This project came about due to impetus from a few sources. As our line of laser cut zimmerit sheets for Panther tanks continues to expand, I need to test fit sheets on the different model kits available of course. This means that I have a few partially built kits in the way most of the time.
I also usually have a few resin kits available that sometimes have enough flaws that I can't offer them for sale, or they're left over "test shots" as I refine details on original sculpts. In this case, I had a Waterwheel kit base that doesn't include the molded plinth edges. Our website description states the Waterwheel base is large enough for a Panther tank and I have been meaning to make an example for quite some time.
The Dragon Panther G, Italy version was a good choice because of the articulating suspension but I wasn't sure how to finish it until I saw some photos in "Panzer Wrecks, vol.1" by Lee Archer and William Auerbach. The series of photos include both Panther A and G versions with combinations of turret roof armor, steel plates over engine deck vents, spare tracks on turret sides, camo netting, foliage and chicken wire. All very neat details to help individualize a particular tank. Of course, researching and trying to reproduce any one particular tank can be daunting, so I chose to depict a tank that could have existed and very well might be shown in one or more of the photos in the book.
I liked the idea of the turret armor and although the kit provides this in brass etch, I decided to laser cut my own out of paper so I wouldn't have to worry about trimming, filing and priming the metal parts. Other than that, I built the kit pretty much straight from the box, but this might be a good spot to give an assessment, or opinion of the kit as I remember building it. The build didn't happen all at once. It was spread out over several months, so some of what follows is just what comes to mind now.
The kit is very detailed and there's not much reason or need to add additional refinements in my opinion. The sheer number of detail parts actually put me off because I really don't like assembling models...I have less and less patience when it comes to kits these days. I enjoy problem solving and scratch building and of course painting, but I digress.
The kit instructions are frustratingly vague because parts are included to make more than one version of the tank and the instructions don't tell you which part is for which version. Or at least, I couldn't decipher their method. Fortunately, I had very good reference books available and I think I got most of the right details on the right version of the tank.
The articulated suspension and individual tracks are ideal for creating a knocked out tank on the uneven base, but the way the hull is designed made it very difficult to assemble and pose the tracks over the uneven wheels. The photo below shows the light grey sponsons? over the top run of the tracks that make it very difficult to assemble the tracks. Maybe I could have changed the assembly sequence and left these off until later, but I think it all had to do with attaching the rear plate so I could test fit the zimmerit. The other issue concerning fit of the parts was the gap between the rear edge of the engine deck and the rear plate. I don't know if tightening down the hull to the base with the wing nut made it distort slightly, or I didn't quite adjust the angle of the rear plate enough, or if it is just a bad fit, but I got it together finally, with only a slighlty too large gap that may not be noticed unless it's pointed out, like I just did.
The photo at the bottom of the page shows the gap, but at that point, the parts were only put together for painting and not everything was glued.
Before I describe the story of the vignette, I can describe some of the building of it. In depicting a tank that had settled from torsion bar damage, I needed a way to indicate weight and to firmly attach it to the base. This dilemma was solved by drilling a hole through the base and the bottom of the hull and screwing the tank to the base with a wingnut and washer. I was able to force the wheels to conform to the terrain and still be able to remove it for painting and detailing.
The photo shows the zimmerit applied with the appropriate damaged areas that give the tank a unique look. The tank ended up being primed in three colors just because I worked on it in stages and used whatever aerosol can I had at hand the different times I worked on it. See my other article "Priming Parts" that talks about the primer I have been using for some time now.
The photo below shows the tank with an airbrushed coat of my match to Panzer yellow, based on chips in the Tomas Chory book and actual helmets from my collection. Unfortunately, the photo isn't the best quality. The inset shows the two colors I used. The color on the right is really a perfect match and the lighter color on the left was added by drops to account for scale and a little bit of fading on a combat veteran tank.
Back to the photo below, the tank is on the base and the base has its first coat of color to establish some harmony between the two. The tank has a little bit of detail painting started and has been washed with Polly Scale Roof Brown and Tarnished Black to quickly age it. I like the Polly Scale colors for this sort of thing because of the way they flow and dry. They are water based but I think there is something in their formula short of alcohol that give them unique characteristics for weathering.
Go to Page 2
Page1 | Page2 | Page3 | Page4
