G'day team

Moving right along, I now have the two halves of the hull together, and the etched brass mudguards added (the strange colour is 'cos of the annealing). I even managed to solder all the bits together (which for me is an achievement!)



Now with the turret added, which has already been primed. Viewers will note the blue painting tape covering the vent openings in the rear deck. This is because the interior of those openings have been painted primer red.



While I was waiting for some parts to turn up I found and painted a couple of crew figures. These have all been painted in Vallejo acrylics, just haven't done the eyeballs yet. The insignia are Archer dry transfers - and aren't they fun to put on at that size !





Last but not least, I have prepared and primed the spare track links for the sides of the turret. These are the Bronco links with which I had so much trouble, and the hooks are from the spares box - I suspect they may have come from a previous DML Panther kit.



And now to painting the beast . . . .

Regards

Rob

Great work so far and looking forward to your progress Rob.

OK. I want in!
Can I enter with a flakpanther ausf D?

Phil as long as it is on a Panther chassis it is fine, just sign up on the campaign page.

Very nice kit Jon,I enjoyed it and it came out good for my OOB Campaign contribution.
It probably was just me,but I did something wrong with the two fan housings,and initially they didnt match up with the vent openings,so watch their installation

Ok, I'll finish my churchill and I'll up in!
Can't wait to join you guys.

Thanks

Still working on the IR sets for the panther G.
They are 3 separate units, on for the hull, another for the turret, next to the main gun and a third station next to the MG. Also need to add some wiring.

Also worked on the wheels.
It's getting pretty dark very soon, so I took no pics this weekend.
I hope next week to have the IR sets finished and the wheels too.

After this I 'll try to get some shots before priming the kit.

Where do we post our pics and comments for the campaign? (my first)

You post it here Phil

Voila! I've opened my delicious box. Can't wait to get it started.

This Flak Panther will be interesting to see!









~ Jeff

I'll do my best Jeff. the build start in two weeks, I'm waiting for some tools and plasticard that I've ordered.
Thanks for the cheer,

Phil

Atoplu, amazing pic of your build. I'm working on the same kit and if mine looks half as good as yours I'll be very happy.

So I have a question about "ambush camo" on the Panther. It seems to be a very popular scheme in built kits, yet I'm doing a little research and I can barely find it in original photos. It mostly pop up on the color references. I've scoured about 3-4 photos books and only seen maybe one or two real ambush pattern-- by that I mean, the close, multiple dots over green/brown/yellow.

So my question, is "Ambush camo" over represented in the hobby when building panthers? Would it be fair to say that it was rare or extremely rare?

Thanks for any responses.

Started this morning! Sniping sanding and fileing.

Let's get this thing on the road(or in the field)so to speak.
Since this is supossed to be a step by step with pics,I might as well start at the beginning.
I was cruising my favorite armor modelers website...
when I stumbled across this thread.It sounded interesting so I started reading.Being a newb to these sort of things I asked some questions and got some very good answers.Thank you Darren,Gary,Tom,and MBR,not to mention Eddy who was a great help with another build I was working on.Anyway,once I found out what a Panther really was it was time to make a kit choice.With the help of Darren's list (which I copied to check availabilty)...
i started looking for the right kit,and found this kit to build....

No,no,no,no, not THAT one.The one peeking out from behind it.The little one.This one
That's better.Why,you ask?It's cheap,simple,I've never built 1/76 before,and coming off Dragons Panther F and Tamiya's Dragon Wagon back to back my brain needs a break,AND,it comes with a cool Diorama base.More stuff tomorrow.Model on,Jeff T...And oh yeah,if I screw it up it shouldn't be to hard to fix

Hey Phil, that is a sweet looking kit you got there. very interesting subject. ill be following along.

Gary

The Panther Campaign has already started.









~ Jeff

It will be good to have you watch my back on this one!

The build I was talking about was my build
I've got to finish my churchill first so I can go all in on this one. By the way, thanks again for the info on the Abteilung 653 unit it will be very usefull for my Flak-Panther.

Phil

Ah! My bad! Me and my 'assumptioning' again ... sorry.

Yeah, I didn't know much about the Flak Panther either. Glad it was of some use.









~ Jeff

This weekend update:
- Pre-Primed model
- finished the IR sights
- attached the side skirts "rack"
- Wheels are 50% painted, touch up the rubber wheels part, some filters & washes.

Recieved my new tools and goodies!



Maybe I'll get this flak panther on a diorama inspired by this photo.


Wheels are sanded and filed!


hand built a small vise last year but it need improvement to fit specific need of model making, I'll get on it tonight.


Phil

I am quite pleasantly surprised at the progress that has been made. I am a panther freak as well with that said I do have the whole series by AJ press, and Motorbuch. So I am not lacking for reference. I can be of assistance if needed. There is a gentleman in the U.K. that is rebuilding several panthers to running condition his name is Wheatcroft. The site has several colour shots. In conjunction with his rebuild there is a book series Research Project. If I recall properly the interior colours were a chocolate brown approx on the floor and partially up the side then buff. My colour designations might be a tad off. Use your own perceptions on what they might be. As for what I might build I am in a quandary too many versions and conversions. Want to build a unique one. Will show the grand photo release when I get a few other projects finished for other gbs.

I could not resit in looking at my panther kit collection and hauled out a Tamyia one with a Royal Model Sturmmorser 150mm turret conversion. A friend of mine operated a model store until he shut it down. He used to take in collections in which included partially assembled kits. Me being on a limited budget purchased them if salvageable. The kit parts were taken off the sprues and partially painted though not assembled. As can be seen by the photo supplied. I have since painted the lower hull and upper hull. I find it easier to paint and assemble the lower hull first so that painting and detailing can be accomplished easier. Especially when this one has zimmermit added. Adding tracks is also simplified. I am using Bison decals colour schemes as a guide. I used Humberol 83 for the lower hull which corresponds to Dunkelgleb nach Munster 882 (118) and MM dunkelgleb for the upper hull.

That will be a pretty interesting version, one you don't see too often.









~ Jeff