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1/35 scale Tamiya Panther

No painting of the Panther yet, still working on the road wheels...the instruction sheet is not helping either, some of the road wheels are labeled with different part numbers but they are identical and since I don't know much about armor models I am proceeding with caution.


Matrixone

It gets complicated the way the wheels are interwoven between themselves. :soldier

And a nightmare in Russia when the ground was soft during the day and the crud built up on those roadwheels than froze during the night. That could completely imobilize the tank.

Cheers
 
Thanks guys!

After looking at the road wheels more closely sure enough the diameters of the holes ARE different.

I had intended to at least get a coat of dark yellow sprayed on this model but after washing off the dust and fingerprints from the road wheels last night with dish soap some water was still in the recesses of the parts this morning so I will have to wait to start laying on the paint.

While I had the airbrush out painting the Bf 109K-4 I used a few drops of gloss black to add some forced shadow effects to the structure of the Panther...will it show on the finished model I don't know but I do know it was fun to do. :)

Matrixone
 
Thanks guys!

After looking at the road wheels more closely sure enough the diameters of the holes ARE different.
Matrixone

The outer wheels will interlock with the inner ones. You'll see the ones without the hub are the outer wheels. the inner wheels with have a hole all the way through. It gets whacky if you think about it too much but once you get them started installing it's pretty neat. I bet it made a smooth ride. :soldier
 
I don't have much reading material on the Panther in my library but some of the things that I have read about it said the design of the road wheels was not the best...they were difficult to work on and sadly for the Germans the road wheels (or the bolts) would break quite often leaving the tank and crew in great danger.

Today I finally was able to get some paint laid down on this thing. As you can see in some of these pictures some of the pre-shade and white highlights are showing through, I realize much of this will be covered up when I paint the rest of the camouflage colors but since I rarely build armor models I don't know how much will still show so I played it safe and painted the model as if it were to have the dark yellow as it the final color.

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The road wheels were also painted...I can't say I am pleased with the soft plastic caps, they keep popping out even though they were glued in. I will be angry if I lose any of them before the model is finished.

The lone road wheel with the camo paint on it is supposed to represent a road wheel taken from a broken down Panther...I read that later in the war it was sometimes difficult for the Germans to recover broken down Panthers and they were stripped of anything usable before being blown up to prevent the enemy from repairing and using them against their former operators.

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Matrixone
 
Looking good so far.

Those poly caps are just to hold the roadwheels onto the axles. Do not try to keep them in the road wheels before putting the road wheels on the model. You'll loose at least one for s ure. i keep mine in a small zip-lock type bag ort a small covered plastic container in order to avoid losing any of those poly caps.

Cheers
 
Thanks for the words of encouragement! :notworthy


I just painted the rest of the camouflage colors on the Panther, as can be seen I chose a hybrid camouflage pattern of the disc and ambush schemes which shall be called 'discbush'. :facepalm


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The tank commander is still trying to figure out how to fit inside his tank....Slimfast diet perhaps? :frantic

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The tank commander gave up trying to squeeze inside the Panther and was last seen walking away like an Egyption. :huh:

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Matrixone
 
Soften his lowwer legs in really hot water and then squeze them together a bit. IICR all you need to do is get the FEET past the opening and the rest of the figure will slip in okay.

The Panther is looking great!

Cheers
 
Thanks guys!

Tankbuilder,
I already gave up hope of using the tank commander with this model, instead he will be used as figure painting practice. For a while I have wanted to try painting a figure (other than Aurora Famous monsters) and this is all I have to work with at the moment.

Some weathering of the Panther was done and I should have some new pictures posted later on, model building is on hold for a day or two because of the record high temps we are having...I am actually looking forward to mowing the lawn which is a productive way to spend some time in the fresh air. :)


Matrixone
 
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