My First Armour Build - Tamiya Panther Ausf A

[Rob Pulham]

Brilliant,  thanks.

 

Are they solid plate or are they thinner with a 'T' rim round them?

It may just be the lighting that gives that impression on your photo.

[Mig Eater]

They are a solid part of the side armour.

 

You can see it better here on a real Panther, were the ends of the side armour meet the front they are square. On the kit the bottoms are missing & it's instead flush with the lower plate.

 

[Rob Pulham]

Thanks again, I had to search through nearly all my reference photos until I finally found some showing an unobscured view of the lower front.

 

Perhaps I should do away with the smiley face on the bottom of mine too.

[Rob Pulham]

Well according to the RM tracking system, my tracks (no pun intended) are still stuck in Milton Keynes (since last Wednesday).

Given that there are planned RM strikes this week, when they will land is anyone's guess.

 

To console myself I place the base bid on an Emhar WWI German Artillery set and got it for £10 posted. I know that they don't have much of a reputation compared to more modern kits, but I like the idea of seeing what I can do with it.

A turned barrel seems like a good starting point. I am sure that somewhere out there will be some dimensions

 

 

 

[Rob Pulham]

The tracks finally arrived having travelled overnight from Milton Keynes to Northallerton.

 

My two hour session was spent today preparing some of them. I say some because I did manage to get just shy of half of them cleaned up and drilled out the guide horns. I have to admit that the guide horns are not perfect because they are actually more of a rectangular hole but at least there it something.

 

 

 

I was interested to read on the box that they are supposedly not compatible with the Panther A or Early Jadgtiger. I suspect that they mean their kit of the Panther A  which may mean life will become more interesting when I come to try to fit them. But what's life without a few challenges.

 

I was also a little naïve in thinking that the track would clip together.  Apparently they need gluing, then fitting whilst the glue is still soft. 

 

Suggestions for the best way to tackle that will be gratefully received.

[PeteH1969]

Rob

 

You could sand off the angled treads on the track then they would resemble the early production track but during WW2 buy the 1943/44 most Panther had early and late tracks fitted at the same time as they had to use what was available to hand.

 

Pete

[Rob Pulham]

Cheers Pete,

 

I think that I will pass on filing the treads off... by the time it gets painted and weathered with mud etc. they will be barely visible anyway. Interestingly the box art shows the tracks with them fitted.

[Rob Pulham]

Another 2 hour session yesterday and I still haven't finished prepping all the track pieces. One sprue of 32 (I think) left. I may not need them all but I will do them and any spare can hang from the sides etc.

 

I also decided to add some Shurtsen panels for more visual interest and I must offer my thanks to Pete @PeteH1969 for providing me with dimensions for them. I have made a small start in cutting some out from sheet nickel but need to find a clear photo of how they fit/ overlap etc. and then fitting those pretty much means that I also need to add zimmerit too so I think that I need to pin down a prototype photo to work to in order to know which zimmerit pattern to apply. 

 

All good fun and way out of my comfort zone.

[Rob Pulham]

Although no progress on the construction element Christmas came early in the form of a few 3D printed accessories today when the friend who does my printing called to collect some models that I have painted for him and dropped of a couple of bags full of goodies.

 

Jerry Cans

 

 

Grenades

 

 

 

75mmm shells

 

 

7mm  shell cases, I did the open end a bit thick on these so they will need a bit of work to thin them down.

 

I have exactly the same items in 1:43 scale too for my railway wagon load endeavours.

 

Many thanks to @PeteH1969 for his assistance with some of these items. 

Edited December 3, 2022 by Rob Pulham
Broken link

[Stef N.]

Good quality goodies there, Rob.

[Rob Pulham]

At last something to show for my efforts. at todays session I managed to finish all the remaining track pieces and applied some steel texture from diluted Tamiya putty.

 

 

 

 

At this point I haven't knocked any of the rough edges of with sanding.

 

a couple of days ago I also made a strip of Shurtzen plate to go with the individual plates that I had cut previously The next job is to plot and cut out the rectangular holes for the mountings

[Rob Pulham]

In between other things I have spent a bit of time painting up the 75mm shells and empty cases

 

I am quite pleased with how they have come out.

 

 

 

I primed them with black primer and then sprayed them with a mixture of Anita's Acrylic Antique Gold and Vallejo Old Gold mix roughly 60:40 and thinned with Vallejo thinner and a few drops of flow improver. It took a few coats to build up the colour.

 

Then I hand pained the warheads with a 50:50 mix of Vallejo Natural Steel and Anita's Metallic black.

 

If I have any more printed, I will thin the rim of the shell cases down slightly. 

 

[Rob Pulham]

My these Tuesday session come around quick or so it seems. I didn't get as much done as I had hoped because I spent too much time chatting.

 

On several of his videos Uncle Nightshift uses and talks about a set of min chisels that he bough via eBay. I had a look and was tempted to buy a set when I remembered that I had a bunch of old cheapo needle files. Before buying some decent Vallorbe files, I used to buy a set from my local discount shop, use them until they struggled then buy some more. Relegating the first set to white metal use. Fast forward to having quite a few in a glass jar on the work bench and I thought I might snap of the ends and regrind the remainder into mini chisels.

 

 

I did this yesterday morning prior to going to the craft group where I tried them out on the panther.

I ground flat files and square ones to various thicknesses

Here I have used them to scrape out the channels for the weld beads.

 

 

So hopefully in next weeks session I can have a go at weld beads. That aid it's sounds like there may be a mini Christmas party going on so I am not sure how much modelling will get done.

 

 

[Rob Pulham]

I have just tried one of the broader (2mm) chisels on one of the gun limber wheels that I had printed and it cleans up the support nibs really easily so another win. for recycling...

[Peter2]

You have come on in leaps and bounds with your tank modelling: well done. I always think that schuerzen look more interesting if they have a few bashes in them and are somewhat bent, rather than pristine.  You have made yours nicely out of actual metal, so adding some discreet dents should be feasible.

[Keeff]

For one that doesn't normally do armour, this is impressive! Your attention to detail is amazing .... I'll be following your progress with interest! 

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rob Pulham]

10 hours ago, Peter2 said:

You have come on in leaps and bounds with your tank modelling: well done. I always think that schuerzen look more interesting if they have a few bashes in them and are somewhat bent, rather than pristine.  You have made yours nicely out of actual metal, so adding some discreet dents should be feasible.

It should although, the trick I suspect,  will be scaling the damage.

 

A question for those far more knowledgeable than me, should the top plate forward of the engine deck be textured too?

[Rob Pulham]

4 hours ago, Keeff said:

For one that doesn't normally do armour, this is impressive! Your attention to detail is amazing .... I'll be following your progress with interest! 

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Keith,

 

I must confess that the details are where I get my pleasure. Modelling for me is very much about the journey as well as the end result.

[PeteH1969]

12 hours ago, Rob Pulham said:

It should although, the trick I suspect,  will be scaling the damage.

 

A question for those far more knowledgeable than me, should the top plate forward of the engine deck be textured too?

The engine deck plate would be textured but not very heavy texture but even in 35th scale the texture would be so slight it would not be noticed.

 

This should help you.

 

Pete

 

 

 

[Rob Pulham]

Thanks Pete, That helps a lot.

 

I haven't made any more Panther progress due to the festivities but I did managed to get paint on some of the 3D printed stowage items that I showed further up thread.

Grenades...

 

Jerry Cans

 

2 Gallon Shell Petrol cans

 

2 Gallon POW Cans

 

I am not sure how authentic the colour might be but they will be blended in with the weathering of the tank etc. as they are added to each build.

[Geo1966]

19 hours ago, Rob Pulham said:

I am not sure how authentic the colour might be

A lot of modellers paint a fuel/pow can a different colour to add interest to the build. Uncle Nightshift is always doing this and i think it works/looks good. I did this on my Sherman Easy Eight.

 

 

Your build is coming on well btw.

 

George

[Rob Pulham]

Thanks George, 

I like that, did you make your own decals for it?

[Muchmirth]

On 30/11/2022 at 14:27, Rob Pulham said:

Another 2 hour session yesterday and I still haven't finished prepping all the track pieces. One sprue of 32 (I think) left. I may not need them all but I will do them and any spare can hang from the sides etc.

 

I also decided to add some Shurtsen panels for more visual interest and I must offer my thanks to Pete @PeteH1969 for providing me with dimensions for them. I have made a small start in cutting some out from sheet nickel but need to find a clear photo of how they fit/ overlap etc. and then fitting those pretty much means that I also need to add zimmerit too so I think that I need to pin down a prototype photo to work to in order to know which zimmerit pattern to apply. 

 

All good fun and way out of my comfort zone.

Hi Rob and Pete, would you be able to do me a favour and share these side skirt dimensions with me, I’m looking to do this model shortly and was looking for this as I’ll probably try to knock these up for myself?

Thanks

Paul

By the way Rob it’s looking like a great build so far, especially considering it’s your first armour! Good luck with the rest.

 

[Rob Pulham]

Hi Muchmirth,

 

These are what I worked to: 36.5mm L X 18.3mm W X .15mm T (.15mm equate to 5mm in 35th scale).

[Muchmirth]

14 hours ago, Rob Pulham said:

Hi Muchmirth,

 

These are what I worked to: 36.5mm L X 18.3mm W X .15mm T (.15mm equate to 5mm in 35th scale).

Thanks Rob and Pete, much appreciated. I didn’t realise they were that thick, but I suppose they needed to be to stop a panzerfaust round or at least take some of the blast out.