_GOTOBOTTOM
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First 1-35 kit. DML Panther G - Smart Kit.
lekkertakkies
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Gauteng, South Africa
Joined: October 25, 2006
KitMaker: 28 posts
Armorama: 14 posts
Posted: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 02:46 AM UTC
Heres my recently finished DML Panther G - Smart Kit.

Painting was done with Tamiya Acrylics
Base coat - Dark Yellow with red brown shading
Camo was Nato Green and red brown
Weathering was done using Raw Sienna/Payne's Gray/MIG thinner wash,Tamiya Weather sets and MIG pigments






















Just a few notes about the build and me:
-My third tank model
-My third model with weathering
-My first 1/35 tank
-Built for fun
-Not built for accuracy (since I ain't a rivet counter)
-A few parts were left out/ broken off (tow ropes, front headlight and turrets rear access hatch handle

With that in mind, question, comments and criticisms are welcome
GeraldOwens
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Florida, United States
Joined: March 30, 2006
KitMaker: 3,736 posts
Armorama: 3,697 posts
Posted: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 12:12 PM UTC
Quick couple of thoughts. Nice build, overall. The tracks seem awfully clean for an operational vehicle. Modellers sweat bullets over whether they should rust tracks or not, but the fact is, most operational tank tracks have a coat of ground-in dust on virtually all surfaces, and the metal isn't even going to be visible. The highest points of a steel track will be polished clean if it's been run recently on asphalt or concrete road surfaces, but this earth color should predominate on the tracks and road wheels as well as the vehicle's lower side walls. Have you considered using dry pigments or artists' pastel chalks for your final weathering step? The pigments come as a powder, while the chalk sticks are ground up using some coarse sandpaper. Both are applied dry with a sable paint brush. They are very subtle, and if you don't like an effect, you can just wash them off and try again.
Not sure why the cooling air vents on the engine deck seem so dark--the engine exhaust all goes out the pipes on the tail plate. Perhaps a dry brush with the base color is in order here (unless your vehicle is supposed to have suffered an engine fire--not out of the question with the Panther, though the D was the variant most prone to it).
The two circular caps at the rear of the engine deck plate are the gasoline and water filler caps, so evidence of spills can add some visual interest here.
GeraldOwens
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Florida, United States
Joined: March 30, 2006
KitMaker: 3,736 posts
Armorama: 3,697 posts
Posted: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 12:22 PM UTC
Re-read it and saw you have already used Mig's powders, though I don't know what shades. Still, looking at real vehicles, the dust is generally heaviest on the lower areas of the vehicle. With dark finishes, like Russian 4BO Green, US Olive Drab or German Olivgrun, the weathering should nearly always lighten rather than darken the finish (and you can often get excellent results using light, earth-colored washes rather than the usual dark ones).
There is a photo in Zaloga's book "US Tank Battles in Germany" of a Panther much like yours captured in Bavaria in 1945, and the suspension and tracks look darn near white compared to the hull and turret (it was the 11th Panzer Division vehicle featured in the kit's decals, by the way).
 _GOTOTOP