Hi guys,

This is my first post here in Constructive Feedback! Figured I would post here as well, as not everyone visits al lthe Armor sites. Hope no one considers this "Spamming" If it is considered as such, please let me know and I'll remove the post. As a bonus, I'll post some different pics here.

Panther F the hard way! Here's a few pics of my latest project, Tamiya Panther G with the fantastic Chesapeake Model Designs Schmalturm. In this "Golden Age" of modeling, with all the Smart kits and wonderful new releases, I can't seem to get away from rehabbing some older already built kits. Yes, it takes quite a bit more work, but for me it's more fun (and aggrivating at times), and far more gratifying. I got to try out paint stripping on this one, using Castrol Super Clean degreaser. Gotta say, it worked great, even on years old enamel paint.

Also used was the Royal Models PE and resin set for the late Panther G. Royal's resin is some of the best out there, but their PE leaves much to be desired (out of scale, factory alignment spots not aligning correctly, etc). I do really like their small chains though. That said, there's much rework of the Royal PE parts along with a bunch of scratch building. There's still a handful of small details to be added, as well as Fruils (of course!), but my favorite part of modeling on this one is just about over, the construction.























I'd like to thank Ted Nichols for the use of his Panzer Tracts tome on the Panther II and F, without which, this project wouldn't been possible.

It isn't a perfect build, but constructive comments are welcomed. I hold the copyright to all above pics 2007.

Hi mate
I dont know if others have the same problem, but I cant see your pictures, and I wish I could..

Any suggestions for posting pics? I can see them just fine.
At first, I had uploaded them from the Kit Maker site,but they were very small, All I did after was transpose the Kitmaker URL with another Image hosting site (N54) and I can see the larger pics.

Any help would be appreciated so I can share the pics!

Matt

Matt - I can't see the pics either.

By the way - love the quote from "Kelly's Heroes" at the bottom of your posts.

One of my favourites is "A Sherman can give you a very nice .... edge"!

How about this? Can you guys see these?





















Please let me know.

Matt

Not much to say: Great pictures, great model!

Good to see somebody still like the old aftermarket approach to kits already released as finished kits.

Thanks for sharing and looking forward to see it with some paint

Matt,
That is a work of art as is. It would almost seem a shame to paint it.
Beautiful, clean build. You should write a feature article.

Looking forward to seeing how it comes out.

Keith

Very nice work Matt, the extra little details you've added to the chassis and around the tools really stand out for me, I'm interested in what camouflage scheme you intend going for with it.

Hi Guys,

Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.

Jesper, yeah, I'm just an old school guy I guess!

Keith, an article? Perhaps, have to see about that for the future

Mark, figured I wiuld have some fun with the paint scheme. I'm thinking some kind of rain type camo perhaps (as with the uniforms, perhaps without the rain marks though) or something DG, grey and brown. I was envisioning a defense of Berlin scenero or something like that. One thing for sure, no one can say that I painted an INCORRECT camo scheme! Seeing as how it never existed

Matt

Very Nice Matt. And it does seem a shame to cover that beutiful work with paint but I can't wait to see it finished.

Horrible. Absolutely horrible. Worst thing I've ever seen........yeah, and I can hover too. Excellent work Matt. Very clean build with no glue boogers to be found. Looking forward to seeing some paint on this guy. Thanks for posting. Do share some more of your work. "Q"

Now THIS is a mother beautiful tank! I'm doing the same thing, I started the original Panther F kit, built the turret and hated the lower hull, the suspension and the wheels so much I bought the late Panther G from Tamiya to finish it off.

Your's is alot nicer with all the aftermarket goodies added and can't wait to see the paint!


Jeff

Matt,

That is a great job, love the detail work on the pioneer tools and brakets the weld seems look great , do you mask them off to get them so clean? , I look forward to seeing your progress

Best

Jerry

Thanks Matt. I've seen your work and even that coming from the likes of you is a compliment ! *(I know ya are kidding )

Boogers? Never any boogers on my models, I turn my head when I sneeze

Thanks for the compliments Matt, what would you like to see more of? I have tons of pics from older models.

Let mw know!
Another Matt

Thanks Jeff., it's good to see another Panther fan in the masses as well! The Panther, ANY variant happens to be my personal fav tank to buld.

Thanks for commenting, can you share some pics of your build as well?

Matt

Hi Jerry,
No, no masking at all for the weld seams. I enhance the kit supplied ones with a little Testors liquid cement and a #11 blade with a broken tip. Any slop is just sanded off with some 600 grit wet &dry sandpaper. The same thing goes for the welds I've added. One time I tried masking them off, with "less than optimum" results. It is a little extra clean up work, but worth it in my eyes.

Thanks for taking the time to comment.

Matt

UPDATE!

Here's a few pics of the IR unit for the commanders cupola.









Took a few days, there was more detailing to do that I originally thought.
Thats the Tamiya mount with the DML IR sight and searchlight, plus a bunch of hand turned brass parts and misc Evergreen plastic stock.

Enjoy!
C[ ]

Matt

Hey Matt, the IR unit looks great. I didn't know the F came with that equipment.

I'm not a big fan of taking pics during my builds (unless it's required), just imagine a clean late G Tamiya (like yours) without all the aftermarket goodies and using the old DML Panther F kit turret.

Who knows ... I might even spring for some nice metal tracks!


Jeff

Very good build. It's amazing what a set of young clear eyes can do. Go wild with the paint. An old German tank commander once told a friend of mine that a German column late in WWII looked more like a circus caravan because of all the bright colors.

Thanks Randall, but my eyes arent that young anymore! I guess the term "young" is subjective, but with my eyes pushing 40 now all that detail work is courtesy my glasses an "Optivisor type thingie" AND a magnifying light!

Thank's for taking the time to comment. The note about German caravan columns sinteresting too!

Matt

Matt,

Having personally built the CH Panther-F I can say this one looks very good too. It does however incorporate one area that is a very visible inaccuracy.

The front hull roof armour was thickened at the front to 40mm and extended to beyond the hatches. I see you reworked the kit weld beads, but these are in the wrong spot for a Panther-F.

Seeing how much work you put into the model, I hope you can correct this.

This thickened front hull roof also was visible from the outside by being higer than the rest of the hull roof.

Other than that it looks very nice.

Hi Herbert,

Thanks for the time to comment. You are right about the thicker forward roof over the hatches. I completely missed that.




I am wondering what you mean about the weld beads though. Are you referring to the ones on the perimeter of the hull? Or the new weld behind the hatches? I was going from the CMD instructions, which gave a very specific dimension to position the new weld bead behind the hatches. (IIRC Mr Bill Miley from CMD consulted with MrJentz and Doyle when mastering his conversion kit) Comparing it to the Panzer Tracts on the Panther F and II, that dimension was spot on.

Unfortunately, that would require quite a bit of rework to correct the roof plate thickness issue, and at this stage of the game, could be quite hazardous to the rest of the PE on the model!

Thanks for your comments and observations, but I think that will have to be chalked up to an oops!!! and filed away in the memory bank for next time.

Matt