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Takom Panther and some others


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Howdy folks.

Long time lurker here, but the arrival of this little fella has made me think that maybe blogging this new arrival would be good for the sanity. Something tells me that quite a few build logs of this kit will show up soon as people begin to get their heads around the part count - it's fearsome gents. 

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Overall it looks rather nice (liking the armour texture) though inevitably some bits of the interior details have been simplified, nothing that's a deal breaker though. I've told myself no aftermarket for this kit, but along the way I think I will add a couple of the lines omitted around the transmission and radios. The hand brake (I think that's what it is) is also screaming to be replaced. Unfortunately the first job has been to repair the fighting compartment floor which snapped in the bag.

The hardest thing with this kit (for me anyway) is working out how to build and display the interior. Firstly I thought of maybe I'd keep the lower and upper hull separate and displaying the engine, drivetrain and transmission separately. Right now though I'm thinking more of keeping the hull halves separate and just keeping the engine out. Flip flopping between the two. Either way I think the driver and radio mans roof will be separate with the radios attached and the turrent roof will be off. 

The only other interior I've done was TMDs resin Bergepanther conversion, so I'll still be very much at the bottom of the learning curve. The Bergepanther's hull's only just been closed up, so I'm nowhere near done with that. Quite sad to see all this covered up.

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I should mention that I'm rubbish at finishing projects so this will probably be a long one. I've also still got these chaps on the go, though I doubt the Jagdpanther will ever see completion - it's now more of a test bed. 

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The panther G was built as the Munich Panther. The turret, tracks and wheels are built up and excuses are being made not to crack on the etch clamps and fenders.

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Thanks for reading folks.

 

 

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Matt welcome,

 

Looks a nice kit, youve made a steady start I will be tagging along for the ride if you don't mind. Your Jagdpanther looks fantastic, how long has it been on the bench?

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Thanks. The Jadgpanther is the fairly recent G2 from Dragon. This was the getting back into things kit that I messed around/up quite comprehensively. The gal at the bottom is the dragon 6268 late Panther. I'm shocked at the amount of plastic now in the spares tub from these two and the donor kit for the Bergepanther (Dragon's D). If I could scratch a hull, I think there may be enough in there for a full Frankenstein tank.

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ok so Ive cut the first sprues in anver today. First up is a start on the hull floor. Not much to report there. A couple of ejection marks, but nothing to write home about. Before i get too much further im going to need to decide on whether this is going to live with the top off as if its top off, Im going to dig out the interlocking joints between the glacis and lower hull. Something to think about while poking around with the transmission.

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a few bits and bobs added here and there. If leaving the lid off theres a fair amount that needs to be added at the feont end of the transmission. 

 

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well i took a look at the last post and decided to redo what id done. Thankfully so as the control boom was on backwards. Wont be the first boo boo of the build. 

im calling the transmission done at thus point. There is a bit of extra plumbing to go in but ill do that once its in situ.

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i think im ok with whats here. The framework on the base has been glued in to help me set in the angle that the transmission need to be glued in at. Takom would have you glue them to the transmission as you build it around them, but i i could see fitting being a nightmare. the transmission is dry fitted here. So far kit part fit has been fine. Springa on the transmission done by wrapping thin wire around styrene rod. Still not to sure about how to display this. 

one question , ive got ammos panzer interior colour set which has a green in it meant for transmissions. The box art shows a cutaway of a panther with the green transmission. Is this right? Having a bit of difficulty find much info on this.

 

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thanks ozzy.

i went with green and decided to button up the hull and leave the driver and radio mans roof off. with everything closed up you still shpuld be able to see most of the main details. So without further ado i threw some paint around

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my potato phone has washed put most of the pre shading thats there. For colour callouts im mostly going with the tmd bergepanther instructions which seem to match up with the interior pics ive got. At the moment everuthings just been rpughed in.

Next step will be a bit of weathering and then in with the torsion bars and sides. Fingers crossed it all still fits. 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

thanks gents.

ive had guitars to build this past couple of weeks so not much to report.

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mmmmm love the smell of roasting maple in the morning.

the downing of tools has given a bit of space to think about this and i think ive missed the glaringly obvious. I think im going to end up with something like this.

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the bergepanther have just lifted the engine and fans out of the panther and is about to lift out the transmission through the hull roof. 

i have to say im glad to have some reson to crack on with the bergepanther. Tmd did a cracking job with the conversion and its criminal to let it slide. theres just so much resin in it.......

i even get a chance to use up a few bits of curly maple on a fancy base fo this. Win win. 

 

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your a guitar builder, I was reading wondering which kind of wood working you were doing when seeing your bench and tools. Still following along. I am not in a hurry and just brought some beer. Cheers

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cheers soeren. Guitar builds do tend to trump armour builds but today was bergepanther day.

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because i started this a couple of years ago im comng back to it with an older if not wiser head and wanting to adjust and change a load of things. First up was the winch box which had to be prised off to repaint. Theres a coat of red on it at the moment and i kind of wish i could leave it red, but i think this would have been yellow. you can also see the sponson(?) tops in yellow so it does look a bit out of sorts. Before this is done i can see myself wanting to repaint the front cabin. cant for the life of me work out how thats going to work, but where theres a will.....

ive worked over winch in oils as well. As im on mobile at the moment, you cant see much of the stuff going on. Using oils is definity a favorite. 

apart fron that the box top boards were painted.

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so apparently ill do anything to avoid finshing a kit.

this was pretty much the first thing i built when getting back into this. 

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spent a long time scrubbing off pigments and a really ham fisted coat of pil weathering. Full respray of dark yellow. There were a few places where i had to sand back to level it off as i was a bit heavy handed when spraying the masked camo before. Im likng this just plane yellow, but i guess green wil follow at some point.

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  • 1 month later...

ive been a bit preoccupied of late making sawdust and noise, but have managed to make progress of sorts. it was time to dust off the ausf g this week. 

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i decided i hated the paint on the turret so ot had to go. Now ive always poo pood red primer finishes, but the longer this sits on my bench the more it grows on me. Fear not, green will be dolloped on once the hulls done. This could be the build that puts me off etch before ive even gotten ok at it. Photo etch chains are the devils work and whatever i do to them, they just dont seem to look right.

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i noticed after taking these that the hatches are the wrong way round. theyve been prised off, repaired and glued back grrrr. Not the first boob, wont be the last. I was going to replace the drivers periscope hood, but the kit part cane up ok after thinning.

 

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since getting the camera out the etch is done and the hulls primer is curing. the plan is to come back to this tomorrow and get some rotbraun down ready for the green. The left and right sets of tracks and wheels have been glued into assemblies (an experiment) and have base coats on so with any luck tomorrow ill be able to put it all together. 

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yeah, this is the late g kit that was kind of built up as the munich panther. The etch set is griffons big set for the late panther - which is monsterously big. I didnt use quite a lot bits from the set like the lifting hooks on the engine deck as i actually preferred the more 3d kit parts. There were also bends that i simply didnt attempt - like the circular housing for the grill on the crew heater.  I was in a bit of a dark place when i got into doing the clamps so the pictures dried up haha. Etch is great for empty tool brackets etc, but for me it kind of strips the joy out of things a bit and slows things down too much.  Guess its just a practice thing and i want to try soldering this stuff before giving up on it.

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thanks Kris. 

Up with the sun this morning - the early birds grass is always greener and all that - and put a shadow and top coat of what mig reckons is red oxide. Loots ok to me. The photos look like its high gloss, but the paint actually has a nice sheen to it. Ive done this with a view to perhaps a bit of light chipping. Before the green goes on ill paint the exhaust in a few rust tones.

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here are the preglued wheels.

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cheers. I was quite suprised they came out ok. No modulation i was just sparing with the green. If i recall correctly it was a solid layer of rotbraun, thin layer of resagrun and a bit of dark brown oil paint on (not quite a wash i think). tyres in schwarzgrau and the bare metal with that odd truemetal wax stuff ak does - polished steel i think. I dont really want to get into covering this with mud so i was quite pleased they came out ok. 

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I've been looking at the Takom Panther for some time....but as I believe you said at the beginning....tough to cover up all that work inside, so I'm still on the fence on whether to get one still......😬

 

Overall Matt...nice work  :yes:......I prefer too having more than one project on the go at the same time, to change things up now and again, and the same issue in the final leg of the race to finish :wall:.....

 

Regards

Simon.

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