Hello all,
I am not sure if the campaign is still going to happen but here is my progress so far for Tank Terror. This is Tamiya's Jagdpanther which will be loosely based as a late/final variant from II.Pz Lehr Rgt 130. Progress has been a little tedious due to the Aber fenders causing me some problems. There is not much surface area for the fenders to attach to the model. Other work includes filling in the location marks for the tools on the side of the hull, as the late/final version had them located on the rear deck and rear of the fighting compartment. Also not very visible in the pictures is the texturing I applied to the superstructure


The wheels are on just for track placement and will not be used on the completed model.


The barrel is from Eduard, a nice addition that was purchased some time ago in anticpation of this build, I would have prefered to use the new Aber barrel but since I already have this on I will save that money for something else

The stowage box on the rear of the fighting compartment was milled on a BenchmanXT cnc machine by my good friend Brian Alka, who had no idea what I was talking about as I tried to explain about the extra stowage container on a Jagdpanther tank destroyer :-) he did however do a nice job. The material is a sort of resin composite that cuts very nicley and I plan to have him do more items for me in the future. After the piece was milled I used a thin sheet of copper and pushed the cross line detail into it with a burnisher, then epoxied it to the milled piece.

The anti-shrapnel shields were cut out of magnesium plates and are only placed on the model for the pictures, I will construct the brackets late on in the build.
Finally these are a few different sizes of tow cables I made from copper wire, in hind sight I shoud have placed the kit part next to it in the picture to show the comparison in size.

So that is it so far any comments good or bad are greatly appreciated.
Best Regards,
Robert Beebe

Looking good so far.
If possible , i would like to see the reference for the shrapnel shields if possible. Just curious, that all.

I am hopeing this campaign is a go.
Working on a Ferdinand myself.
Marc

Marc,
I have see the shields on King Tigers to keepstuff from going down the vents, but I haven't seen a pic of the extra stowage bin on the upper hull before..

On the subject though, looks like a pretty nice build..

One question I have is, Is the running gear painted Panzer Grey???

Hi Marc,
I used AFV Modeller issue #1 and a few pictures on the internet for the shrapnel shields, Gunnar Jannson did a spectacular job on his Jagdpanther in the magazine. Also Voyager models produces a set of pe anti shrapnel shields for the Panther and Jagdpanthers. Good luck on the Ferdinand.

Harry, there are a couple good pictures of the extra stowage boxes floating around on the net, Atak (sp?) has a real nice one in the zimmerit set for the Jagdpanther, but since I wasn't planning on using zimmerit and had the resources available to have one made I went that route. The running gear does look grey, but I promise it is just a really dark green with several different techniques practiced on them.
Regards,
Robert

Hi Robert,
First I want to say your Jagdpanther is looking very nice so far. I have one question. The JP has always been one of my favorite AFV's, as such I have done a good bit of reading on it. As far as I know schwere Panzerjager abteilung 654 was the only unit equipped with the JP that put the extra stowage bin on the rear of the superstructure. Do you have any refs that prove otherwise? (I'm not trying to come out and say "You're wrong" I'm curious to know if you have found something I haven't seen) Also, in all the pics I have of 654 JP's the stowage box is smooth sided there is no "X" on the rear. Again I think your JP is very nicely done so far, you and your friend did a good job on the stowage bin. I'm really not a huge "rivet counter" (most of the time ) it's your model and you can build it the way you like. I just thought if you wanted to be historically correct I'd let you know.

Cheers,
Mike

Mike, Thank you for the information, I was under the assumption that the box was simply a field modification in some cases. Unforutnately I haven't found any new information on the Jagdpanther's. I really do appreciate the information and if you are a rivet counter sometimes that fine with me.
Best Regards,
Robert

Hi Robert,
It's me again. You are right in saying the stowage bin was a field mod, but the only unit that used them (as far as I know) was the 654. Also, changing the subject somewhat, I have to agree with you concerning Gunnar Jansson's "Lehr" JP, it is spectacular! Since I first saw pics of it a while back it has been one of my favorite models.


Mike

Robert,

I do not want to be an a-hole, and ruin your enjoyment of building a very goodlooking vehicle, but it seems Mike is correct. I have in front of me the unit-history of sPJ-Abt. 645 by Muench (the Fedorowitz Publ. book, thank you mom and dad), which arrived today.

On page 598 (one of the line-drawings), it states: "The additional stowage container on the rear of the fighting compartment was a battalion-unique feature that was not used in other formations with the vehicle."

This book also had some surprises, at least to me; The abteilung was issued three command Panthers (last one lost november 44), and in very late 1944, early 1945 still had some vehicles (one early procution was, according to the caption, knocked out on March 19th, 1945), with a factory fresh coat of zimmerit attached to it.

Conclusion for me is that I have to adapt my plans for the Ardennes Offensive campaign as well


The model itself you're building, I think, is awesome...

I hope to I did not dissapoint you, and succes further,

Harm

Here is a picture of a Jagdpanther from II.pz Lehr that appears to have a stowage box on the rear of the fighting compartment the soldier is resting his foot on it. Can't be too sure due to the angle, but I am going to guess that it is.
Regards,
Robert

Nice pic Robert, that is one I haven't seen. You're right the angle makes it hard to tell if it's a stowage bin or something else, but he definitely has his foot propped on something. So for your model, hey it's a stowage bin . Where did you find the pic.

Cheers,
Mike

Hi Mike,
It was posted on ML, I did a google search and came up with it, it wasn't attributed to anyone that I could tell, so I really do not know where or if it is published anywhere.
Regards,
Robert

Robert,
After checking my archived photos, I believe I can help.. I have a pic of a jagdpanther with the stowage on the rear panel.. Good luck!!!!!
I have provided the link if the pic doesn't work..


http://groups.msn.com/armorama/hworth18spics.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=18131

Hworth18,

that pic is again a pic from schwere PanzerJaeger Abteilung 654.

It is Jagdpanther 314, disbabled and captured by the British just southeast of St.Pierre on 1 August 1944. At least according to the Muench book.

Indeed as someone you pointed out, the Lehr foto definately shows the crew member having his foot on something, which quite well could be a storage bin. But, to my eye, it seems the top of that bin is somewhat below the level of the JP roof, while the top of those used by sPJAbt. 654 was more or less flush with the roof.

I think the difference can be clearly seen in the two pics... no way the crewmember (presumably) could be sitting the way he does on the vehicle in Hworth18's pic.

Now looking at it again, it seems that both vehicles actually might be using the same type of storage box. Not that on the bottom pic (654 vehicle) the bottom of the stowage box reaches about halfway down the rear-escape hatch. Judging from the pics and drawings in the book, it seems a bit shorter then the "standard" box (apparently most boxes reach (from the top) about 3/3's or 3/4's of the way down the escape-hatch). So, actually, a similar box could well be mounted on the Lehr vehicle, but a bit lower. Wether this might actually interfere with the air-intake I do not know...

Still, I honestly do hope that my Jagdpanther will turn out only half as good as yours...

Harm
That's some good info.. Lack of reference pics is always frustrating to me..

Thank you both for the picture and the information, I do appreciate the time you have taken.
Regards,
Robert

I really like your use of multimedia parts, especially considering you made a lot of them. You often see people scratchbuilding from plastic card, but rarely from resin and PE. Very good.

Given that you said this is "loosly" based on the real thing (and that I know enough to just barely push me out of "jack squat" about German armor units), I'm not getting into this debate, but instead to just say, "Great job. Keep it coming."

Jeff