Guys I have run out of compliments - everything looks soooo good...

Eric: I might have some old German numbers lying around- lemme check the decal dungeon...

Dave yes they are "welded" on.

Carl... how long did you have your tracks in the Novacan?  I have mine in about 30 to 40 seconds and they are as black as night.  BTW... found 3 bottle on EBay for $15.  There is a 4th bottle but for zinc so that is pretty much useless.

Thanks Cliff. I prefer the Cartograf ones found in newer Dragon kits.

I believe I have that set in un-used cond..Oops slightly used,two rows ,0-5 left on the sheet.You want them give me a pm.

Ah ok sorry most of my German armour decals are pretty old so I doubt they'll be much use to you 

wing_nut

Dave yes they are "welded" on.

Carl... how long did you have your tracks in the Novacan?  I have mine in about 30 to 40 seconds and they are as black as night.  BTW... found 3 bottle on EBay for $15.  There is a 4th bottle but for zinc so that is pretty much useless.

Marc , i didnt soak them long . Mine never did get "black " . i think the bottle i used the patina from has been opened for a while . It was the only one my wife would allow me have ! Stuff is in her stained glass stash so i take what she'll let me have ..............

Thanks Cliff, maybe I'll just try my techmod decals and see how it goes.

Well, I put on "ficticious numbers" just to get the ball rolling. I couldn't find much in my stash or boxes and didn't like my Techmod decals, so it gets a 505, which of course is wrong. The numbers are a little thicker then the norm as well. Personally, accuracy sometimes has to take a little bit of a back-seat to fun and production, so please forgive me. 

I based the tracks, so I hope to get the decals finished this weekend and start weathering next. If all goes well, I hope to conclude before the end of the month. Repeat, hope to.

We've all heard of the carpet monster.  Well I have a desk douche or bench ***. I keep loosing parts that don't make it to the carpet.  Started with 8 track hooks... and then there were 7.  I use silly putty to make a quickie mold to cast new "simple" parts when this happens.  New hook and the extra links hung and secured with the pins.

 I really hope I don’t break the sight off with my big sausage fingers.  They must know thought since the parts are doubled.

Marc-continuing to look great.

Question-I'm assuming that you use resin to cast the parts?  btw-great idea for a quick mold...might have to give that a try for my missing c-hook.

Great idea there Marc, I lost a few of the spare track hangers but Dragon puts so many extra sprues in the box I was able to savage more than enough to finish!

Swiped a loader's hatch off an old Tamiya kit, painted, weathered it, and glued it to my Royal Tiger today- hopefully I'm back in business.

Nice save Marc.

Marc - continues to look good.  Btw, what is the white material you used to cast those lost parts?

Myself, almost done adding the PE detail before painting.  All that is left are the attachment points for the thinner cable hanging on the left hull side.  Voyager has provided nothing for this, so will have to create the bitty parts from some spare brass sheet.

regards,

Jack

Made some progress on the Panther yesterday-a lot of the 'fiddly little bits' attached to the hull.  Now its time to move on to the turret.

Thanks for the comments guys.

The white stuff is 2 part resin.... Micro Mark CR300.

figured id bump with some pics...  gonna prime tonight...

and yes i buugered the tracks. man ds tracks in 1/72 DO NOT resist tamiya cement at all. so guys be careful  they will turn to mush.  any comments or suggestions will be helpful before i shoot paint...

Jack- Thanks for the GREAT tip!  I was pondering how to make name tags for all of my builds.  I even stopped by trophy shop and they wanted at least $10 for each and the results may not look that nice.  Probably cheaper to print my own using nice papers.

Malone- Love all of the work on your baby!!!  

Update... have been working on the base.  It is almost complete.  I only need to add snow to parts of the base.  Most of products were from Armor Farm... now a huge fan of their products.  Tall grass was from Woodland Scenics.  Short grass was from Army Painter.

Will post an update after I add snow to the base then I am calling it done FINALLY. LOL 

Really nice work MD.. Bummer about the tracks.  That's one of the reasons I'm not a fan of DS tracks.  But a necessary evil in that scale.

Andy sweet base.  Are you going to use fake snow or just pout it outside for a few days?

Added fuel cell vents.

Got the exhausts ready for mounting.

The tedious chore of the tracks is completed.

For whatever reason I absolutely could not get a good looking solder joint on PE.  Tried Tix flux as suggested by friend and WOW.  I’ve heard about solder getting sucked into the joists before just never saw it.  Got the fenders done with only minor clean up.  Instead of trying to get the fenders to stay on only attached at the mounting plates I filled the back with strips of plastic flush with the top folded edge and secured with CA.  Scraped away the Bondo and I was able to get a really strong bond.

Andy -- STUNNING base, makes me want to have a go!

Wingnut, I am in awe of your workmanship! Words fail me...!

Mike/TB379

thanks guys  hopefully i wont screw the paint up. was hopeing to put her on paved road but im gonna scratch that and try to figure something else out...  

wingnut, that tiger is sweet man. the ultimate in detailing man.  i look up to ya.

deaf. great start on your base it should compliment the snow kitty nicely.

Andy, nice looking base. That barley looks rather intersting. Going to have to check that out.

Marc, nice work again. I have only done one bit of soldering, and i noticed the solder didn't flow as i had read. Is the Tix flux a paiste.

Malone-with all that great looking PE, it's almost a shame to paint it....however, I have no doubt that your Panther will emerge even better looking.

Andy-very nice base-your Tiger will look right at home there.

Marc-how many times can I say Wow!?  Great looking KT

After reviewing my build, something that 'just didn't look right' on my Panther, I discovered that I followed the Dragon directions even thought 'it just didn't seem right'...anyway, I bungled the install of the fenders on the side of the hull....put one bracket in the wrong place on each side and that threw everything else off....should be able to sort things out during my next session at the bench...oh well, I made it to Step 10 before a 'uh oh'.

My apologies for not being an active participant in the GB. Had a harsh last few months with work drama and health issues.

Congrats to all the finishes... great work, really very inspirational.

I had planned to build the Dragon Panther A Late & Tamiya Panther A with all sorts of goodies. No way I will be able to complete any of that in time. For once I would like to complete a GB :)    So, can I change my entry to the Cyber Hobby Orange box Panther II ? A paper panzer ("Panther F") and the old (and somewhat inaccurate) Dragon molds, but an straightforward easy build to get back in the groove.

Cheers

Great work Malone and Marc.

Andy, that base will look great with some snow on it.

Nothing to report here. I got the tracks based and will get some rust on them Sunday, maybe Saturday if I'm ambitous.

Thanks guys.

Bish the Tix is a liquid.  I think I saw online the is a clear and amber version.  Don't know the differences but I have the clear.

Marc- Will you ever let me have your KT as my fourth wife?  Loving it already... 

Guys- Thanks for the comments!  Still working on the base... added snow and still long way to go.  Keep in mind I am shooting for end of winter as snow is starting to go away.  

Thanks for looking!

Andy: nicely done base! It's a work of art.

JMart

I had planned to build the Dragon Panther A Late & Tamiya Panther A with all sorts of goodies. No way I will be able to complete any of that in time. For once I would like to complete a GB :)    So, can I change my entry to the Cyber Hobby Orange box Panther II ? A paper panzer ("Panther F") and the old (and somewhat inaccurate) Dragon molds, but an straightforward easy build to get back in the groove.

Yes, that would be fine. Sorry I missed this earlier.