Hello. I just joined the forums. c:

So I ordered Greatwall Hobby's IR scopes for my Panther II (Dragon) and E-75 (Trumpeter). The issue is, I do not have the cupola rings (which would normally be used to mount anti-aircraft MG-34s) for either of these tanks, therefore I cannot mount the IR scopes. I bought some antennae, some side skirts for the Panther II, and obviously these scopes as aftermarket accessories so I know there are a TON more accessories out there, but I just need a minimum of two of these rings without buying entirely new kits. Is there some place I can find these online?

Use a strip of styrene or take a length of fuse or copper wire and press it through a couple of rolling drums/rollers until it is flat and thin enough.

Well... I don't have any rollers or anything. But where can I find styrene for these purposes?

http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/
They have all sorts of sheets, tubes and shapes.
You could turn wire into strip by punching it with a hammer followed by a diamond file to even the edges.

Hmmm... What about rollers?

Look at this article. The bottom of the mount fitted into the commanders hatch, not the AA ring.HTH

http://downloads.sturmpanzer.com/Documents/USIntel/US_MilitaryIntelligenceReport_Panther_Infra-Red.pdf

Well yes, but my models will display the hatch closed so whatever's supposed to fit in there won't. xD

When not mounted the sight was kept in a box on the rear wall of the vehicle. The turret ring was dispensed with late war, so you have three choices, sight mounted and hatch open or closed and no IR. Or find a ring for the Panther (not fitted on E-50/ 75). Either way you will need the box on the rear.

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/225097-add-on-parts-35-0022-panther-ir-box-with-spare-wheel

Rollers? Use a round paint bottle. A magic marker. A wooden dowel. Your exacto knife handle. Anything. All you're doing is slightly bending the strip of plastic.

Hmm, okay... Will do. Thank you guys. c:

Ryan

Have you ever taken small gift wrapping ribbon and pulled it over a round file handle or a pencil under the pressure of your finger? It will coil the ribbon into a curved spring shape.

Do the same with a long piece of thin strip plastic and a curve will naturally form. This gets you the general shape you need then cut to length and glue to the cupola to form the final curve.

Is styrene this malleable though? I thought it would just snap or something... Do I need to heat it up a bit or something first?

Strip styrene like this ( 1/2 mm x 1 1/2 mm), or smaller, is very flexible. You can safely curve it into very tight coils. DON'T try to heat it - it will only melt!

Well you can heat it with water. Long-used technique for forming sheets of plastic into curves for mudguards, circular turrets, wheels etc.. Find suitable diameter cylinder, cut strip to desired width (unless you have pre-cut strips), wrap round cylinder, secure with tape, dunk in hot water for a few seconds, cool, remove tape and away you go.

The IR optics were apparently stored inside the tank; that rear right hull bin was for unspecified other IR-related kit as far as I know.

Thank you so much. c: I'll try to order something from Evergreen.

Shave a strip off a old credit card or similar.Plastic juice bottle. Aluminium foil that's wrapped around a cheap bottle of wine might work also. Scavenging....

Well I got the scopes in the mail and went ahead and assembled one. I tossed it on my E-75, as planned! This E-75 is in a fictional paint scheme of the Galactic Empire from Star Wars. I need to print out custom decals still but I do not have a printer. Tamiya's light gray spray primer made the perfect primary color for this tank, as all Imperial vehicles we see in the movies are gray. I added black as a secondary color on some parts. I figured that since E-75s were never built, I could paint it however I wanted because there are no historical schemes to go off of. The tracks are also unpainted, I just recently found a good color to use for them.

I don't like using my spray primer on such small parts (especially clear parts) so I used Tamiya's little bottle of liquid primer & a brush salvaged from one of their extra thin cement bottles. Probably not the best job; it looks bumpy but there's not much I could do about that...

I decided to leave the cupola ring off seeing as how they apparently did away with it really late in the war (thanks for the info David!) and the E-75 would have been made even later, thus ensuring they wouldn't have cupola rings. I created a little base for it by slicing off a part of a sprue for another kit (mentioned later). I'm not sure why it didn't come with little plastic cords or something (my guess is that it's too difficult to mold something like that) but... oh well. I plan the same thing with my Panther II although that will be getting a proper historical camo job. (:

Some shots of it. That is an in-progress King Tiger build behind the E-75. Dragon kit #6254, a lovely kit with their Magic Tracks!



I really like how the tank looks with its antenna I just got and the IR equipment. c: Just looks more fierce and modern/technologically advanced, I think.

Full shot of the tank with better lighting.


What do you guys think?