ARMOR - Panther (PzKpfw V) Group Build (any scale)

Tigerman,
he he ... do you find yourself using the word Panther in any given sentence even if it doesn't fit... (kind of like that scene on "super troopers" when they pull the kids over at the first of the movie) Anyway... I completely understand...

WIldwilliam,
Hit it with something.... it always works for me... Ha Ha..BFH!

Claymore,
Hola Hombre... . Man don't go for that sissy boy cardboard... use a mans product......Silly Putty If you roll up the edges you can get a nice feathered edge. I don't recall if i ever used a 350 or not........hmmm.. I have a Pachaae H(sp?) and I just finnished freehanding the camo on a 1/72 Bf109 wingy thingy...shhh don't tell the other guys... (I got it for a desk model and it was on sale) Anywho... the H is awsome and fairly cheap at about 40 bucks... Its all steel guts make it a snap to clean up... just spray a little Carburator cleaner in it and viola... clean as the day it was new...
Good luck with your paint anyway...

Derek,
hope the airbrushing goes well.


i was having a rough time w/ mine last night.
trying to prime my IV-D, and the thing was just giving me fits.
i have to assume it was and I/O (incompetant operator) error,
as this is the first trouble i have had w/ it in ages.

when you have trouble spraying flat black, you know there is a problem!

(even farther off topic)
i always find it odd when merchants don't really seem to care if they sell anything or not.
i understand it when a store does not want to stock an entirely new line of paint
just because someone asked for a jar of it.
but not to order something when you could?
unless there is some type of 'minimum order' barrier, in which case they should just say:
"i would love to get the Gunze Sangyo Mr. Surfacer for you,
but i can only get it from Distributor X and they require a $50 minimum order.
can you wait until i get a few more things together to get the order up to minimum,
or help me pad it out by getting some more stuff from their lines?"

i mean, if there is a good reason that this can't be done, fine.
otherwise, don't get indignant when i get the stuff off the internet.



meanwhile, back on the Panther front:
keep after it, guys!
i am enjoying your updates & hoping for pictures.

ed.

good luck with your badger claymore68!

Picked up an airbrush today (Badger 350) and will try my first airbrushing on the Panther (after a little practice on some cardboard).

QUOTE: Derek, how considerate of the store to recommend you to their competitor. i guess they figured you were not worth the effort? well, see where it got them?

Yeah, my money spends at other places too

Hi Guys. Yeah I'm still alive, just been tied down keeping my folks place tidy while they are away. Gonna be a surprise when they come home tomorrow to find all the weeds pulled out of the gardens, grass mowed, outside of the house cleaned down and all the windows cleaned.

Good to see things moving along Bill. Remember the old sayings 'Haste makes waste' and "Slow and steady wins the race'.

Derek. My LHS is 15 mins away, but his stock is that bad that I only go to get paint and stuff. Told him when he brought in more than the old reissued Tamiya kits I might be tempted to buy something. When I got paint last week the store owner was packing up some of his stale stock and shipping them to another franchise store - figured he might have got the message.

For Kits, I get them from a couple of guys that visit my club's monthly meeting. These guys travel over an hour each month, and give us a discount to boot. (10% off their price which is already cheaper than other store prices). We make it worth their while to come all that way, but we also appreciate their efforts.

Tigerman, looking forward to see some pics when you can.

Well the D has had some further cosmetic work to make it a late D instead of the 'mid' pro I originally planned (early was out of the question due to the wrong air intakes in the kit). I had to remove the smoke dischargers and the cable connection from the turret and removed the side turret communication hatch, the pistol ports and fit the ones with rain gaurds (only slashed my fingers twice removing the originals). I also added the commander's direct sight and the gunners periscope rain guard (I actually shaved the kit one off for the earlier version) and reworked the jack retaining clasps 'cause the jack was stowed 'tipped over' on the late D's. Also fitted the kit 'surplus part' AA ring to the cupola as well.

Made up my own tool and track retaining pins using bits of PE fret, copper wire and Tiger Model Design's fine chain. This chain is superb!! It is made of copper and is exactly the same size as the retaining pin chain on my Aber fret (for the Ausf G I have). Beauty is that it is real chain and hangs like real chain. Patience was required to glue the ends to the pins and then the kit. Broke a coupe off moving them when the kit was painted to prevent them sticking (tracks are being done separately).

Just finished spraying the red brown base coat and Dunkelgelb over coat before I logged on. I'll take a few pics when the tracks have been painted and the running gear has all been assembled to the hull. Camo should be done by then too.

Sorry Bill, I guess I have Pantheritis. I see Panthers, Panthers, and more Panthers. I'd better finish mine soon, so they don't haul me away.

It's a late A, bud. But thanks for the info. I do have a Dragon early A, if I ever get around to building it!! lol

Bill, since you have an early A, you might do an Italian front. Only 2 colors.

Way to go, Kenneth! Three of you now. There are probably a couple more hiding in the woodwork, somewhere. You'll just need to ferret them out!! lol

I'm planning on a 3 color camo scheme. But haven't decided if I'm going to do an ambush or not. I've got one line drawing of a late A in ambush, but not sure if I want to go that route.

wipw, Almost there pal... Just a bit more and she'll be rumbling along... Are you going for a camo or overall dark yellow? Your braver than I am attaching that MG while still under construction.. ha ha I put mine on after it was screwed to the base...........NOooo Toucheee!!!

Tigerman... chugga chugga chugga.... roll on!

Derek, Sweet! I wish my LHS was that close... Its over in Jacksonville about 80 miles. I only go once a month when we have club meetings in LR. Oh that remindes me I was gonna tell ya'll I found a club... Turns out I am not the only Armor modeler in Arkansas.... there are THREE!!!

You are almost done, Bill. Nice job so far.

Making some progress also. I got my tracks painted and will weather maybe tomorrow. Finishing up the tools then will be able to weather the hull. I'm shooting to get this done before the M1 Group Build. If I start that, I'll never finish my Panther. Got a digi camera and hope to fire off my first pictures ever on the forum. Don't hold your breath though. Good luck to the rest of us "slowpokes".

QUOTE: i guess they figured you were not worth the effort? well, see where it got them?

That's exactly the same way I felt when Great Models closed their retail store!!

Thanks for the encouragement, Ed and Derek. I do try to keep at it. I got the filler on the front plate sanded down and smoothed out at lunch, so it's ready for the zimm coat.

Bill

Bill,
hey, every bit done is one more step on the road to completion.
my buddy gets way more done than me because he does a little bit every day.
even if he can only do 15 minutes of work.
i tend to do nothing for days at a time and then work for hours on one day.

so keep plugging.
we are waiting to see the completed tank.
(plus we will need reinforcements.
they are turning out Shermans at a frightenening rate !

i broke my headlight off and had to give it a new 'neck' made of straight pin.
(when i was still building, not recently)

when you get ready to paint, remember to carry your camo down the front of the hull.
my camera 'taught' me that!. they don't miss much.
i think it is the lighting.
i think i have those same seams between the wheels on my Panther.
since that photo shows the only angle they are visible from,
i decided to write them off.
i figure i have to pick my spots!

Derek,
how considerate of the store to recommend you to their competitor.
i guess they figured you were not worth the effort? [:0]
well, see where it got them?

Looking good Bill.

I didn't get anything done this weekend but I did find a new LHS (well not so local), about 30 -45 min away but it is MUCH better than my LHS.
Asked at the LHS for Polly S paint and was told they only had the railroad colors, they then suggested that I try Greenfeild News and Hobby and didn't even offer to order what I wanted! I took their advice and tried Greenfeild News and Hobby. It was good advice, I spent about $40.00 there.
It looks like I will be spending more money at Greenfeild News and Hobby.

Here are some pics of the pitiful amount I was able to get done over the weekend.


Shot of the hull bottom showing those awful "tubes" where the original Tamiya axles were to go. I really wish I'd taken them off like Derek did! I also noticed I've got some major seams between the inner and outer road wheels. I don't know if I can fix them at this point or not! (Amazing what you notice in a picture!) Thanks, again, to Derek's suggestions, I got the lower sponsons filled in pretty well. I still need to paint the angle parts between the front and rear portions (seen as white styrene here).



I glued the top and bottom hulls together. With the back of the top hull against the rear plate, I wound up with this nice gap in the front. I've since filled it with Tamiya polyester putty as a base, then after it dried, I put a layer of Squadron Green on to even it out. Next will be another Polyester layer with the zimm groved into it. I also put extensions on the front tow brackets made out of white styrene. That actually took more time and was a lot more fiddly than I thought it would be. The lower front hull is now zimmed, too.

One minor goof I made is leaving the drive wheels off when I glued the hull halves together. Those axle pins just sit through the hull sides so the drive sprockets can turn. I put a little piece of masking tape on the inside to hold them in so they wouldn't fall out and get lost when I was working on the tow brackets. But I'm not sure they will hold the pins in when I put the drive sprockets back on. I'm noping I will be able to get a pair of tweezers in there to hold the axles while I'm doing it. I always seem to have these little challenges that are my own doing!! lol The headlight is missing again, too. I may have to wind up putting a brass rod in there to keep it on the tank!

Have a great day;

Bill

Looking good Derek. That scratch built turret sure looks the part.

Changed my mind on the schurtzen hangers. The Part PE didn't look right on the kit hangers, so I've had to fill the location holes in the hull for the kit parts and built up the Part hangers.

I am impressed with these. The hanger 'hooks' are made to be built in a flattened 's' shape (kind of like the s in the German SS insignia) and one part slides into a groove in the vertical hanger and then bends down to be fixed to the back of this part. Both parts where they join are etched to half the thickness of the other parts, so when glued together they blend right in. Makes for a strong connection, although the bends are ultra fine. Gotta repair some of the small detail now the kit has been handled for sanding out the location holes. Took quite a whilw to build them though.

Had a change of mind and decided to build a late D, not and early one, so have removed the smoke dischargers and comunication hatch from the turret. Will have to replace rain guard over gunners sight now, as I had previously shaved the kit one off for the early version. Will also need to redo the jack mounts, but not a big deal.

Realised why I was having trouble with the tow cable attachments, I put the rear hanger too far forward. I incorrectly assumed the cut out behind the intake was for the top of the hanger (this is how it appears to be fixed in the instructions), when in fact it hangs from where the rear and side hulls join . Still a tight fit with a section of track on place, but looks better now.

Going to the LHS for some Dunkelgelb, I don't think there is enough in the bottle I have. Definately will paint next week.

I see... good call!! Respond when you can...not a big deal...

Later

Yea got em' , I don't respond to emails from g/f's computer due to her afformentioned affinity with taking chances with attached files ! Now everytime i respond from hers , the' my doom virus' grabs everyones emails and mine for that matter and sends out hundreds for me ( how kind huh ) ( Thats off topic)

Spector, I agree since the finnished kits are trickeling in we should all post finals if you will on a specific date when everyone is done...
PS did you get either of my emails...my server is being dumb to me...?

Tigerman, Oh hell no! You started it, You finnish it!

Ken, you can finish mine for me. (wink)

Them cats are looking good folks ,.... nice work ! At the end of this post we should have a group build display of them all so evryone can check out all the different panther types and modeler versions ..... that would be real kool I think . There has been some fine work here to say the least .... we all have learned alot ! Kenneth: I hear ya there about withdrawls , if I don't at least begin another project soon I may start seeing pink elephants soon !

I think I am having Panther GB withdrawls...(twitch twitch).., but (twitch) maybe not...

All: Thanks for the complements, a year ago I wouldn't have even attempted this but with the inspiration found here and the help of you fine folks...well i'll just say thanks for the help, encouragement, and parts. This is one group I'm proud to be a member of!

ENOUGH OF THE SAPPY STUFF!!!

Bill: Thanks for the offer, I'm gonna run up to Milwaukee this weekend and find a hobby shop, gotta expand my horizons (and stretch the legs on the 'ol Buick). If I am unsuccessful in the hunt I will let you know.

Dwight: Thanks for the Sharpie reminder - I always forget about that!

That's a good looking Panther, Derek. I agree that it may take a bit of effort to paint the roadwheels when they have been fixed in place. It would be easier if you use a sharpie pen.

Hope to see it completed soon.

Sweet looking Panther Derek.

Derek,
looking good!
the PE that i can see looks GREAT!
and the turret is Very Impressive!

you are on the home stretch now.

ed.

IThe reason I was asking is, I could probably pick up a couple of bottles and ship it off to you. Let me know if you'd like me to do that with the number, etc. The hobby shop I go to is pretty well stocked with most paints (exception-Vallejo, they don't carry those, yet).

Bill

Kenneth: Thanks, to be honest I didn't think I would pull it off as well as I did (that explains the Tamiya G in the closet. ). I truely expected to botch this one and make it "brewed up" but managed to suprise impress the h**l out of myself. We'll se how paint and weathering turns out - this will be my 3rd attempt at weathering, 1 & 2 being the previously posted BMP-2 and Bulldog!

Bill: The brand is Polly S(cale) acrylic, I really like working with this brand, it flows great and levels nicely, & less nasty fumes is nice with my daughter in the house. (it's also easier to remove acrylic from a 4yo than enamel!) I ordered it from Hometown Hobbies (second time using them) and the rest of this order was ther and the previous order was OK too. They even sent a refund check with the order for what they didn't have, no explanation as to why they didn't have it tho.
I'll let y'all know how it turns out with customer service.

Derek, What brand of paint were you trying to get? Where did you order it from?

Bill