Hi All

This was the last piece of Armour that I built. It took a year on and off to build, the tracks are what held me up for a while.

The kit is the Dragon one with the Eduard's etched detailing set, Dragon's US Tank Crew and Tamiya's US modern Military Equipment. The base is to represent the Panther being deployed on a mission in Iraq.

I will need to do some better photo's of this soon.

Mick,

Your Panther II looks pretty good.

Were you modelling a specific vehicle as to why you left off the tail light guards (short round tubes)?

I found a picture on Prime Portal that shows a Panther II without the light guard, but you can see a ring mark in the mud around the taillight where it was recently located:


But, the M1 Panther IIs normally have them installed as shown in this picture, also from Prime Portal:


I've seen some that look like they are welded to the hull rear plate, but I've also seen some real guards that are bolted on, too.

I'm not saying your model is wrong, just asking were you aware of the missing guards?

Hi Jeff

I left them off as seen in that photo. To my belief, there is only four of these Panther II's in existence and with use the were removed from the tanks.

The ones supplied with the kit were too thick and the etched ones with the detailing set were buggers to get into the right shape. So I opted to build it without them.

Very nicely arranged!
I like it, not the usual Panther dio!

Good work

Cheers
Christopher

Couple of questions,
What kit is that you used for the power pac, and what did you use to make the wall. Thanks Joey

Hi Joey

As to the power pac. If it's the grill assembly in the back, it comes with the Eduard etched set for the Dragon kit, it fills the great big gap the has been left by Dragon when the rear doors are open.

The wall on the stand, that's made from "Foamlux" board, the stuff they use to make display signs. I just scored out the joints and finished them off with a file.

I really like your diorama. Very well executed. My only thing is that there seems to be two different things going on. You have a vehicle that is opened up like it is undergoing PMCS, maintenance, checking of track tension, etc, etc..., but the crew looks like they are ready to roll out the gate or already out on a mission. Still a wonderful build, just confused about the story is all.

Sorry about the confusion, but there is another two figures to go on there once they're built and painted. The main reason for opening the doors and panels up, was because it was in the kits options.

The one thing that I didn't like about this kit, was the tracks! The links just would not stay clipped together and had to be glued in sections. Once I had completed them, a nice friend down my club said there was some great aftermarket ones available.

Makes more sense now that there will be a couple more figures. What will they be doing?

One will be another tank commander leaning against the open armour panel talking to the this tanks commander. The other is another soldier modified to be checking the rear. But I might change this one to a couple of mechanics if I can find some.