Bish: Glad to see the tracks worked out for you, I think I still prefer the 'rubber band' tracks but the 'Magic Tracks' are pretty much the most foolproof and easy to work with ones I've used. Of course they're not so tiny as to be almost impossible to work with as the ones on my Hobbyboss T-26 or composed of three parts each link like the AFV Club aftermarket ones for the M26/M46!!!

And a relief to see you getting the zimmerit straight, I was reading your post over in the armour forum yesterday about it and frankly ended up really confused over the whole thing! Guess I'm lucky here to mostly build Allied subjects.

had a bit of a challenging week with the zimm and a second attempt, I gave up with the stamp and marked the zimm pattern into the dry putty with a knife blade and am not finally happy. But I have been able to do some pther bits as well. Gamera, I am really glad I caught your post on the tracks when I did, very timely. I did the first track as you did, but then used that as a guide for the second, and I found these magic tracks to be really easy to put together.

These first pics were taken before my final zimm attempt.

I also got on with adding more of the detail after the top and bottom were out together.

And then after the zimm was re done, some of the tool clamps and also using small bits of styrene rod to replicate  the weld residue that may have been left behind after the tool holders were removed. I am going to sand those down a bit and then add some plastic weld before shaping them.

I am made a best guess on the relocation of the tool holders, putting them where it seems to make sense. There's still a few more to add.

You may have noticed the absence of the roof.  While the gun does move up and down it does spring back up, but I need to fix the gun at the right angle and before I do that I need to get the figures assembled. So this week will be mainly focused on getting those together and staring on the base, especially the trees.

Ahh, thanks Bish. Yeap, it's the Verlinden set, it was cheaper than the CMK one. I'm only going to have the engine hatch open instead of the whole deck removed so it doesn't have to be anywhere near perfect. I think it looks good enough for what little can be seen.

gamera, was that the Verlinden engine. I got that for the Dragon panther I built last year for the D-Day GB. It was only at the last minute I realised it was for the Tamiya kit, so I switched the dio idea around between the two kits. And those Verlinden engines are not the best fit even on the right kit. I had issues with the Tiger I engine on the Tamiya kit.

Ouch, if I were moving any slower I'd be going backwards here! Anyway, I FINALLY finished the engine and started fitting her into the kit. Stupid me, found a set designed for the TAMIYA Panther on Ebay cheap and figured it SHOULD fit the DRAGON Panther with a few modifications- well it's taken more than a few- probably wasn't worth the ten bucks I saved (yellow light areas are parts I had to chip off to make it fit). 

I am going kinda slow here and using epoxy since I swear the blasted thing will probably break lose and fall into the hull bottom as soon as the kit is finished and I can't get to it inside. I'm using enough epoxy here Mister-T couldn't put it lose (well not unless he rips the kit to toothpicks doing so). 

Bish

Eagle90

jgeratic

Eagle - good job on the 234.   

Yes, I noticed some straps have the pin wash missing.  The jack too, would likely be in the vehicle colour.

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Thanks Dan - be interesting to see how you make out with those steel tow cables - maybe a heavier string would work better because of the curves?

Thanks Wayne -  these are Doc O'brians weathering powders.  Didn't bother mixing even though the pigments (Patina Green and Dirty Brown) aren't official Wehrmacht colours.

Thanks Bish - that first photo, thought those tools were meat tenderizers.  That is plenty extra work, but should be a cracker finish when done.

------------------------------------

Thanks also RX7850 and Cliff

I reworked some of the camou shapes, applied a Florys wash, and flat coat.  A MiG brown filter was brushed on to cut down the brightness of the green.  The Lehr tactical symbol and loading stencils located on the rear, are home made decals.

regards,

Jack

Thank you Jack!  LOL!  You know, those bloody cans are haunting me now, and to tell the truth, I did not notice the cans until you mentioned it!  How embarrassing!  How am I supposed to impress you armour guys if I keep making silly mistakes!    Just plain missed it when I was doing it I guess.  Thanks for pointing it out.  That's a quick fix!  Thanks again!

Eagle90

Don't worry, we all make slip up's. Here's me removing dry Milliput that took 3 days to apply just to get the damn pattern right.

Ain't this a fun hobby

LOL!  Well, if the armour dudes have it happen, I'm in good company! 

Eagle90

Gamera

Jack: Really love how she's turning out. Not a big fan of washes myself but they do look so good on zimmerit!

Eagle: Glad you're enjoying this branch of the hobby. I think armour is a nice diversion from aircraft- way more wheels but a heck of a lot less annoying masking and no friggin' clear parts.

LOL!  You are right!  It is a great diversion...and no clear parts!  Oh so true!

Eagle90

Eagle90

jgeratic

Eagle - good job on the 234.   

Yes, I noticed some straps have the pin wash missing.  The jack too, would likely be in the vehicle colour.

----------------------------------

Thanks Dan - be interesting to see how you make out with those steel tow cables - maybe a heavier string would work better because of the curves?

Thanks Wayne -  these are Doc O'brians weathering powders.  Didn't bother mixing even though the pigments (Patina Green and Dirty Brown) aren't official Wehrmacht colours.

Thanks Bish - that first photo, thought those tools were meat tenderizers.  That is plenty extra work, but should be a cracker finish when done.

------------------------------------

Thanks also RX7850 and Cliff

I reworked some of the camou shapes, applied a Florys wash, and flat coat.  A MiG brown filter was brushed on to cut down the brightness of the green.  The Lehr tactical symbol and loading stencils located on the rear, are home made decals.

regards,

Jack

Thank you Jack!  LOL!  You know, those bloody cans are haunting me now, and to tell the truth, I did not notice the cans until you mentioned it!  How embarrassing!  How am I supposed to impress you armour guys if I keep making silly mistakes!    Just plain missed it when I was doing it I guess.  Thanks for pointing it out.  That's a quick fix!  Thanks again!

Eagle90

Don't worry, we all make slip up's. Here's me removing dry Milliput that took 3 days to apply just to get the damn pattern right.

Ain't this a fun hobby

Jack: Really love how she's turning out. Not a big fan of washes myself but they do look so good on zimmerit!

Eagle: Glad you're enjoying this branch of the hobby. I think armour is a nice diversion from aircraft- way more wheels but a heck of a lot less annoying masking and no friggin' clear parts.

jgeratic

Eagle - good job on the 234.   

Yes, I noticed some straps have the pin wash missing.  The jack too, would likely be in the vehicle colour.

----------------------------------

Thanks Dan - be interesting to see how you make out with those steel tow cables - maybe a heavier string would work better because of the curves?

Thanks Wayne -  these are Doc O'brians weathering powders.  Didn't bother mixing even though the pigments (Patina Green and Dirty Brown) aren't official Wehrmacht colours.

Thanks Bish - that first photo, thought those tools were meat tenderizers.  That is plenty extra work, but should be a cracker finish when done.

------------------------------------

Thanks also RX7850 and Cliff

I reworked some of the camou shapes, applied a Florys wash, and flat coat.  A MiG brown filter was brushed on to cut down the brightness of the green.  The Lehr tactical symbol and loading stencils located on the rear, are home made decals.

regards,

Jack

Thank you Jack!  LOL!  You know, those bloody cans are haunting me now, and to tell the truth, I did not notice the cans until you mentioned it!  How embarrassing!  How am I supposed to impress you armour guys if I keep making silly mistakes!    Just plain missed it when I was doing it I guess.  Thanks for pointing it out.  That's a quick fix!  Thanks again!

Eagle90

Bish

Eagle, thank you. And yes, if your going to do German armour, Zimm is something you can't avoid for ever. But there are plenty of ways to do it.

Really nice work on the 234. Good work on the wash, that has really paid off. Have added one to the front page. And a nice group shot, just one more to add I believe.

Thank you sir! 

I know I can't avoid it.  You guys have led me into the world of armour, and I can't look back now!  It is pretty fun! 

Again, thank you!  Yea, the wash was kinda nerve racking to do at first, but when I saw the final result...wow! 

Oh Yea!  One more to go to add to the family!  The Dragon 234/4!!!!!!!!!  Oh yeah!  She is a beauty!

Eagle90

lol, ye, they don't look a bit like that don't they. I am re doing a lot of the zimm as wasn't to happy with the way the pattern came out. I only looked more closely after a couple of guys in my WiP thread mentioned the pattern, an di am glad they didn.

That's looking real nice. I do really like how that camo came out, would never have thought of using powders. Is that a loading stencil on the rear, that's a nice touch.

Eagle - good job on the 234.   

Yes, I noticed some straps have the pin wash missing.  The jack too, would likely be in the vehicle colour.

----------------------------------

Thanks Dan - be interesting to see how you make out with those steel tow cables - maybe a heavier string would work better because of the curves?

Thanks Wayne -  these are Doc O'brians weathering powders.  Didn't bother mixing even though the pigments (Patina Green and Dirty Brown) aren't official Wehrmacht colours.

Thanks Bish - that first photo, thought those tools were meat tenderizers.  That is plenty extra work, but should be a cracker finish when done.

------------------------------------

Thanks also RX7850 and Cliff

I reworked some of the camou shapes, applied a Florys wash, and flat coat.  A MiG brown filter was brushed on to cut down the brightness of the green.  The Lehr tactical symbol and loading stencils located on the rear, are home made decals.

regards,

Jack

Eagle, thank you. And yes, if your going to do German armour, Zimm is something you can't avoid for ever. But there are plenty of ways to do it.

Really nice work on the 234. Good work on the wash, that has really paid off. Have added one to the front page. And a nice group shot, just one more to add I believe.

Gamera, thanks. From looking at the close up pics of the real thing, it would not be that hard to do this pattern without the stamps, just time consuming. It appear to have been made by just slicing horizontal and vertical lines into the Zimm and it looks like it was done free had as the squares are different sizes and some of the lines rather wobbly.

Maybe it depends on how the Milliput is stored. I have had mine a few years now, but then it is stored in the draw in a warm room. I do find it hard to mix and find it helps to do it in a small bowel of water. I used to use the grey but always ended up with lumps, the white seems much easier.

Thank you Gamera!

LOL!  I thought the same thing about the straps.  Like I said, the call outs on the instructions said it was all one color and the pics on the box showed the same.  And with my limited amount of armor experience, I wasn't sure.  I think I will go over them with something just to separate them like you said.  It's good to know and learn these things!  Someday, I'll have some knowledge on armor!    Thanks Gamera, always enjoy the tips and help!

Eagle90

WOW, great work and progress here!!!

Dan: You're continuing to make great progress here.

Bish: Nice! I actually kind of like making my own zimmerit like that though I've never tried the waffle pattern- guess you do need a stamper like that for it. I've always used Squadron putty, I tried Milliput but seemed too hard, since then I've heard what gets imported to the States seems to sit in a warehouse or ship for some time and gets old and tough- I have no idea if this is true.

Eagle: She turned out terrific! I really like how the brown wash came out, it really picks out the detailing. Just one little nitpick is I might paint the straps on the fuel cans a slightly different shade just to make them stand out a little more- no biggie just a little thing there.

How could I have forgotten the "family" pics!  

WOW!  What awesome work you all are doing!  Zimmerit!  Guess that will be my next adventure.  The ones in here are great! 

Well, I'm calling her finished!  Man,, I do like the 234's!  This one was fun and with it having an open top, I got to do a little bit of work on the inside!  It's hard to see, but I had a blast doing it.  I added the MP40 and ammo can just cuz!  The only thing I was uncertain about was the call out to paint the fuel cans and straps all the same color.  Not sure if they came from the factory like that or if the instructions were just plain wrong, but it doesn't look bad.  So anyway, I did some light weathering on this one.  Used a homemade wash (have bought a bottle of Florys Dark Dirt since!) for the first time and only lightly mudded the wheels and underside.  When I was checking out internet for vids on the 234's, everyone of them except for maybe 2 showed them driving through towns.  The other 2 showed them crossing a shallow river/creek.  So I figured, they weren't overly muddy like a tank would have been.  Bish, thank you for letting me do a GB in conjunction with you and what an awesome GB it turned out to be!  Thank you mate!

Ok wayne, will wait out for that.

since i use powders a lot i am interested in this. are they pastels you mixed or model powders?

if i'm going to get anything done for this i will have to switch to a OTS kit given i want the 1/35 K-5 RR gun diorama done for regionals in june. will advise

I am liking that a lot Jack and a very novel way of doing the camo.

Dan, some nice work there.

Well I guess its time I dived in with my contribution. I made a start on the Jagdpanther on Monday and spent a good part of the week adding the Zimm. I am using Milliput white and to get the pattern I have a set of metal stamps from Airwaves I got years ago. The set comes with 4 pattern with ach pattern having 3 stamps. So far I have only used the most common zimm pattern I am sure many are familiar with. But this one gived me a chance to use a different one. These are the stamps.

 I started out with the front glacis plate. I am building a vehicle of the 654. s Jag pz Abt. This unit mad some changes to their vehicles when they first arrived. One was to remove one of the drivers periscopes and put a metal plate over the hole. The Voyager PE set I am using included that plate.

Another change was to move most of the tools from the sides to the rear of the hull. From what I can see on the photo's I could fine, this left bare patches with no Zimm. So I pencilled those areas in before adding the putty.

I then add the putty and smooth it out. I find it works better when wet, but not to wet. Smoothing it out is easier if wearing a latex glove as a bare figure tends to grip on the putty.

After I added this, I realised it would be better to add the PE track guards and side pieces before doing all the zimm.

Then did the other side to complete the upper hull.

I only do one surface of each piece at a time and then leave 24 hours to drive, this avoids putting a thumb into wet zimmed putty. So the upper hull was done over 3 nights.

 Finally it I did the rear of the hull and the lower part of the front. Here you can see it half way through stamping the pattern.

And on the rear I have done some of the zimm and started on the PE. I'll add the rest of the zimm later as I can only surmise that some would have been removed to weld on tool brackets.  Both the kit and the PE set included the rear tool box brackets that were fitted to later vehicles. I added these and then realised they were wrong for this one, which should have brackets secured to the top of the hull and coming over the rear deck. Luckily I have some plastic one of these in the spares box, so removed the PE ones.

 Many of the features on this kit are for vehicles produced after July 44, which, for those interested in those sorts of things, is not right for this vehicle. So I am double checking everything.

And finally, the lower hull with the suspension added.

And that's all for now. 

Jgeratic: nice pre-shading and main color & camouflage on your Jagdpanzer.

Thanks Gamera: Great work on your M10/Panther.
Yeah I'll be doing some sanding and grinding on the sandbags, to get them to fit right.

Have been making more but slow progress with the photo-etch, the instruction's have the tow cable bending around some tight areas.  Not sure If I'll be able to do that,  should be attaching the main gun holder soon.

Ahhhh, the camo is the powders-DUH! I thought you meant you were using them for the first layer of weathering there! In any case I like how she's coming along.

Very creative use of the powders. Looking forward to seeing it done.

Thanks Cliff and Bish.

Yes,  the green and brown are the powders, both jars are in the above photo.  First time I have tried this, but not under the premise that it would look better, but rather easier for me as I find the airbrush tends to fight me - I dunno, maybe my basement is too cold at this time of the year?  I almost always end up with textured surface when spraying, line fine sand paper.

So there it is with acrylic clear Future sprayed on and a couple decals applied. For the photo, I drew the drapes so the vehicle would not be in direct sunlight.  Doesn't appear much, if any, powder was blown off with the airbrush, but the rough surface probably helped in that matter.

regards,

Jack

jack, it took a few minutes for the penny to drop on that. But wasn't that odd, they are still going on about that over here.

So are both those camo colours just powders. Interesting idea, have you don't this before. Interested to see how they look under a clear coat.

Jack: She's looking good! The green powder does look a little bright but as you say when you put a little brown over it should dull right down.

As to the fake M10 she's still in the bare grey plastic, there are a few brass PE parts like the rear fenders that probably show up sorta gold in the photos.

Cliff - looking solid there the M10/Panther, but is that blue or gold I see in the photos?

(anyone else notice that, similar to the blue dress debate on the inter web)

--------------------------------

Thanks Bish and Gamera.

I've got camouflage applied, but took a different route in the form of weathering powders.  Green looks a tad bright, but hope to knock that back a bit during the weathering stage.

regards,

Jack