Once I actually get to work with them, I'll tell you guys my thoughts on the AM sets I'm using.

And yes, I did paint my instructions. Sprues are color coded in each step and I painted all the parts that are going to be replaced with PE in orange.

Cheers,

Clemens

Oh very cool, thanks for letting us follow along.

I’m looking forward to seeing this one come together!

Will be watching this. I am with you on those DS tracks, its a pity you could not have picked up the original boxing with DS Magic tracks. Its rather annoying that they change parts but don't indicate this with a different number.

Bish

Will be watching this. I am with you on those DS tracks, its a pity you could not have picked up the original boxing with DS tracks. Its rather annoying that they change parts but don't indicate this with a different number.

 

If you are talking about the orignal Panther G late, it didn't come with the steel-wheels and came with the magic-tracks. I'm sure that's what you might have meant. 

I'm on board. I love panthers!

tigerman

 

Bish

Will be watching this. I am with you on those DS tracks, its a pity you could not have picked up the original boxing with DS tracks. Its rather annoying that they change parts but don't indicate this with a different number.

 

 

 

 

If you are talking about the orignal Panther G late, it didn't come with the steel-wheels and came with the magic-tracks. I'm sure that's what you might have meant. 

I'm on board. I love panthers!

 

No, i was reffering to this Steel wheel kit. The origional release came with Magic Tracks. Dragon have 'updated' some of their kits by replacing the magic tracks with DS, but they have not changed the kit number.

Following this WIP with great interest. You made me rush to one of the closets in which I have some of my stash, pull out the box and check for the Magic Tracks: What does DS stand for?

I know this is OT, but do any of you know what the round object inside the hull of my Meng 1/35 French FT-17 are? I'm totally ignorant about armor, and the little research I did was of no help. They sort of remind me of land mines but I'm usually wrong when I guess without a clue. Here's what I'm referring to - and please, do forgive the odd, off topic question.

DS tracks are basically classic rubber band tracks. They are made out of some kind of plastic ("Dragon Styrene") instead of vinyl, so they're easier to work with and usually more detailed than Tamiya tracks for example.

However, they still share most issues with their vinyl counterparts. They never really "sit" right and the individual track links are poorly defined compared to working tracks and Magic Tracks.

They are a downgrade for what I assume are cost saving measures. I really don't like where Dragon is heading recently and I have very little incentive to buy their new releases. (way more expensive, downgraded versions of their older kits)

Regarding your FT question, I'm pretty sure those are MG drum magazines.

I'm not an expert on the FT at all, but I do remember some of the MG variants getting a new Reibel MG at some point in the 30s. That one used magazines that look just like the objects in your model.

SchattenSpartan,

Thank you ... you're so right! They must be machine gun magazines. I guess my aged brain just isn't making connections like it used to.

Also thanks for explaining what the initials DS stand for in this thread.

Bish

 

 

tigerman

 

Bish

Will be watching this. I am with you on those DS tracks, its a pity you could not have picked up the original boxing with DS tracks. Its rather annoying that they change parts but don't indicate this with a different number.

 

 

 

 

If you are talking about the orignal Panther G late, it didn't come with the steel-wheels and came with the magic-tracks. I'm sure that's what you might have meant. 

I'm on board. I love panthers!

 

 

 

 

No, i was reffering to this Steel wheel kit. The origional release came with Magic Tracks. Dragon have 'updated' some of their kits by replacing the magic tracks with DS, but they have not changed the kit number.

 

My mistake. I didn't realize this

tigerman

 

 

Bish

 

 

tigerman

 

Bish

Will be watching this. I am with you on those DS tracks, its a pity you could not have picked up the original boxing with DS tracks. Its rather annoying that they change parts but don't indicate this with a different number.

 

 

 

 

If you are talking about the orignal Panther G late, it didn't come with the steel-wheels and came with the magic-tracks. I'm sure that's what you might have meant. 

I'm on board. I love panthers!

 

 

 

 

No, i was reffering to this Steel wheel kit. The origional release came with Magic Tracks. Dragon have 'updated' some of their kits by replacing the magic tracks with DS, but they have not changed the kit number.

 

 

 

 

My mistake. I didn't realize this

 

Well you know Dragon, they never like to make things easy

SchattenSpartan

DS tracks are basically classic rubber band tracks. They are made out of some kind of plastic ("Dragon Styrene") instead of vinyl, so they're easier to work with and usually more detailed than Tamiya tracks for example.

However, they still share most issues with their vinyl counterparts. They never really "sit" right and the individual track links are poorly defined compared to working tracks and Magic Tracks.

They are a downgrade for what I assume are cost saving measures. I really don't like where Dragon is heading recently and I have very little incentive to buy their new releases. (way more expensive, downgraded versions of their older kits)

 

Regarding your FT question, I'm pretty sure those are MG drum magazines.

I'm not an expert on the FT at all, but I do remember some of the MG variants getting a new Reibel MG at some point in the 30s. That one used magazines that look just like the objects in your model.

 

I am with you there Buddy. As much as i like a lot of their kits, some of their new stuff has been getting silly expensive and they just seem to be constantly rehasing older kits. With the like of Meng, Takom and Rye Fields, i think Dragon are really going to have to up their game.

Nice build so far.

I will admit to not having built a dragon kit for a very long time. This is due to their instructions (unless they've changed them) being not very seperated into clearly defined sectiona and nearly always having parts missing or incorrectly labelled.

They do need to up their game considerably with Ryefield, Takom, Meng etc in the market with far superior kits (admittedly at an incleased price) with better accuracy.

I do have Ryefield's new Panther G in my stash and the clear upper hull and turret are thought provoking as to display options and a unique way of displaying the interior and once I have the AM tracks and XXL replacement ammunition I look forwards to getting it on my bench and reproducing a Munchenberg Panther G using the actual recovered vehicle as reference.

I always seem to struggle with Takoms full interior kits for some reason and abandoned their Henschel KT (saving some useful stuff as decal sheets etc when I started encountering fit problems which meant that I had to start altering parts to fit, that should have dropped into place. Also, moulding the ammunition onto the racks was not the most inspired thinking and started driving me crazy over painting! Maybe it was the lower hull that was warped ever so slightly and I hadn't noticed... I don't know though.

I am considering their new Panthers and others which are on their way though

Amusing Hobby also do some really nice kits as well and I love building those and have never had any troubble with them at all. While most of their range may be "what if" kits they certainly allow the modeller to build some unusual designs that either never made it off the drawing boards or to a single prototype or full size wooden model.

My current Meng Tiger II with series turret is just a joy to build and is well worth adding the interior set and I have had no issues at allwith the building. It's just the painting that's adding to the timeframe!

I look forwards to seeing how this Panther ends up!

James

I completely agree with you, James.

I immediately got me two of the Meng Tiger IIs, as well as two interior sets, as soon as they were available.

I also picked up Tamiya's Panther D, Meng's Panther A and now RF's Panther G.

Dragon is a great kit manufacturer and their whole German WW2 lineup is amazing, but nowadays all they do is re-release their old kits with a ridiculously inflated price tag and downgraded contents.

The new kit manufacturers on the other hand offer the same subjects, but with state of the art molding for even better details, as well as working tracks and suspensions as standard in most kits.

Those manufacturers don't even price their kits higher either. Rye Field's Panther G is 72€ here, Dragon's kit is up to 80€ for example.

The price difference is even higher with the new modular Meng kits.

Dragon really lost their edge and I'm afraid they're on their way out...

You have to check what the Dragon kit has before you buy it. Some of their newer kits still come with Magic Tracks, and some with a different track call Neo Tracks:

I have a few of these kits with these tracks, but, have not built them yet. 

I do my best to stay away from the DS tracks, but, I think (not know) that they would work better with modern armor.

And Dragon USA has daily deals see here, I haven't spent over $30 USD on a new dragon kit in over three years. 

Sorry, SS, for the Thread jack! 

I haven't seen those new tracks in any Dragon kit yet and I usually look at every kit at my LHS before I buy it.

They do look like they're a whole lot better than DS tracks, but imo it doesn't fix the biggest problem with Dragon's kits.

They don't really release anything new and instead just keep reboxing their slowly aging molds at ever increasing prices.

I had a look at their Kugelblitz kit a while ago, but I can't convince myself to buy it.

It's just a reboxed Pz IV kit with a new turret and they want 85€ for it.

Their new Tigers and Panthers are even worse at up to 95€ retail price here.

Don't get me wrong, I love Dragon kits. I have so many of them that I literally lost count ages ago. They just aren't worth the money anymore.

I have to check out those daily deal though. I live in Europe however, so shipping might be an issue...

SchattenSpartan

I haven't seen those new tracks in any Dragon kit yet and I usually look at every kit at my LHS before I buy it.

They do look like they're a whole lot better than DS tracks, but imo it doesn't fix the biggest problem with Dragon's kits.

They don't really release anything new and instead just keep reboxing their slowly aging molds at ever increasing prices.

I had a look at their Kugelblitz kit a while ago, but I can't convince myself to buy it.

It's just a reboxed Pz IV kit with a new turret and they want 85€ for it.

Their new Tigers and Panthers are even worse at up to 95€ retail price here.

Don't get me wrong, I love Dragon kits. I have so many of them that I literally lost count ages ago. They just aren't worth the money anymore.

I have to check out those daily deal though. I live in Europe however, so shipping might be an issue...

 

That Kugelblitz is probably not even a new turret. They first released that subject back in 1998, you can still get it for around the £40 mark. And i agree, the prices of some of their 'new' kits is just getting silly. I was going to replace my old CMK Bergetiger with the Dragon kit, they i saw Rye fields had released one which was half the price. So it was either a brand new Rye Field kit, supposed to be the best Tiger on the market, for £40 or the old Dragon Tiger with a few new parts for 80. I still have a couple of panther variants i want to get and have had Dragon kits on my list for a while, but now thats changed with these new kits. I don't think i will be adding as many of their kits to my collection as i had intended.

I made a little bit of progress on the Panther, but also had a little setback.

I got the hull interior sprayed black to prevent any gray plastic from shining through once it's buttoned up and I also painted up the persicopes and radiators. Gonna post some pictures either tomorrow or on Wednesday.

Now on to the not so great news. The tracks I purchased for it are metal tracks made by AK interactive. They look good and the set I got was already assembled, which is a nice change. However, they don't fit the tank at all. The guide horns are too narrow and neither allow the idler wheels nor the roadwheels to fit in between them.

I'll try to figure something out regarding those tracks. I do have a couple of Panther track sets lying around here, so I should be fine, even if they don't work out.

I didn't know AK did metal tracks.

I didn't know either until I spotted a set of them at my LHS.

They were a bit cheaper than Friuls and thos particular set was already assembled, so it looked like a good deal to me.

In hindsight, it was probably a mistake to buy them...

I did find them on scalemates and while there are no reviews, some one did post that they don't fit any of the Dragon Ausf G's.

I guess that's what I get for not doing any research on aftermarket sets before buying them. 

I had another look at them yesterday and it looks like the guide horns just aren't sitting at the right angle. I'll try modifying them a bit on some of the spare links.

Unfortunately, pictures will have to wait until tomorrow because I won't even get home today...

You'll get the track situation figured out.

It's sure nice having you back, Clemens. And thanks for sharing this WIP.

Thanks, Greg. It is nice to be back here.

I know I promised you guys a picture update for this week, but I was buried in work for the entire week, so I didn't get much done.

Next week should be a bit better however, which means I should start making some actual progress.

My apologies for the delay.

I finally had a bit of time to work on the Panther and made some actual progress.

I'm going to get a proper photo background and post some pictures tomorrow evening.

As promised, here's finally an update on my progress so far.

It's not much, but it's something at least, and considering my limited free time, any progress is good, no matter how little.

I sprayed the interior with Tamiya X1 to keep the gray plastic from being visible through any holes in the hull.

Then I gave the radiator inserts a coat of red brown primer followed by a dark oil based wash. I decided to give AK Interactive's new "Real Colors" a go here and I absolutely love them. The colors look very accurate to me and they spray very nicely when thinned with Mr Color Thinner/Leveling Thinner.

I didn't bother with any additional detail painting, since so little of them will be visible once the hull is glued together.

Once that was done, I added some texture to all the vertical armor plates. For this I used Mr Surfacer 500, slightly thinned and stippled onto the model in several thin layers.

The hull is not glued together yet, so there are some gaps visible, which should disappear once I permanently assemble it. 

The side armor plates could possibly use some light sanding to smooth them out a bit compared to the thicker front armor, but I'll leave them as they are until I can check how they look with some primer on top.

I already painted some of the periscopes, but I wasn't happy with how they turned out, so I cleaned them thoroughly and started again.

My first attempt involved painting them in clear blue with silver paint for the mirrors.

I later found out that German periscopes had a green tint to them, making my blue tinted versions both inaccurate and, thanks to the silver paint not reflecting light properly, rather disappointing looking.

Here's the start of attempt number two:

I started by painting them in Gunze's clear green and I'm going to use bare metal foil for the mirror surfaces to get a proper reflection.

The picture doesn't really do the green justice. When you look at them in person, there are no noticeable dark areas visible in the tint.

 My apologies for some of the pictures being a bit blurry. I'm still trying to figure out all the settings on my camera. I did place an order for a new macro lens today however, because my current lens is horribly unsuited for photographing models.

Cheers, Clemens

Hey Clemens, love what you've got there. The rough steel plate effect and the green periscopes look great! 

Plus, don't think I've said it before but it's good to have you back. Hope things are well for you. 

Thanks! The periscopes will look even better once I get some BMF on there. The upper side armor definitely needs some light sanding though. Right now it's rougher than the much thicker upper glacis plate. 

I might also redo the welds, but I'll have to test some techniques first to see what works best for me.

Things are going well, I just don't have as much free time as I used to. Thanks for asking 

Its coming on nicely. I usally paint the boddy of perscopes silver before adding the outer colour.