Finished the AA armor on the engine deck. Didn't feel like waiting for a PE set. Next will be the armored box around the outside of the deck.



I plan on using the Spade Ace KT/JT/PII transport track set on this one. Drive sprocket teeth don't mesh up properly, so I;ll have to do some modding. The tracks come with a very stiff steel wire. While much stiffer then the brass wire Fruil provide, I find the steel difficult to handle and cut, even after annealing it. It makes it even more difficult as the links are bored all the way through unlike Fruil. I had some sewing pins (use them for door knobs) and they fit perfectly. After annealing the heads and shafts, they slid in great. Though hard to cut, I found using a flush cut nipper could cut a crimp in the pin, then I just snap it off. Results are quite good.

Interesting choice with the wingnuts

So you're cooking the pins ,( with a torch ? ) to make them easier to cut clean ?

Yes. They are almost as tough to cut as the wire Spade Ace provide so annealing or torching them makes the metal softer it also burns off the chrome on them so they blend in with the tracks better. Just have to remember to put the pin heads on the inside of the tracks.

All the PE sets for the AA armor use wing nuts to appear to have them fastened down. They'd have to come off for maintenance some time.

I did not know that
I really haven't given those things a good look over .

I don't know if they would really do much against a direct attack from a fighter-bomber . . except for maybe lite MG fire . It's a nice place to sit , though

Ciao

The AA armor was designed to slow down or break up incoming rounds to limit damage to the radiator system, similar to the side skirts with the larger AP/HE rounds. In an urban environment, I'm thinking it would be protection against MG fire, grenades and Molotov cocktails.

My bigger issue now is the side skirts. I want to make them thicker and bolted on. Problem is the metal tracks stick out farther than planned. Will have to adjust the hanger spacers to accommodate them.

Hello, First I'd like to say that I find the Panther II "What if" an interesting project that has the possibility of being based in reality, not like some I've seen before. That said, I will say that the turret, also to have been used on the proposed Panther "F", would indeed have been a handful to load rapidly owing to the length of the rounds, and that all ammo would have to be kept in the hull as there simply was no room for a ready rack in the turret. Speaking of which, and I apologize for nitpicking, but the stand-off plate armour seems to be interfering with the steroscopic rangefinders on the turret sides. I'll be watching the rest with considerable interest.

Armor over the optics was address earlier. As for the ammo, who's to say a shorter round wouldn't have been developed as this isn't a long range artillery piece but a short range gun for bunker & building demolition.

Heavily armored side skirts. Approx 2" thick (1.5mm to scale), secured with the same MENG conical bolt heads. Wheels are not the ones to be installed on this kit.

Armored box to come.

Holy Kow !

What's that 2" hanging FROM ?

It's a moving pill-box !


..... PS - I sent you a PM

You're right about the Volksstrurm- I think DRAGON confused the Volkssturm with the various Volksgrenadier Regiments- The Volksstrurm was comprised of poorly-equipped "conscripted" old men and young boys; the Volksgrenadier Regiments were actual HEER, and were highly-trained and motivated...

I like how this build is progressing- Most of everything is believable, from a technical standpoint. I say "most", because all that extra armor (especially with the 2"-thick "Side-Skirts"), would weigh quite a bit, which begs the question:

Since Panthers and Tigers I & II were under-powered, (Engine Bay fires were quite common), and were plagued with unreliable Transmissions and Final Drive Units, wouldn't larger, more powerful Engines need to be used, as well as more robust Transmissions and Final Drives..? But since this is a "What If...", I suppose the Germans might POSSIBLY have come up with properly executed Engines, Transmissions, Final Drives, etc, but I seriously doubt that the Germans could have turned the war around to the point of lasting into 1946-'47, since they were already on their last legs by the Winter of 1944-'45. By that time, they were already resorting to "last ditch efforts" such as the aforementioned Volksstrurm...

In any case, this looks like a really nice project!

NICE GOING, Bob!!!

PS, and a question- I forgot to mention in one of my earlier posts in this thread that besides my "Sturmpanzer" E-25, I also built a hypothetical "E-101", which turned out to be a more "refined" E-100, using the old DRAGON E-100 kit. I scratch-built a new Turret, creating a much larger, heavier, more "modern" Turret, with a more "streamlined" shape, a la the earlier Tiger II Porsche-designed, Henschel-built Turret. The Main Gun Mantlet was re-worked, and the unlikely "coaxial" 7.5cm PaK 40 (WITH a Muzzle Brake), was gleaned from a spare TAMIYA PaK 40 kit. I gave the heavy Side Skirts a more "streamlined" shape, and I added Tools, Towing Cables, and Gun Tube Cleaning Rods to the Skirts, as well. I painted this monstrosity in a conjectural "Quad-color" mottled-camouflage scheme of DUNKLE-GELB, OLIVE-GRUN, and PANZER SCHWARTZ-GRAU over RED-BROWN PRIMER, which I incorporated as part of the "Quad-color" camo. I used the Suspension and Tracks staright out-of-the-box...

Anyway, for a "Paper-panzer"", I'm pleased with it...

Question: What are you going to use for Wheels and Suspension, if not the ones you showed in your last pic? Just curious...

I'll still use the kit wheels. The ones shown are for a Panther II late I'm working on (also doing and early version as if it had gone into production as intended but with the 88 mm instead of the 75). I just hadn't done anything with this kits suspension yet. Actually, the entire lower hull shown is from the P2 project.

Really interesting what-if!! That stand-off armor & those bolts give it a medieval appearance. Looking forward to how you finish this.

Got the box done. Pretty fiddly considering how simple it is. Just some Evergreen sheet, Plastruct angle and Grandt Line bolts.The right side is splayed out slightly on purpose to help get it around the AA armor stands. It'll be glued straight once the painting is done on the rear deck. Battle damage was done with my trusty Trimaster scribe, tapping it on the sheet styrene on a piece of wood.

Wow this is really cool. What are you planning for a paint scheme?

Looking awesome. I really like the damage on the plate.

Overall RAL 6003 but not decided on any type of camo. I might do some tan or maybe even panzer grey in a hard edge geometric camo.

Got the side tool racks done. I'm pretty much stuck here until the rear tool bin PE arrives.

A short video update. Finally got all the PE and metal barrels I needed to complete the three Panther II's I'm working on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQJWQ9zxoPY

Working on the PE stowage boxes. Mostly soldered but some small parts are GA glued. I hope to have a video up this weekend where I'll show how I solder larger parts. I'm still quite the hack at it but learning.

Awesome! Truly awesome workmanship...very well done, indeed

I'm loving this. Truly awesome.

Working on a different muffler for the Sturmpanther II. Liking the looks of it. Needs some "damage" though.

Looking real good Bob!

What's the exhaust look like from side / top ?

Some better pics of the completed and as yet undamaged Sturmpanther II muffler. Made it by squishing an aluminum tube in a vise until it ovaled just right. End caps are some sheet styrene cut and sanded to shape and glued in with a health dose of Tamiya super thin. Brass tubing was used for inlet and exhaust with the exhaust ends bent in a tubing bender before trimming to shape and glueing in with CA. Exhaust ends were reamed with a conical reamer to thin the edges appropriately. Still have to make hanger brackets as well.

Finished it last night. Went to the hobby shop today for something and found they have preovaled brass tubing in this size about a foot long for like $4.00. Oh well. The thin brass would have been much easier to damage than this thicker aluminum but it's done. Know for next time.