Hi All,

I've recently gotten back into the hobby after a few year hiatus. I had always built WWII aircraft but have always wanted to stab at armor. I practiced up on two others and have now started this Dragon Panther A that I wanted to share and learn about as I go.





The zimmerit on the turret is Testors putty thinned with Testors old time glue to delay it's dry time. I was able to smooth it out with my finger dipped in water. I then used my home made zimmerit tool which is a coax cable connector attached to a hunk of plastic. I forgot to take a pic of it though, maybe later.

I gave up on the putty, it was a pain to keep flat when I rolled it so I found some air dry clay and tried that (the tera-cota portions) It worked out well so I kept at it. Once it dried I went over it with liquid glue to stick it more to the plastic I tried some super glue on a test piece, It will make it rock solid of course but I fear I might have lost some detail. The clay will crack here and there too.



Great site by the way.

Welcome to the site. Interesting technique. Looks like it worked out fairly well. My first (and only) attempt at do it yourself zimmerit is hidden in the garage. I'd like to see your tool, and see how the clay takes paint.

I painted a test patch before I got too deep in the zimmerit. to see how it held paint and held up to some scratching around near it as I plan to use the hair spray technique on the non-zimmerite parts. The paint did fine and it held up to some abuse.

I've got the non-zimm parts pre-coated in a dark rust color now, I'll give it a few coats of hair spray and then get the camo coat on soon.

Here's my high speed zimmerit tool with the same type of coax connector I made if from.

Welcome, I admire your ingenuity.

You might want to try Milliput next time for Zimmerit.

my first attempt at zimm, i used filler putty and a pocket knife screwdriver head. turned out perfect. problem with using filler putty is, it dries quick. so, you have to do section by section.
ive never seen verticle zimm though

Very nice build,never tried homemade Zimm,looks very good

Brave man, I've done a few German tanks over the years but never plucked up the courage for DIY Zim, think the time is coming though.

Thank you for calling it ingenuity, most people look at my various experiments and call me cheap! Imagine! (The hideous truth though is I am cheap he he) I do intend to try milliput next time, I've heard lots about it and not just for zim.

It did take quite a bit of experimenting to work up the courage to coat my $30 kit with goop, the clay is'nt much of a risk because before I apply the liquid cement it can be easily busted off. The testors putty and glue however....is on there for good.

Zim behind the tool racks....now that you mention it I do remember seeing pictures of it being absent in those areas. woops too late now though. That's what learning is all about though. I'll be getting to the area bettween the suspension soon, I took a break from the Zim application to get some paint on it. I'll pics of all that and get them on here soon.

Do you have photos showing that?

The Littlefield Collection has restored their Panther with Zimmerit behind the wheels, and Panzerwrecks 9 has a Bergepanther with Zim on the inner hull but none on the rest of the vehicle.

I used painters caulk to represeent zimm and was very happy with the results. If you want to take a look there are some pictures in the engineering campaign.

I've already prepared the suspention area with hairspray for chipping out so I'm just gonna leave it that way. Originally I was going to put on the armor skirts which would have hid that area.

It's got it's main layer of paint now:




Next is the chipping and dull coat.

I've got the wheels done. They are on the vehicle already plus the magic tracks, no picture yet though. The magic tracks look awesome but were a pain to keep from poping apart.

The wheels


and the half-base coat painted magic tracks on a hunk of experimental street bricks for the diorama. The bricks are the same clay I used for the zimmerit.

I can't see your picture Brian