther A for this GB (hint). I have an ancient Italeri kit that I'd like to compare zimm manufacturers with. I have a Cavalier set for it. That or I have another old school Tamiya Tiger I late. If I could reach that gear that Marc has, I could build both! 

Armor86 - I hear ya with the wear & tear on the turret and hull. I didn't want to do too much, but still make it look like it's seen some action. I'm not a huge fan of the rusty bits. While it can look pretty cool for those who can pull it off, I get the impression there wasn't much rust on these beasts during their service life. Kinda my doctrine anyway. The streaking and such I found to be fairly difficult to pull off on the zimmerit pattern. So it was basically limited to dust, washes and filters, etc.

Bonus pic for ya!

(of course, perusing these pics last night, I came up with a punch list of 20 fixes/improvements - still working on the figure - not my strong point. Maybe I should just send it to Andy for painting... )

Hasenpfeffer

(of course, perusing these pics last night, I came up with a punch list of 20 fixes/improvements - still working on the figure - not my strong point. Maybe I should just send it to Andy for painting... )

Absolutely just send the figures over BUT this Panther has come too. LOL  Just take your time and paint the figures... it takes many nights to do just one.  Trust me my two figures it will take at least a week... fun! 

mustang1989

Hi guys. I don't (or haven't ) done any armor in the past but the work I see in this group build is nothing short of drop jaw amazing! There are some people at work who follow the aircraft that I build and I almost always say to whoever takes any interest in what I'm doing, "You think this is good? You should see some of the stuff the armor guys are doing online! Those dudes are on fire!"

Good work to you all! I really enjoy peeking in on this one, Joe

Thanks for checking in. We'd love to you have you take a stab at armor. This would be a great opportunity to get help and make new friends. 

Malone-Panther is continuing to come along nicely.

Marc-off to another great start.  You'll have three complete before I get my first one primed.

Andy-Tiger looks good....even with the brass painted....and the figures are fantastic.

Bob- Thanks buddy!

Guys- OK I lied!  Changed my mind and did color modulation on my Tiggy using Interactive AK MC set.  It still will be covered with winter camo but I plan to have a lot chipped off so we may see some results.

I hate wheels... 

Still working on the figures... still a long way to go.

Thanks for looking! 

Nice preshade Andy.  I like the looks of those figures too.

Andy: your kitten's lookin' sharp!

Andy, fantastic all around.  Nice modulation and the figures... well... what can I say.  WOW, and that's with more to be done to them too.

Andy - Your modulation is exquisitely done. I have the LifeColor modulation set for the dunkelgelb that I'm unsure I will utilize in conjunction with the tri color camo pattern. Anyway, I've perused a handful of examples and videos on applying color modulation and I have to say that your application is by far the clearest example of how the modulation is supposed to be applied and appear. Excellent job there and Thanks for sharing that with us.

Thanks guys!!!  Glad you liked the result.  It was fun doing this trust me!  

Now that my last finals are over, I finally get to join in the fun here. The Panther's sitting on my bench right now, and I'm looking the directions over to plan out the build. I'm deciding to try Vallejo Model Ail paints on this build, and I just ordered a German Colors set that should hopefully arrive next week, so in the meantime I'll be getting the hull together and cleaning up the wheels. Really excited about this one, it's my first Panther.

I'll be posting pics and writing about my build as soon as I've got something going. Happy Modelling!

Glad you could join the party Mike. Look forward to the Panther.

tigerman

mustang1989

Hi guys. I don't (or haven't ) done any armor in the past but the work I see in this group build is nothing short of drop jaw amazing! There are some people at work who follow the aircraft that I build and I almost always say to whoever takes any interest in what I'm doing, "You think this is good? You should see some of the stuff the armor guys are doing online! Those dudes are on fire!"

Good work to you all! I really enjoy peeking in on this one, Joe

Thanks for checking in. We'd love to you have you take a stab at armor. This would be a great opportunity to get help and make new friends. 

That's great news Mike. Certainly looking forward to seeing your work.

Its been a long build, but finally have the Panther finished. After the wash, i sprayed the flat finish and used AK's Earth Effects mixed with some pastel chalk to add a touch of mud. I didn't want to much as this was in use in the summer of 44.

The turret has been secured on at this point.

After this, i gave it a light spray with Tamiya Buff.  I then used AK's dust effect's. This was another first, and i was concerned it might be a bit heavy. But i really like the final result. Then all i had to do was add the wheels and tracks.

I decided to give the kit supplied DS tracks a go, as i know a lot of people love them. I was really disappointed when i got the kit and found these in there. And after using them, i really can't see what the hype is about. I definitely think i will be replacing the DS tracks i have in other kits with Fruils.

Eric, thanks for a great GB. I will definitely be keeping an eye on this one and looking forward to round 2 (or should that be round 3) in the near future

I hope to get to the figures soon, so i should be able to get some completed Dio pics up before the end of the build. 

Excellent job, Bish!  Very nice on the weathering. Like the streaking and love the muddy stuff on the bottom of the side skirts. This is a really neat vehicle. The only thing that I may have done is something with the muzzle brake. A little chipping or silvering of the interior metal rings? Who knows how much combat this vehicle really saw though. Just a thought. Also wondering if they actually used this as a recovery vehicle? Maybe some tow cables? It's too bad that there isn't much on the way of reference material out there. I'm kinda interested in how they welded the turret on.

Like the 2nd from the bottom pic the best. Think it shows off your work quite well. 

Hope to see ya around... 

Bish-Great job-the buff & dust treatment make a world of difference-looks fantastic!

Thanks Dave. Good point on the muzzle, could deffinatly do with a little chipping on there. I will sort that when i get back to it for the Dio

As i understand it, the vehicle as its seen here was used as a command vehicle by the units recovery section. So i would imagine it would not have been used for recovery. And the only photo's that seem to exist, two of them both showing the left side, don't have any tow cables. Which seems a bit odd as tow cables would be useful if the vehcile its self broke down. Don't know how the Germans did it, but if we had to recover a broken down AFV, we would always use the cables on the broken vehicle.

Thanks bob, i was rather pleased with this. I have some plans for some heavyly dusted German vehciles, so this was good practice.

here's some more turret progress, on to the hull.

Nice work on the turret. Are those loops on the side PE or you do them yourselfe.

Bish.  Looking MY-T awesome there.

MD that turret really looks nice.

Malone-Turret looks good-coming together nicely.

Awesome work Malone... I can only imagine how small those PE parts are... eagle eyes man, eagle eyes.