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

Thanks everyone. Was definatly a fun build to do.

Tigerman- I would'nt say I'm good with the camera, those came out of the third round of pic taking. Normally the camera won't take close ups like that without something being blurry. This time the battery was low and it kept turning off so I might just have to try and keep it drained to get good pics.

Larry- I had the sme problem with paint. I ran out of the yellow and went and got the same Tamiya acrylic and found that even though they say they are the same color, every jar does not look the same. Hope all your setbacks get resolved though.

Kenneth- The street is hand carved. Did'nt really know if it was a accurate look of a road for that part of the world though, started out with a brick look but quicly abandoned that. Though about trying cobblestone, but could not get to the store to some split peas. So I just let the exacto take over and do a random pattern.

Bill- Can't say I can take to much credit for the zim. It was the pe set that came with the kit. Really wish it was not so uniform and untouched looking though kind of sticks out with the rest of the tank being beat up. I think next time I am going to give the scratch zim a try hopefully on a tiger in the near future.

I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone elses turns out, need to get all these kittys ready for all the shermies that are going to be let loose soon!

Wipw: My apologies, I have received some and will get them up tomorrow.

I'm just posting here to say that I won't be able to finish for the group build. RL has taken up too much of my time for me to be able to finish this in time for the Feb. 1 deadline. Sorry about this, but I just didnt expect to get swamped with work like this with exams and all. I'll try and get it done (optomistically) by the end of winter.

Don't worry Smith M. This is supposed to be a hobby. And hobbies are for relaxation and for getting away from the work-related-stress. If we force schedule into the hobby which in turn puts pressure on ourselves, then the real purpose of the hobby will be defeated.

Take your time.

the progress looks good across the board!!!!

Finally took the plunge and muddied up them tracks Lemme know what ya think !

spector, looks great with each new post. make sure you have plenty of mud on the rear below the exhuasts too. keep it up :)

Spector... Very cool... The mud looks great. This view is also a better look at your camo.. and I must say I like it very much... I have always been apprehensive about doing this type of patter...(the small squiggles) You have done a Super job. It has a great field app look. I really like how the pattern on the turret is slightly different than the hull... NICE..

Looking good spector.

spector great job!!
sorry for asking a probably old question, but what technique did you use for the muddying? (that can't be a word!)
regards,
nick

Looks great Spector.

Spector, looking fine! Ithas a nice sense of authenticity. Looks like a tank that's been moving around on the battlefield.

Chris, thanks for the wishes. I get so little work done sometimes at night that I am having real doubts about the deadline, but that won't stop me from trying to make it anyway.

Example of snail's pace: LAST NIGHT! I made a little stand for my Panther wheels out of a box I cut slots on top of. I stick the wheels in the slots, spray half of them black, then when it's dry I flip them over and spray the other half. (This is for the tires, a'course.)

Well, last night I flipped the wheels over and sprayed the other half.

I glued the PE doohickey that runs between the two muffler pipes onto the rear hull and muffler pipes (it's a replacement part for the kit part for the Early A.)

I glued one of the teeny grab handles onto the Panther jack. I tried to glue both on, but one of them simple disappeared into thin air when I was holding it with the tweezer. I like to think it ascended to heaven, and will greet me there when I finally keel over. So my jack has only one teeny grab handle. When I drybrush the jack, I assume it will have no teeny grab handles.

Last but certainly least, I put the little PE thing on the back of the Bosch headlight. There are little things going around either side of the Bosch light too, but they attach to the thing on the back, so I want that to dry overnight.

And that's it! Should be finished arounf the year 3004 or so! [:0]

larry_dunn,

QUOTE: I glued the PE doohickey that runs between the two muffler pipes onto the rear hull and muffler pipes (it's a replacement part for the kit part for the Early A.) I glued one of the teeny grab handles onto the Panther jack. I tried to glue both on, but one of them simple disappeared into thin air when I was holding it with the tweezer. I like to think it ascended to heaven, and will greet me there when I finally keel over. So my jack has only one teeny grab handle. When I drybrush the jack, I assume it will have no teeny grab handles. Last but certainly least, I put the little PE thing on the back of the Bosch headlight. There are little things going around either side of the Bosch light too, but they attach to the thing on the back, so I want that to dry overnight. And that's it! Should be finished arounf the year 3004 or so!

HA HA HA HA HA HA Dang.... Much like yourself... I'd love to meet the man who invented PE parts..............................in a dark alley with a tire iron

Larry: Oh how I feel your pain there OMG I couldn't tell you how many time I lost A perfect bend of PE to tweezer toss GRRRRRRRR!!!!!!! I think it is time to bust out the scratchbuilt skills ( whether you have them or not ) and utilize the waste metal in your PE set ( thats what I did many times on mine ) somehow the jack is suspended by itself on mine just waiting for a new piece to magically appear NIck: I used just a conglomeration of plaster of paris ( not hilton ) and cut up woodland scenics fall grass ( tall ) and woodland scenics short grass ... mixed with some tamiya paint ( browns , blacks , and yellow ) mix that mess together frequently during painting of the undercarriage ( make sure the grass is in there )! Kenneth: I found the perfect tree yesterday at a local HS the only trouble , she was snowcovered , so I snowcovered my dio a bit ! But it is looking great Tree is by sweetwater scenery products, the darn thing has bark on it for gods sakes , it is awesome , i couldn't resist TTYL All

This stuff looks great!
http://www.sweetwaterscenery.com/Home.htm

Claymore: I saw that tree in a pile at my LHS , they are just incredible , you have to see them to believe them , they have bark on them , some kind of root but I have no idea what they are ( species of plant )
highly recommended !!!!!! regards, Shawn

Larry- Don't sweat the jack handles to much, mine is missing the whole base. Don't know where it is, only guess is my 2 year olds part box.

Derek- That is some sweet looking stuff, I would almost feel like I was cheating myself by not having to make them though, like I said almost!

QUOTE: Originally posted by claymore68 Made some good progress today. tools mounted and some battle damage. Turret is 100% complete.

Yippee !
glad 2 hear ur not 2 busy updating the group build site 2 do some
building urself !
4 some reason, i still haven't been able 2 access that site myself...
but i'll bet it looks great !

frosty

I about had a catastrophe on my hands the other day... I was weathering my shiney new MK workable tracks with a wash of Pastels mixed with alchohol and a little clear gloss. Well I got up yesterday morning and waddled into the kitchen to check how it turned out. The top looked great how about the bottom.. I grabed one end to flip the track and it all turned at once...board stiff....AAAHHHHH The little bit of clear gloss had glued the links.... well after a bit of working I got them "workable" again... WHEW!!! Needless to say there will be no more clear anything added to the mix.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Kennethc I grabed one end to flip the track and it all turned at once...board stiff....AAAHHHHH The little bit of clear gloss had glued the links.... well after a bit of working I got them "workable" again... WHEW!!! Needless to say there will be no more clear anything added to the mix.

It's scary moments like that which generate much of the "excitement" of our hobby. You know, similar to the "excitement" of being chased across the veldt by a leopard. [:0]

Why can't we just collect Elvis memorabilia?

BTW, it's really uncanny the way that Panther in your sig looks exactly like I would imagine a late-war Panther to look, especially when they had the yellow and the green applied over the red oxide.

Larry_Dunn,

QUOTE: BTW, it's really uncanny the way that Panther in your sig looks exactly like I would imagine a late-war Panther to look, especially when they had the yellow and the green applied over the red oxide.

Whats more uncanny is that that is what I wanted and apparently thats how it came out.... Doesn't usually happen that way... That is a CG panther I built in Lightwave for my senior project in college. In case your interested here is a link to more detailed pictures of the CG model...: http://community.webshots.com/album/66079484rOMvpZ

Chris: I agree, they look fantastic and since completeing them I have had some ideas that would make assembly easier I think. unfortunately only 3 of the 5 were completed sucessfully, 2 broke at the fold in the handle.
I am not used to tiny parts at all, I'm an industrial mechanic by profession not a surgeon!

Frosty: If you can send me your email I can try to send a dirct link.

Now a couple shots.
This first is the left tool rack


The second is the primed turret. You can see the muzzle of the coax MG (visible in SOME of my referance pics) and some seams that need to be touched up. I used the kit commander's gun for the coax weapon (bad detail) and am replacing it with one from an MG set.

SWEEEEET! Bravo... Claymore... Now comes the fun part......YEAA! Camo...

Looks greeat Claymore. Those straps really do make a nice touch though that really is missing on all the kits.

BTW: That is the barrel I broke.

QUOTE: Originally posted by claymore68 BTW: That is the barrel I broke.

Derek, I went back a few pages but couldn't find an answer -- is that the Dragon Early A kit?

BTW, I think this is officially the longest thread in the history of FSM.

Looks like you did a great job fixing it then.

Larry: It's Tamiya's A with Dragon wheels (better detail and the correct number of wheels) and a scratch built turret. Also included is Aber PE and Fruil tracks.
Now that you ask that grey primer is an almost exact match to Dragon's grey plastic.

Very sweet looking Derek. I have never gone into the land of seious pe yet.

Tigerman: don't go there , avoid at all costs, because once you venture into the realm of PE , you will never come back !