Tamiya Panther

[Stef N.]

Here is my entry into this GB. Tamiya's old, but still good quality,Panther A. This is a rebox from 1990 but there is a date of 1969 on the base, which was originally for a remote control tank. I assume it must have been a bit of a game changer at the time?!

 

As to the build I have taken inspiration from Bullbasket, Nenad Illic and other AFV modellers and am going to try a bit of kit bashing/modification to backdate this to an early D variant. I have a box full of spare parts meaning this is viable (within reason). Whether my skill levels are up to it is another thing and I will soon find out.

 

 

 

The kit and sprues. Some of the modern brands should learn from Tamiya's minimalist approach.

 

 

The box of spares including wheels, tracks, vents, tools etc.etc. There should be enough to finish this project although I did have to buy a cupola.

 

Anyway, cheers all. I have started another project so hopefully I can crack on with this once t'other has finished.👍

[IanC]

The ultimate classic Tamiya 'classic' AFV! I may have dreamt it, but isn't this their top selling 1/35 kit of all time? 

 

I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with this golden oldie, Stef. 👍

[Stef N.]

9 hours ago, IanC said:

The ultimate classic Tamiya 'classic' AFV! I may have dreamt it, but isn't this their top selling 1/35 kit of all time? 

 

I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with this golden oldie, Stef. 👍

Cheers Ian. There's going to be a lot of chopping, filing and filling and it may go pear shaped very quickly. Anything to get out of making zimmerit.😀

[JOCKNEY]

Great stuff Stef

Takes me right back to that Tamiya catalogue as a nipper that I spent so many hours looking through, at kits I couldn't afford. 

Your Panther captures the moment perfectly 

Good luck with this build.

Cheers Pat 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

I built this kit a while back.  There's a reason why it is so popular! 

[Stef N.]

Righty, the Stug has been put aside for a while and I will now crack on with this. I have been studying this and trying to find out what D i can realistically build with what I have in the store cupboard and it will have to be a mid one, ready with tweaks for the Kursk onslaught. It should be fun, maybe frustrating, and a bit messy. Let's see how I get on. 👍

[Stef N.]

Started on the wheels and axles. It was a reminder that this was built as a toy rather than a replica so it is very basic and missing some stuff, like two wheels and the casing for the drive wheels. The axles are a bit too long and quite thick for the wheels, so a bit of drilling and chopping was necessary. I had an old Tamiya G gathering dust on the shelf so I am going to use it as a donor vehicle.

 

 

This was the casing off an old G. It's not the right one but it'll do as most will be hidden. Cheap white spirit worked wonders in removal from the previous model. And Mr Hobby PR does exactly what it says on the bottle.

 

I'm going to keep Sad Face.😀

 

The wheels are on but need a bit of tweaking and then some paint.

 

 

Cheers all.👍

[JOCKNEY]

Looks terrific 

 

Out of interest I don't suppose your instructions include how to do the previous motorised version does it ?

 

Cheers Pat 

[Stef N.]

Thanks Pat. No, they updated the instructions for the display model only.👍

[JOCKNEY]

26 minutes ago, Stef N. said:

Thanks Pat. No, they updated the instructions for the display model only.👍

 

Thanks Stef,

 

I've got a motorised King Tiger I bought purely as it was my first big kit my mum bought me as a special treat as a nipper.

I bought one recently but the instructions are missing,  I've got a request in on the instructions wanted section here on BM so fingers crossed someone will have them.

 

Your Panther is an absolute classic which I'm confident will flush other people's out of their stash as yours develops 

 

Cheers Pat

 

[PeterB]

I certainly built this one back in the 1970's, sometime after the King Tiger that Pat has mentioned and together with quite a few other kits from the range - all of which are sadly long gone. I will watch with interest.

 

Pete

[Stef N.]

Cheers Pete.👍

 

Good evening all. I have been slowly beavering away with this. Changing the odd bit that obviously makes it a D but keeping as much of the original old kit as possible. The back end has got a new exhaust, a two piped jobby, with some new brackets for the jack and some bins from the spares.

 

The main body has had the ball-mount removed and a hatch added. (Humbrol filler wasn't very good so I bought some Mr Hobby stuff, which is excellent.) A better light has also been used, although only having one in the spares, this now becomes a later D. An extra viewing guard was added making 4. A better gun holder was also added. The kit's tool racks and track holders were used, just cleaned up and thinned down a bit. I had to change the grills for an earlier, whirled pattern. This was easier than I thought but had to be careful with the knife. I'll now need to add the mesh over the grills and raid the etched spares box for some track brackets and tool clamps etc. I will also add a bit of texture to the front and sides and then it should start to get a bit of colour.

 

I was going to change the mudguards but the spares I had were too small, so rather than spending money these will stay and just get a bit of a thinning.

 

 

Thanks all.👍

[Keeff]

It's no use Stef, I have to get my chair, a brew and follow along ..... I have this kit in my not-a-stash-stash, so will be interested to see what you do with it. 

 

Keith 😁 

Edited April 5, 2023 by Keeff

[Stef N.]

Good to have you along Keith. I'm having a bit of fun with this golden oldie while emptying the spares box.👍😀

[Stef N.]

Other than the tracks and some texturing the old Panther is finished and ready for the paintshop.

The body got some grills (Ammo, very nice) and the tools added. The kit tools were really unusable so, apart from the jack block and tow clevis, everything else was found in the spares. I made some track holders on the back from some scrap etched. Just need to add some chains if I can find any in the box.

 

The turret had a new cupola (Panzer Art, also very nice) and some hatches/pistol ports added and I found an old barrel which was used up. (This was one of the early aftermarket barrels, roughly 20 years old.) Some smoke grenade holders were also added (Ammo).

 

Not quite Trigger's Panther, as I've kept the main bulk of the kit, but enough changes to give it a bit of an upgrade.

 

 

 

 

Cheers all.👍

[JOCKNEY]

Great progress Stef  

[IanC]

An incredible transformation, Stef! It'll be difficult to distinguish from Tamiya's new tool Ausf D! 

[Stef N.]

57 minutes ago, IanC said:

An incredible transformation, Stef! It'll be difficult to distinguish from Tamiya's new tool Ausf D! 

Cheeres Ian. The old cat held up well and wasn't as tricky to update as I thought it would. Tamiya were good an accuracy from the start.👍

[Stef N.]

Righty, time to get this finished. I've put away my other distractions and can concentrate on this. Updates to come when there is some colour to see.👍

[Stef N.]

Wheels. So many wheels.😩

 

I liked the red primer base coat I had seen on a few quality models so I thought I'd give it a go. The tyres were Tamiya XF-85 Rubber Black and using my Helix circle template I painted the rest with Tamiya XF-9 Hull Red. I'll let them dry and then get started on the gelb.

 

 

Now with a bit of paint it feels as if this will move on quickly. Cheers all.👍

[Stef N.]

What was supposed to be a simple job turned into a bit of a pain. The wheels were painted and ready but the tracks were a massive tedium. To keep this as cheap as possible I used some Meng indi tracks. They took forever to paint clean and attach two guide horns to each one. I spent today fixing them to the tank but with a glitch at the end. The back wheels were too high so I had to tweak them. One is ok but one side is a bit off.

Anyway, now all of that is out of the way, the rest should paint quite quickly.

 

 

 

Cheers all and have a good week.👍

[AdrianMF]

Looks very nicely converted! I'm now off to understand how the Ausf D came before the Ausf A...

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Stef N.]

On 06/06/2023 at 22:06, AdrianMF said:

Looks very nicely converted! I'm now off to understand how the Ausf D came before the Ausf A...

 

Regards,

Adrian

...and why G came straight after A.😀

[Stef N.]

I've been busy on this these last few days as I realised time is flying past. Using foil as a mask I covered up the wheels and got the rest painted in its base coats. Hull Red for the primer, XF88 Dark Yellow 2 for the Gelb and a mix of DY2 and white to add some basic highlights. Next up will be the camo painting. I had to leave the turret loose for the second set of photos as it scratched off the base coat as I was taking it off.

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers all, here's to the fun of camo masking.👍

[IanC]

Lovely work Stef. Can't wait to see the camo on this cat!