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

hiya folks !
it's been awhile since i last checked in here...
been pretty busy with my (whispered tone) sherman group build project,
but i still intend 2 finish my ersatz m10 dio asap,
just have 2 find time 2 paint my figs...
one of these days...

Bill, Derek & Peter:
3 fine looking kitties !

that's 2 thumbs up 4 each of u !

Derek:
sending u my sincere wish that things work out 4 u...
even the worst day/week/month/year ends eventually !

best wishes 2 all !

frosty

Bill I hear you on the many leave colors. I opted for Dukelgelb only and am pleased with the results. I also painted the wheels the same as the hull, unlike the box art. It seems there are so many variations to the ambush scheme. My resources weren't as helpful as I wished. Like you stated earlier about the top of the hull, lots of ad lib on the cammo.

Gettin' pretty ripe already, Ed! I think you've got figured out what I meant about the drivers hatch. It's the one place I've seen on any of the Tamiya instructions I've done that just wasn't clear. I managed to have the hatch rotated the wrong way from the hatch opening. I couldn't even turn the turret with it there. I just figured it was another point of major inaccuracy with this kit. I'm glad I was able to figure it out. It ALMOST made the $10 I paid for that book worth it! I'm sure it will be a very worthwhile investment by the time I've finished my 3 Dragons and my Tamiya G.

Have a good day, all.

Bill

Peter,
i think what Bill means (about the hatch) is that the hatches on that model do not lift up,
they stay flat and pivot off the opening.
and the one he had open for the crewman was turned the wrong way.
they open in the other direction.

keep after it, Bill!
i don't want any sulphurous stench coming from your direction!
:-)

ed.

I didn't get a thing accomplished on the models last night. I did manage to watch the last hour of "A Bridge Too Far". I really enjoyed that movie. Got to go back to the video store today, though.

Tonight, hopefully, I'll get a little practice in on puting the ambush leaves on. Not sure what color to make them yet. I've seen some tanks with grey (alla light ghost grey) spots, some with brown and green, some that had dunklegelb. I'll have to take a close look at the book I'm doing the scheme from.

Keep trucking, all! (oh, and Peter, I feel it will probably be I who is that oderous ovid!!) lol

Looks great Bill. Not sure what you meant by the hatch, but glad you and Hans are happy with the result.

Been doing a bit for the Sherman Group build (for a change) so the weathering on the Kitty is going slow. Wash and first drybrush session fixed my little overspray prob, now I've just got to find those missing track pin chains that went AWOL during the drybrush. Decided not to put turret numbers on mine, as I have seen pictures where they were left off and didn't want the prob of having to get decals around the pistol ports, or having to hand paint.

Tools have their base coat of black/track colour awaiting drybrushing with the respective metallic/wooden colours. Vehicle tracks are base coated with Humbrol 173 Track colour (wish they still made this colour) and drybrushed a dark steel. Did this last night but this morning I looked at it and think there was too much silver with the black, so I hit it with another darker wash to tone it down. If this doesn't work a heavier darker drybrush will be needed. I do not want to risk breakages on these indy tracks....my wife prefers me with my hair on my head , not torn out and between my fingers!

Light at the end of the tunnel guys. Last one finished is a rotten egg.

Bill: You are much more patient than I, those tracks would have met the trash can long ago if I were doing them!

Spector: You compare the MK tracks to Aber PE which is an excellent reason for me to not try them. Man the Aber PE drove me nuts! I finally decided enough was enough and started painting! The biggest turn-off was those "workable" clamps.

All: Sorry no pics, wash is drying and I gotta go to work.

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

Bill

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

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?

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.

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

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!

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

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 .

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.

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

Looking great Bill. You are almost there.

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.

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

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.

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

Peter, that is a pretty cool cammo job.

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

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,
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

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.

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:

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

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.