This is my Revell Panther A in 1/72 scale. I finished it in an ambush camo scheme using PolyScale, Model Master, and Andrea acrylics. I used a brown wash from Speedball ink and acrylic flow enhancer. Dirt and rust stains were obtained with paints and chalk pastels. I made the exposed skirt brackets from scrap brass and the antenna from copper wire. The bent skirts on the front right side were also fabricated from brass sheet and plastic. I created the aerial recognition flag on a piece of Bare Metal Foil by masking and spraying acrylics through the airbrush. The engine screens are from some generic photo-etched brass sheets.

It has quite a few construction and painting problems which I won't elaborate on. But I will comment that I attempted to tie the camo colors together using a misted dark yellow overspray per the instructions in a great article on missing-lynx.com. I was a bit heavy handed with this. Oh well, I'm still learning!

...Kevin

Looks awwesome Kevin... how did you handle the tracks as far as painting and such?

Excellent, you realy need to look twice to see it's 1:72. I like what you did with the wheels, even the rims of the inner wheels are shiny..

Well done
Henk

It looks good to me as well Mac, the colours do look a bit bright, but it's a beautiful little Panther!

Vinnie

Hi Mac,

Your Panther looks great! I think you blended the colours together perfectly! The weathering is pretty good too.

Great work!

Nice little Panther there Mac Nicely painted and weathered.

Thanks everyone for the accolades!

Vic, I assembled the indy links as best I could to get the shape around the drive sprocket and idler wheel. I also heated the top length section with a hair dryer and bent them into shape to obatin the sag. Then I primed them and hand painted them with Andrea acrylics (dark brown, lightened black, and silver). After that I glued them on and they received a generous helping of pastels with the rest of the tank.

Henk, I found a silver Sharpie at the local art store to get the shine on the inner wheels. In fact the tires were intially "painted" with a black Sharpie before an application of lightened black paint. Dullcote thankfully took some of the brightness out of the silver ink.

Vinnie, yeah the hues of the camo aren't exactly what I intended. I was so cautious about making it too dark that I ended up going to far in the opposite direction.


Kevin

Hey Mac! Very nice panther I like it, even though I'm not too enthusiastic with "mainstream" bigger german tanks My only nit pick is the size of the air recognition flag, isn't it too big? I could be wrong cause I'm no expert in this.

Cheers,
Pedro

That's a great looking model! After seeing something like this, i'm growing more and more partial to these 1/72 kits. Hope to see more like it!

...on that same note, what is everyones preference with the 1/72 armor manufacturers- revell, dragon, hasegawa...?

Pedro, you're right, the flag is too large. I couldn't find any references to recognition flags dimensons so I eye-balled it. I should have test "sized" it on the model a few times, but I was concerned about the actual creation of the flag more than the size. This was my first such attempt.

Cap, I'm a recent convert from 1/35 scale AFVs and I've been very impressed with the quality. I still can't believe the sharp detail these little subjects offer. Revell AG and DML (from what I've seen so far) are all excellent and fairly easy to assemble. I haven't purchased any Hasegawa kits but I hear they're not as good as the Revell and DML kits - but don't take my word for it. Italeri is also better with 1/72 AFVs than 1/48 aircraft (my own experience) and I think they're all, if not mostly, re-releases of the old ESCI kits. There are also some impressive eastern European manufacturers with unusual subjects such as PST, Eastern Express, and UM.

You might want to check out manufacturers here:
http://www.tracks-n-troops.com/

and reviews here:

http://www.ontheway.org.uk/

Definitely give one of the Braille Scale kits a try. I found I adapted to the size pretty quickly. Just pick your favorite subject and give it a whirl!

Thanks, guys!

...Kevin

The pics look great! 1/72nd huh? So much detail its hard to believe. I'm impressed!

Nice little cat Looks impressive... altough I think the flag is a little to bright, but that can lie on the pictures.

Good job!

H

I've gotta agree with the flag - not that it's too big (you use what you have) just that ambush camo implies (very) late war, when the Germans were hiding from anything in the air so I think the flag is out of place. If it was flying, it wasn't friendly. I'm not saying that's an absolute statement, but in general I think it applies.

Mika

Thanks, Easyoff. Revell's detail in 1/72 really is impressive.

Hilbert & Mika, the colors on the flag are a bit brighter than those on the tank itself, but the light in photo exagerrated the shine. I also added some pastels to it which are not very visible. I think you're right about the late-war accuracy issue, but I had the idea in my head to make a flag so I took a little artistic license.

Thanks!

...Kevin