Nice save on closing that gap Tony.

Shellback - Yes lots of wheels and patience is a must for this hobby. I was hoping to get some bench time but after dinner, reading to the kids and putting them to bed its lights out for me also.

Hasen , i just read your post about the Bosch light on the glacis of the Panther ausf A  . Interesting about the electrical cable/ conduit . Supposidly the pic i posted was an ausf. A .......but i,m not sure .

The thing that caufgt my interest was when you mentioned D-o-n-u-t-s ......!!!!!! You make donuts ????

Andy , that fire extinguisher looks too small !

Seriousely , nice looking p.e. details friend . Glad your going to be around for a while .

Armor , those are some small pieces of p.e. , looks good .The barrel looks really sharp . I'm waiting on my order from R.B. Models .

Thanks everyone. Here is how it looks after the black is applied, and with the shim in plac...better

Yes the tracks are glued on.

Cheers

Tony

Hey Tony , she looks good . I do the same thing as far as painting the interior black , especially back where the grills are .

Good start Tony. I tried building the whole kit and then painting once with mixed results. I guess it turned out alright.

deafpanzer

" ... I love dirty worn finished tanks!"

deafpanzer: You and I are going to get along great!!!!...I'm looking forward to seeing your weathering work.  BTW: I'll be sloppin' up my Tiger tonight...

wing_nut: It looks like your tank is getting attacked by clamps in that photo!!!  How about throwin' that GIANT penny in those latest pic's...I'm curious to see some scale comparison.

armor86: Nice start on the PE!!!

taxtp: That is quite a gap!...did the shim work OK? BTW:  Did you glue the tracks and wheels on already or is that just a test fit? 

Here's a midnight update (for me anyway).

The deck is only sitting in place for the photo, but you can see a gap between it an the rear of the hull.

I've since added a shim to close it up, and sprayed the interior flat black to ensure that viewers won't see anything inappropriate through the vents and grills.

The turned barrel is from RBModels.

I thought I'd have a go at building the whole thing before commencing painting. I've not tried it, so this can be the pilot for that technique.

Cheers

Tony

My pleasure IBuild . Lots of wheels on these Cats isnt there .  

MEGA thanks Carl on the detailed technique. Spent 2 hours cutting, sanding and painting the road wheels black.

I like those details Marc . I meant to ask you about the straps holding the shovel and other equipment ...are those made of copper ? The reddish color is what made me think of copper . I'm still looking for the "mug cover" that you mentioned .......................i know , i'm sarcastic .........

I've never had any luck bending card stock plastic like that , it always breaks for me .

Just all around great stuff guys!

Marc: I'm going to try to duplicate what you've done but I was going to airbrush a fine layer of mud and dust over the running gear. Guess I can temperary assemble the wheels and tracks, spray, and then paint the time. Hmmmmmmmm...

Oooo a big kitty to play with my little kitty.

Here's the latest progress.  The brass PE screens came with the kit and the nickel plated ones are from the spares box to replace the solid plastic parts that cover those vents.  The scale is a bit big but still a better look than the plastic.  Scrap brass for the vision ports on the front and new fenders and a mug guard, the other side has a busted hinge. from plastic card.

IBuild ...........

Shellback....love the idea on your road wheels. So I understand your steps to achieve that look they are:

1. Paint the wheels black ..answer....  Black will work , i used a dark gray . Just make sure you use a matt finish .

2. Paint the Hubs ...answer.... I have the hubs off still and they are painted dunkelgelb . I think you meant the the "face " of the wheel . I sprayed the "face" of the wheel in red oxide with dunkelgelb over that . I sprayed at a right angle to the rim to keep as much paint as possible off of the dark gray rim .

3. Use a graphite pencil ....answer... Correct .

4. Future at a right angle....answer...Also correct . This will keep the rims shiny and help to prevent the graphite from rubbing off unto the inside of the track surfaces durring assembly .

Here's what i'm referring too .

Spent the better part of the last 3 days reading all the posts since I am starting tonight on my Big Cat. Boy am I behind schedule and WOW what great ideas and progress.

Shellback....love the idea on your road wheels. So I understand your steps to achieve that look they are:

1. Paint the wheels black.

2. Paint the Hubs

3. Use a graphite pencil

4. Future at a right angle.

I used Magic Tracks for the first time on my DRAGON - Bergepanzerwagen IV and never will again. I like MODELKASTEN and Fruils because they are flexible.

Speaking of which does any one know which MK tracks are approprite for this KT?

I found the Sk-6 tracks http://www.modelkasten.com/modelkasten/sk/sk-6.html but they say they are for the

Great work on the PE Andy.

Armor, love that texture work.

Unable to keep up with all the GB posts, a lot of good stuff ... just getting back to my Tiger I DAK vehicle adding PE details to include locks on the back storage bin, drilled placement points for all the PE fastners and starting the turret smoke launchers ... using voyager detail set ... photos below. Armor86

Marc- Glad you are OK!  

Guys- No more trips for a long time!  Spent some time at my workbench for last two nights working on those feisty tools clasps.    

Am disappointed with this Voyager PE set... they are so fragile that they break into pieces if you bent more than once.  Keep in mind it is my first time using Voyager.  Here's another example they should have done better... they wanted me to use kit supplied part and cut off molded straps on fire extinguisher and replace it with PE.  That would take me a long time to do this.  Fortunately I had styrene rods and one was pretty close but little smaller.  Who cares?!?   It made my job a lot easier... why can't Voyager just include a piece at first place like other manufacturers do.  

So far I am done with all tools except for the barrel cleaning rods and steel cables.  Here's four more...

Have fun tonight giving out candies... Happy Halloween!

Looks like it was one of the worst storms we've had.

Hope all the members are alright and prayers sent for everybody that got hit.

Glad you made it through ok. Hope all is well with other members too.

You survived !

Been watching the news .Looks like N.J. got beat up pretty bad .

I hope I don't jinx it but my power is back

woohoo!!!!

Hang onto your kits tight guys on the East Coast. Hope it's over soon with as little damage as possible.

Tony , should be a good kit .

Yes , this storm is a real beast !!!! Hang tight my friends back east !!! Guess the media didnt over sell this monster ..........................

Marc , di you get that "model detailing rock" from Micro Mark ? ...............

Marc: that's the first time I've seen someone rock the surface texture into a kit! Had kits I felt like throwing rocks at though!

I do think the media overplayed some disasters but things do look bad around the coasts of NY, NJ, and southern New England. My prayers to those in the path of the storm.

Still lurking......

Very, very fine work being done guys....all of you.  Too much to point out but will still be watching with much envy.  Keep it up.

MARC, Beautiful build and finish on your Panther   On another note, the Dragon 1/35 KT I had built had the same large gap on the engine deck.  Never could figure what I had done wrong and now with yours believe it may be that Dragon just got it wrong.  I too was able to clamp things together and in the end could not tell there was originally a problem.

Marc ,Keep dry there in Jersey !

The King looks like it had a clamp fest ! Nice start , enjoy your time at the bench ,

With the storm coming and my jobs being postponed I am looking at a couple of good bench time days.  Should have a few updates with the next 2 days.  Started working on the little kitty last night.

The extra track hooks are molded to the turret and are not “hooks”. These where straightened to make the tracks fits better and the end bent a bit into hooks to look better.

The front mud guards were cut off as these and the side fenders scale up to 4.5’.  A new front mud guard can be seen in a pic a further down.  Just a couple of sections of the fenders will be made from sheet styrene.

Some surface texture was added with a rock.  I have a couple of different rocks that I press into the surface then sand down and ridges formed.

Big gap in the back and while I think I have the piece properly set against the guides on the inside I really find it hard to believe that Dragon could have gotten it that wrong.  But stranger things have happened.  Regardless, there is enough flex that the clamps will hold it right until some glue sets.

I made new tools to hang in the side.  The hammer and axe handles on the top of the hull were undercut a little to give the appearance they are not molded on the surface.  Can’t see it the pic though.

SMJmodeler

deafpanzer: Thanks for the compliment on the whitewash.  You going to go for a worn finish too?

SMJ- Back home from DC trip just in time to escape Sandy.  Yes, that's my plan... I may have OCD but I love dirty worn finished tanks! 

Marc- Beautiful work on the Panther!!!  And a  too!  Looking forward to follow your another build. 

Carl- Excellent work on the wheels and thanks for another tip! 

Ben- Love the camo work!  Probably your best camo job so far! 

Dave- Stunning camo work too!!! It looks like it was actually done by the tank crew using sprayer at 1:35 scale! 

Ben that really is looking very shrp indeed.

Carl, like the effect the pencil has on the steel wheels.  And I just happen to have some steel wheels to do soon

With regards to the mention of the stain finish. Dunno how much that applies to armor cuz just the amount of dust a 1:1 will have will make it pretty much dead flat.  And AC is a different story.  Even when dirty, when the light catches it in a certain way there is a sheen that it has that I have rarely been able to achieve.  I have seen model with the "look" and it really give the impression of a panted metal surface.  You can almost "see" a thin metal skin  on the aircraft.  Look at the spinner and around the teeth.

Like a lot of others I am riding out Sandy and hope to get some good bench time today and tomorrow. 

But sorry... I have a little bit of a rant...

 I am not saying that this will not be  a bad storm, and you really do need to be ready for it, but I am already getting pretty sick of hearing the newscasters going nuts with their descriptions of what may happen and even about what is actually happening.  One was standing at the edge of the Hudson River this morning going on and on about how horrible the conditions are and OMG what are we going to do.  There weren't even any whitecaps on the water behind her.  How about giving us some facts to be prepared and stop trying to out do the other networks by trying to embellish more than what is actually happening.

But then again, if journalists didn't tell us that everything is worse then it really is... how would we know the truth

Having said that... if your in the path... be safe and build a model.