Bergepanther 1/35 (Revell/ICM)

[JoeKundlak]

Hi guys!

Greetings from Slovakia!

I am new here, been lurking for a month or two now. I recently came back to plastic modelling after 20 years (36 now). Back in my youth days I mainly built some aircraft models (we were 3 brothers + our father and between all of us everyone built at least 5-10 models as far as I can remember). I still have most of them at my parents' house and plan to take some pictures in the future for posterity.

Nowadays I orient myself exclusively on WW2 armored vehicles (so far only tanks and ther derivates, but we shall see in the future) and am starting my new journey with a kit that I bought second hand in October. The seller (well, his mom) said that the Bergepanther 1/35 from Revell (reboxed ICM) was too difficult for him - I think it was a younger boy, so I got it pretty cheap this way.

There are a few downsides to this approach, as a few parts were already cut from the sprues (and one or two damaged - track links), but luckily there was no showstopper to the build itself.

During Christmas I got around to start the build by assembling the first few steps (loosely, not following the Instructions to the letter):

- I glued on the suspension rods to the lower hull, together with final drive and idler rods
- I added the back wall to the lower hull and glued on the exhaust holder
- for the upper hull I added parts of the rear section (grills and the engine hatch), where the handle is one of the broken things, therefore I will replace it with thin wire later (when I find a suitable thickness)
- I glued together the middle wheels, sprockets and idlers
- I prepared the exhausts, the jack and the towing device (but will glue them on the lower hull only after I assemble the complete hull)

Initially I started with Revell Contacta, but soon also bought the Tamiya Extra Thin and this one is the bees knees for the smaller part assembly. I also used the aforementioned Contacta for larger fittings and CA here and there for instant contact to avoid prolonged fixation in place (until the T.E.T. or Contacta dries). I am learning new tricks as I go - back in the day we only had Contacta and I remember many messy seams and molten plastic Clean builds are the word of the day currently, so I strive for that.

I am not aiming to trespass into the aftermarket territory for this model, but I would like at least to buy PE meshes for the grills.

Below a few pictures of the current status of assembly.

Glad to be a part of the community and seeing all the nice models being built around here!

DSC_4904.JPG

DSC_4905.JPG

DSC_4906.JPG

[JoeKundlak]

Somehow I was only able to add 3 pictures in the first post, so here go the other ones:

DSC_4907.JPG

DSC_4911.JPG

DSC_4917.JPG

[JoeKundlak]

Last one for now:

DSC_4920.JPG

[chief5437]

I built the icm release of this kit for the Dangerous Cat GB. I had a few fit issues with the hull, and the indy links kept breaking. They were very brittle. I ended up buying some after market tracks instead! Hope you don't have the same trouble buddy!

Btw, if you use photobucket you can add more pics in one post.

[Skullfish]

great start mate, get stuck in and have fun.

Jase

[JoeKundlak]

I built the icm release of this kit for the Dangerous Cat GB. I had a few fit issues with the hull, and the indy links kept breaking. They were very brittle. I ended up buying some after market tracks instead! Hope you don't have the same trouble buddy!

Btw, if you use photobucket you can add more pics in one post.

I tried a quick dry fit for the hull halves. Parts of the front section of the lower hull need a bit of sanding indeed. The curved "hooks" or whatever that is, above the final drive, are where the upper hull needs to be slid into. As sold the hooks do not have a big enough depression (so then the gap between both hull sections at the nose cone is too big).

The track links are indeed a bit brittle and each has two ejector pin marks, but I already tried removing the marks (nothing hard to do with the tip of a scalpel or xacto knife) and as I had three of them being unusable, I tried gluing them together. That went well and when I use Tamiya Extra Thin on them, I will be able to bend the tracks to the desired shapes before the cement fully dries.

great start mate, get stuck in and have fun.

Jase

Thx Jase, will definitely stick to it and go forward!

ONce I finish the Bergepanther I already have a T34/85 from Hobby Boss looking at me from the shelf as a Christmas gift (the one with the full interior modelled).

[Skullfish]

Cool, ive got the AFV T34/76 from academy with the full interior i was thinking about doing for the GB, or maybe i'll just stick with the much simpler KV1 from trumpeter. dont know yet still mulling it over.

[JoeKundlak]

Small update on the Bergepanther:

• Two of the three hatch handles broke on the frame, so I used a thin wire to replace all three.
• The small front hatches were meant to open, but as there is no interior to the model, I glued them shut. The right hatch (left on the picture) has a bigger opening (the mold is not that precise I believe), so I will have to play with putty yet, or try the sprue-stretching over heat.
• I left the front visor workable, it's a nice gimmig (even without the interior) and I painted its inner side white (do not yet have a picture of that, have to put another white layer or two on it, as white is always hard to brush-paint cleanly - at least for me yet).
• I had to adjust the openings for the big front- and rear hatches, as they were too small (and I wanted rather to enlarge them, than to lose the detail on the hatches). After I glued them in I also scored the crease around the hatches even if it looks a bit too wide now, I will see how it will look in the end, when I apply a bit of Surfacer or such like (I could also use a thin putty piece to fill it as the last resort).

20160117_211135.jpg

20160117_210407.jpg

[InitialProduction1]

hey from Ohio, I'll be looking in on this build. I have the italeri one, like the updates, doing the little things can make a model pop. I think.