16th Scale Panther II

[JayBrd]

This is more of a "hack and scratch" build rather than a full box kit. It uses various brands of metal, styrene and resin parts from box and aftermarket add-on kits. Years back I acquired about 90% of the base parts, but never got to it due to some life changes. The turret will be a heavily modified Asiatam Panther F turret "tweaked" to the proper dimensions of the documented planned turret for the Panther II with the proper 75mm L70 gun. Most of the patterns are enlarged to the proper size from scale document drawings and printed to transfer mounting points, proper bolt/rivet and panel line spacing and placement.

The base of the upper and lower hulls are from a Heng Long Panther G which was stripped down and most of the details were removed. As it is almost spot on to the Tamiya Panther and it makes a really good base at about a 5th of the cost. The details removed will be replaced with Tamiya Panther G parts from various sprues from the kit.



The crew heater unit was removed and a standard fan unit spliced in. as well as the Radio Operator's periscope.






I'll keep the picture count down on the posts, as I am further along and do not want to load up a single post with 50 pictures

More to come..

[Donkeywalloper]

Holy Moly mate, this will be one hell of a build.
Great job so far.
John

[JayBrd]

Here's a bit more up to date and mostly where I am at now with the hull (turret to follow on my next break...)

A little bit of how I lay down new details and mark locations ect. This build requires a bit more of it as the II has a bit different layout on the rear and front of the deck than a G.


Additional armor on the front (.040 sheet)


I modified the intake port with drilling and reaming along with a chunk from the extra grill screen PE




The finished part with the rest of the tam details test fit

[JayBrd]

Here's a quick few of some of the turret work..

The base Panther F turret..


Widened and lengthened to match the scale drawings.







I'll get back to it with the details after I finish the upper hull work.


More to come

[JayBrd]

Some of the upper hull work today.. (sorry for the crappy lighting, but was taking advantage of the sun being out.






I'll get the sides, and hatches cut and detailed tomorrow, along with some seam clean up. Then start the great debate on having them working or not.

[Noobmodeler521]

Great job so far really good scratch building.
Watching this one

[PaulAyrey]

Wow, this looks impressive, can't wait to see more.

[JayBrd]

Great job so far really good scratch building.
Watching this one

Wow, this looks impressive, can't wait to see more.

Thanks! This is the hard part, I keep wanting to jump ahead and start detail work...

Some of the hatch and the hull overlay work. Wet sanded and ready for the add ons..

[gustavlekstal]

Wow truly amazing craftmanship.

[rcfanuk]

Looks very nice, more pics please

Steve

[JayBrd]

Thank you gustavlekstal..

Looks very nice, more pics please
Steve

How about some of the detail work on the rear deck?
Today's progress (so far)







yes I snapped a hook off Plan on redoing them anyhow, I didn't like the look and want to do them in .030 instead of .020..

Tonight's work..



more to come..

[JayBrd]

Some of the gun mantle work from last night..






I will hit it with some thinned putty and casting numbers when I am ready to prime it in a couple of weeks..

[Nev]

This is wonderful

[JayBrd]

Been a little lacking on the updates. Work has been crazy and I only get a few hours here and there now to get anything done on this.

Here is some of the back plate work..







When I get more time I will take a shot at the low mounted pintle, but until then this will do. Hoping to get the PE ordered here in the next couple of weeks..