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

Pete: Where are the pumpkin heads? LOL. At first I thought I was seeing pictures from a "haunted tank" movie or something. He-he-he.


Sorry about that Pete. Might have been that "Made in Australia" breakfast cereals that my sister sent me causing these...He-he-he.

Anyway. I think the camo on the Panther is very nice. Quite different from the usual but could be closer to the what actual tanks had. From the looks of the figures, it should come out as a good dio, too.

Thanks Bill, no, not scratched this time. Took the lazy option and used Part PE. In hindsight, it would probably have been less trouble as the instructions are vague and I rolled one side the wrong way first, then realised this and rolled it back, then further realised that the ribbing was wrong way if I did it their way, so rolled it back again. Then I had to drill out the rivet and bolt marks on the upper side! I broke a mini drill in the process.

The thin fender edge of that one wouldn't stay down right in the end, so I decided to give the fender 'the wife's touch' and dented the fender as if it had brushed a wall or something, and broke a piece off the middle of the fender edge. These fenders were only held on by 3 wing nuts at the top of the fender, and 2 l brackets at the side that were bolted to the hull extensions, so damage had to be minimised to look right. Still working on the little balls for the top of the width indicators, as they are not supplied with the fret ('make from plastic' - yeah right), These will be pushed into the 2 clamps at the very top of the fenders where they meet the hull. I figure they were in the stored position when the 'accident happened'.

(Before I get plastered for the wife comment, how many of you have a wife that has backed your car into your house at 40 kph, backed into a steel post at a car park and then also backed into the side rail of the garage door - all within 3 months? She is now banned from going backwards)

As for the missing heads, You guys never heard of the invisible man?-meet the invisible crew.

I always paint the heads separate as it easier not to mess them up when doing the uniform. Look closely and you will see the loader sitting on the turret is missing part of his rump and one of the guys is missing part of his elbow. Been doing a little cut and paste to get these figures sit naturally and have yet to put the milliput bum back on!.

Pete: Have the car reconfigured and have the steering wheel and dashboard facing the rear of the car. At least your wife will have a better view when she's moving backwards. LOL.

Dwight, been tempted to buy an ex-German Sdkfz 232 or 234 - they have steering wheels at each end so you can drive them either way without a problem!

petbat, your kitty looks cool in er camo scheme!
but guys, you all killed me with those headless, ichabod crane jokes etc...

regards,
nick

Peter: the kitty looks great! Keep the pics coming.

You guys are tooo funny. How is it that when I am in a deep funk you all know I need a laugh? Life kinda SUCKS right now!

Derek,
sorry to hear it!
but remember, it's always better than the alternative!

Peter,
i see the rest of the gang has used up all the figure jokes i might have made,
so i will limit my comments to the Panther.
looking great!
nice & clean looking, and the wash should mellow and blend the camo nicely.

ed.

Petbat, Great Job.. no doubt... Like you say it is probably much more accurate than some of the artsy paint jobs you sometimes see these days... I have a pic of a tiger in normandy that as far as paint jobs looks like crap! but its a period photo that shows the truth....

QUOTE: but weathering will take care of the few oversprays and such

...see now your thinking like a true armor modeler....

Derek , I hope things are looking up for you soon...

Peace Ya'll

Petbat: Nice job on that big cat , very impressive ! My condolences to your crew ,,,,, RAF strafeing run I presume , and you caught the action just as it happened too !! I like the camo job a lot ... I overdid mine a bit I must say .... yours is just right .All, except you australians& brits maybe:

QUOTE: Derek, sorry to hear it! but remember, it's always better than the alternative!

Oh definately, just venting a little. I should have said my job considering everything else is good.
I keep looking for a new job but the economy is still down. Apologies for wandering off topic.

Anyhoo, I don't think I can get my airbrush that fine with the medium tip, probably should play with it a little. I actually thought of doing mine with overlapping spots of green and brown over the dark yellow, like a modified "mickey mouse" pattern.

Peter,
I remember you talking about how you had to bend that part back and forth three times to get it like you wanted it. I guess I didn't realize it was that part of the fender. I was visualizing it as part of the side fender, I guess. Sorry for being so unobservant!

I saw a picture of a Panther somewhere last night where the camo looked very similar to yours. I wish I could remember where I saw it. Duhhhh! All I can remember is thinking, Wow, that looks just like Peter's! I hope I can find it again.

Hope you're all having a great day.

Bill

Thanks all. First wash has toned it down a little. Will do the heavier spot wash over the weekend if the wife doesn't complain about the smell (she suffers from migrains and the smell of paint and turps can set her off and, as it is raining here, I have to go out in the garage to do the smelly stuff.)

Derek, I was in the same job for 24 years but got retrenched in July last year. Hated it toward the end, so I know how you feel. I am a great believer in things happening for a reason. Hope things improve for you soon.

Spector, if its the special on Kursk that I'm thinking of, the only Panther's you will see will be 'dead ones' given only 40 were still running at the end of the first day of the battle.

'Ava good weekend all.

Peter: well we will get to see the tank recovery crews in action instead! (re: the kursk show )

Peter, that is a pretty cool cammo job.

Wow are these road wheels a pain! I'm getting there though.

Derek, when you finish the Panther go do the road wheels of something based on the Panzer IV chassis. Now they are a pain! At least with the Panther tracks, sag hides most of the inner wheels but on the IV all is on show for one and all.

Some weathering done over the weekend, but had too much else to do. 'The Icabod's 'are a little out of their minds at present, so I better do something with them today.

Here's the latest from this weekend:

1st, Here are the INfamous tracks! The short one has had the steel dry brushing done to it. The long one has only had the black base coat and the rust washes. I don't think they look too bad, if I could just keep them from breaking! My latest plan is to glue them together and let them sit up for a while, then mold them around the wheels just like the DML tracks are done. I hope this idea works, or it's back to Friul's for me!




2nd and 3rd, Here are a couple of shots of the camo I put on. I tried to copy the pattern I found for an ambush painted lat A I found in one of the Osprey Panther books. I got a little heavy handed with the brown, but probably about as close as I could ever get. Also, notice the drivers hatch is no longer hitting poor Hans Joseph in the back of the neck! I picked up an old Verlinden Panther book up off e-bay and it's been a terrific help. Looking through it, I realized I'd put the hatch on clockwise rather than counter clockwise from the hatch opening. I flooded the hatch joint and both hatch clamp joints with Tamiya liquid cement and was able to turn them around to their proper positions! (Sure glad I decided not to permanently attach the turret to the hull! I couldn't have gotten it past the turret.) I still need to get some dunkelgelb on the turret machine gun mount.





Now if I can just get up the courage to put the "leaves" on it and can find some decals or transfers of the large red with white outline turret numbers, I'll be set!

Have a great week, all.

Bill

Bill!
the long awaited pictures.
looking good.
the tracks look impressive, but they would have driven me out of my tree by now.

i like the camo. it probably has a name but tht one always makes me think of 'ribbon'
i could not explain why.

well, you are moving toward completion, so keep afterit!

ed.

Looking great Bill. You are almost there.

Progress Bill. Keep going, it's getting there.

Looking good Bill. Keep it up!

My progress for today was the road wheel rubber, steel drybrush on the idlers and drive sprokets, and a coat of paint on the tracks. I think I need to go darker on the tracks, I'll take a look in the morning with a fresh perspective.
Tomorrow's plan is to test fit the tracks to see if the tracks hide what I can't reach or if I need to get creative on the road wheels and also build an mg mount for the cupola. Hopefully pics will be up in the afternoon.

Bill: Are those the infamous modelkasten tracks? They look great , ( but they are a real pain after they are painted for sure, thats when they usually break) Did a set of tiger 2 tracks last week , and they look fantastic , didn't go together bad at all , however as soon as I got the base coat on them , they broke in 3 places! Your camo job looks damn good I must say , good luck with the "leaves" that always seems to be a tense subject for the modelers in the forum , I have only done that pattern once , so I couldn't really give you any advice there .

QUOTE: Originally posted by spector822002 Bill: Are those the infamous modelkasten tracks? They look great , ( but they are a real pain after they are painted for sure, thats when they usually break) Did a set of tiger 2 tracks last week , and they look fantastic , didn't go together bad at all , however as soon as I got the base coat on them , they broke in 3 places! really give you any

i am still at a complete loss as to why anyone would ever want to use modelkasten indie links when loads of people say theyhave the tensile endurance of a chocolate fireguard...
i'm getting some accurate armour semi-flexible resin links at the weekend hopefully for some russian armour, so i'll be sure to let you guys know how they perform.
happy modelling.
nick

I bought these ( the tiger2tracks) just out of curiosity. The pins to hold them together are ridicoulously small , lets face it , sometimes scale styrene just does not apply , or work for that matter ! They do look nice when done , and very much to scale. But I think I will use fruil from now on myself ( just my preference ), I wouldn't even what to think what a set of panzer2 or even 4 tracks would be like ! Fruil tracks may be a bit thick in scale . ...... but they are so durable its not even funny , and they go together at least twice as fast ! Modelkasten reminds me of the ABER set i am doing now as well , I am sure it will look fantastic when done ,.... but holy !@#$ they are just TOO fiddley for me ..... I showed my g/f one of the clamps last night and she almost got sick just trying to find the hole the clamp was to go into ! The instructions are just aweful as well , perspectives are just wrong ... PERIOD!

spector822002 all i can say is check out larry_dunn's thread he just started...oh boy!!

Thanks for the cudo's everyone. I appreciate them.

QUOTE: Bill: Are those the infamous modelkasten tracks?

Spector, yes they are MK tracks.

Nick The reason I went with them is that I'd heard they were so well detailed, which is very true. They are by far the best looking tracks I've come across. Their problem is in engineering. If they'd made the pins just a millimeter longer, they would be so much better.

All in all, it was kind of stupid to use these tracks on this tank. I mean, it's not like this thing is going to be any kind of contest winner considering how bad this kit is to start with. It can be made a lot better than oob, but it will never contend with the amount of detail on the Dragon and newer Tamiya kits. But, it has been a fun ride to see what I could do to/with it.

I've got a set of MK Tiger I tracks, too. They don't seem to be anywhere near as delicate, but I haven't done a lot with them yet. I'm wondering if I wouldn't save a whole bunch of trouble by drilling the inner links out a bit, inserting a short piece of brass rod, then cutting off the pin portion of the MK pins and gluing them in as a "cap" for the brass pins. Talk about a lot of extra work! But they should be a lot stronger. Cutting the rods would be the big pain, I think. I'll probably never do it.

Bill how much truer could that be about the pins ! Just a hair longer , just to get the tip of the pin in a bit deeper , and they would be just fine , the real ones had pins all the way through I believe , so why not break the bank and put in longer pins?

Bill, Great Job... Your resolve is impressive.... The camo looks awsome... I am itching to see this all done up... Keep trucking...

Thanks, Kenneth. I haven't QUITE given up hope yet! lol What's life without a few challenges!!

Bill