Panzer V Panther Ausf. A Normandy in 1:35

[spock1701]

Hello, fellas.

I'm still cooking on my M4A3 105mm Sherman for the Winter is Coming GB, but I figured I'd prepare for my next build, which will be of Tamiya's cheap and often maligned Panther Ausf. A kit from way back in the late 60's when my father was in elementary school.



This was the first AFV kit I ever built and I wanted to build it again as a measuring stick to see how far I have come skill-wise. Also because it is cheap and I needed something to build.

I know that many modelers don't like this kit because of its inaccuracies, and I understand that it is highly flawed, but I was willing to look past that based on its price. So, I know the spiel about how bad the kit is, and I've built it before, so I know from experience. So no one give me the business about it. If I wanted that, I'd do my builds on Youtube.

Anyway, I've been doing some research on Panther As in Normandy, because that struck me as an interesting build to do and it was certainly an important part of the war. I found several pictures, but this one seemed very interesting. It depicts a knocked-out Panther A version in the Falaise Gap.



I have some thoughts about the tank, firstly, the number. It looks to me as though the tank is numbered 314, but I'm not positive and I wanted to get your opinion first before I get to that point.

Second, the paint scheme. I'm not at all sure what it is. The picture quality isn't great and the camo doesn't appear to match any other schemes I have seen before. I know many of you have more expertise and more reference materials to identify the scheme and the colors. If you could help me with that, I would be very grateful.

Cheers!

[SergioSolo]

Looks like a great project. Good luck!

[d6mst0]

I don't think it is 314. I enlarge the picture as far as my PC would allow and I cannot see any thing that would leave me to believe it is a 4. The middle number may be a 7. I think I can just make out an outline within that big blot. As for the camo do what you want. Many of those paint jobs were done in the field and I belive they did what they wanted. The Panther looks like it means business, make it look like she does.

[spock1701]

I don't think it is 314. I enlarge the picture as far as my PC would allow and I cannot see any thing that would leave me to believe it is a 4. The middle number may be a 7. I think I can just make out an outline within that big blot.

Hmm... I definitely see what you mean about the middle number. I'm seeing the 7 now too.

That last number, though. It has that crossbar section at the bottom, that's what made me think 4. No other number has that.

The jury is still out, I suppose.

[Fridgy]

My 2 cents.....

I agree the middle number looks very 7ish. It doesn't look parallel to the 3, but that could also be the angle of the photo.
And I would say it's a 4 for the last number

[Quax]

If you google Panther 314 (and I think its 314) there are some details suggesting it being the panther 314 destroyed in the village of saint lambert sur dives and that it was from the 9 ss panzer division Hohenstaufen. Hope this helps...?

Paul

[spock1701]

If you google Panther 314 (and I think its 314) there are some details suggesting it being the panther 314 destroyed in the village of saint lambert sur dives and that it was from the 9 ss panzer division Hohenstaufen. Hope this helps...?

Paul

Thanks, Paul! That does help. I guess I missed that in my initial pass. So it is 314 I guess...

[Quax]

Good luck with the build, I'll watch out for updates

[spock1701]

Hi all.

Update on the build:

I haven't started yet, but that's only because I have been waiting for a shipment to arrive from Sprue Brothers Models with some extra bits and bobs to make the Tamiya kit more interesting.

First off, I will be using the DS tracks from my Dragon Panther G Smart Kit for this build. I didn't want to spend $20 on an aftermarket set and I will be getting a set of Fruils for the Dragon kit so I don't need the DS ones. Smart, right?

My shipment arrived this afternoon, and here are the goodies:

First up us Trumpeter's Waffen SS Assault Team figure set, which I got at the steal price of about $6, a very low price for non-Tamiya figure. The quality is actually quite nice for the price.



Then we have Verlinden's German Panzer Crew figures. Very highly detailed, and not so bad on the wallet at $13.50. My first resin kit, so if you have tips or anything that would be much appreciated!



Next up is Eduard's PE detail set for the Tamiya kit. My first PE experience, as this is a build for firsts!



Here we come to Star Decals' 9th SS Panzer Division decal set, also a steal at under $4 US. The tank I will be building is not one of the ones depicted on the decal sheet, but it is from that unit, so now the identification numbers will be historically accurate.



Then we have some supplies; thin CA for the PE set and Tamiya XF-52 Flat Earth. Then some styrene sheets from Evergreen Scale Models. Nothing fancy there, but essential nonetheless.





I hope to get started on the build this weekend, and certainly next week as I am off from school. See you soon. Cheers!

[AridTalons]

Should be a good build. I'll follow along.

[spock1701]

Hi everyone.

I have some pictures of the build for you.

As this is my first time using photo-etch, it is going rather slowly, and after two nights I have only finished part of the rear plate, the engine grilles, and one spare track rack.

I have no tools other than two pairs of tweezers, so the bending, folding, and rolling is inexact, to say the least. You can see in the top view of the back plate that the front part of the photo-etch bracket does not touch the back. But it looks alright from the front and only looks bad when you hold it really close to your face. Not bad for starters, eh?

Front view:



Top view (so you can see my inadequacy):



Engine grilles and spare track rack:



I have all of next week off from school (yay!) so I will hopefully have some more (maybe better?) results next time. Cheers!

[spock1701]

Quick update:

The rear plate is finished!

Finally, after three nights of work, it is done. And I only lost one piece. A rather noticeable one, unfortunately. Now the left stowage box only has one hinge. It will be less noticeable when it is all painted, though.

Anyway, let me know what you think of the handiwork!

[Quax]

Looks great so far I wish I could be that neat with pe...

[Stokesy44]

That's some fine PE work there Sir. And I take your point about the kit. For the price its well worth it, with bit of TLC it can be built up into a very nice piece.

[spock1701]

That's some fine PE work there Sir. And I take your point about the kit. For the price its well worth it, with bit of TLC it can be built up into a very nice piece.

Looks great so far I wish I could be that neat with pe...

Thanks guys, for the encouragement.

More pictures are here! You may now rejoice.

I tackled the front fenders, which I never realized looked pretty bad until a bended the kit ones into position. Boy, are they an improvement. The only spot of bother was cutting the kit fenders off. I went at the seams with Tamiya cement to soften the plastic, then sliced and diced with an exacto knife. Straightforward, but tedious.



Then some bits and bobs on the engine deck, very easy to put on and no hard bending to do there.



Periscopes:



Then the travel lock for the barrel. Not very well molded, I must say. But, unfortunately, there is no PE replacement for this. This piece had to be left off when I first built this kit because the instructions are crap and tell you to put it together wrong. I was able to figure it out based on my past experience.



Now we come to the barrel. The two halves are not molded properly and are bent, so mucho clamping is needed to get them straightened out and keep them together. Even if you do the best you can, you are left with a horrible seam:



This took a lot of sanding and smoothing over the seam with cement. I was left with this, which is about the best I can do:



My advice to anyone who wants to build this kit: get an AM barrel. Don't use the kit one. It's terrible. I thought about getting one, but it didn't fit into my budget at the time. I should have made room. An AM barrel would perk this kit up tremendously.

Here's how the kit one looks on the turret:



More pics later in the week. Until next time, cheers!

[spock1701]

Hi everyone.

I have a quick update:

I am currently trying to avoid doing the tools, because the PE looks daunting and I want to leave the hard stuff for later.

So I did the turret-ring mounted machine gun. The PE was fairly simple. The only spot of bother was that I had to cut some links off of the PE bullet chain (or whatever the proper name for it is) to make it fit. It looks 1000% better than the kit gun with no PE. A very nice bit of detail for the finished tank.

[spock1701]

Another update on the PE work today.

I did two things last night: the gun cleaning rod case and the turret spare-track hooks.

Both look mighty superior to their plastic counterparts. Let me know what you think.

[SergioSolo]

Mindblowing! You're doing an excellent work

[spock1701]

Mindblowing! You're doing an excellent work

Thanks! Good to hear.

More pics of the build, which I am happy to report has reached its last stages. Really all that's left now are the tools. Not looking forward to that.

I put on the other spare track rack. Pretty simple, just a few straightforward bends.



I also dealt with the cupola ring. That was tough, but it came out looking good, if not totally circular. The rear plate on the turret also went on. Unfortunately, there was a large gap between the plate and the turret roof. I had already attached some brackets and handles that would make getting putty into it impossible, so what I did was run thin super glue into the crack. That filled it up nicely, and was smooth from the start, so no sanding needed. You can still see the crack because the glue is clear. That won't show after painting.



I also got started on the tow cables. I have some picture hanging wire lying around, so I decided to cut the kit shackles off and drill them out. Unfortunately, the wire is just a little bit too big. Gluing them together is going to be a pain, and I will probably have to do it a couple of times since the connection is not so secure.



More pics to come. Cheers!

[DoubleDigit12]

Nice model mate

[privatepete]

Some very nice work so far,keep it up

[spock1701]

Some very nice work so far,keep it up

Thanks, Pete. That's good to hear.

back, everyone, I have some good news!

The build is finished! The beginning of the painting stage is upon us. Primer time.

The PE was difficult, to say the least, but extremely rewarding. It looks so much better than the straight Tamiya plastic. Having built this kit before without PE, I can say for sure that it improves the model about 1000%.

The last bit was the tools on both sides, which involved a lot of sanding off the plastic fasteners on the kit parts, but was overall less difficult than I expected.







And here is an overall shot of the finished build. I finally got that tow cable to come out right. I should do the one on the other side before priming.



Since I'll be dealing with the tracks when I start priming, I decided to take a look at them now. I'll be using the DS tracks from my Dragon Panther G (kit 6370), as I'll be getting my first set of Fruils for that one ( ). They are completely incomparable to the kit tracks, as you can see. Infinity percent better. Also slightly longer (about 2 links) so that might help with track sag a little. Here is a pic.



So, my first PE experience was a good one! A very satisfactory result, IMHO. Thanks for watching so far. More to come. Cheers!

[krusty69]

nice work with the pe
looking forward to the paint
bob

[spock1701]

nice work with the pe
looking forward to the paint
bob

Thanks, Bob. I'm waiting for the weekend on the paint.

But while I wait for Friday, I am working on a piece of the diorama. A tree. Yes, I am scratch-building a tree.

I found an article on FineScale Modeler from 2011 that suggested using plastic-coated garden wire for the armature and coating the wire with "polyfilla" to make it look like a tree and provide a base for the bark texturing. I have no idea what polyfilla is, but I went to my local hardware store and picked up the wire and something called Durham's Water Putty. Some people use it for diorama landscapes. It's dirt cheap, so I might use it for that too.



I colored the putty with some AK pigment and brown house paint. It'll get painted over, but I wanted to start with a base that wasn't ivory.



Here's the basic armature. I wrapped some more wire around the branches to thicken the trunk and to keep them together.



And here it is with some putty on it and other small bits of wire stuck on with putty. This is just after the putty was applied. The thin wires are the metal parts of twist ties. Smart, no?



I'll give you an update when I do some more work. But for now, does anyone have any ideas on how to add bark texture?

[spock1701]

Hi all.

I got the primer on. Yay! That's all, plus some minor work on the tree.

[spock1701]

Hello, everybody.

More work on the tree done last night. I mixed up a thin batch of the Durham's putty to cover the exposed plastic and wire. I had done some major work on the branches, adding more small wire bits and some larger offshoots, so those needed coverage. When the putty had dried for a minute or so, I ran a stiff-bristle brush over the trunk to add some bark texture that hopefully will survive the painting.

Let me know what you think! I strive to impress. I'm going to try to set this aside until I have advanced further with the Panther, but it's so hard to resist doing something new!

I hope to get the base coat on the Panther this weekend. Fingers crossed.

[Stokesy44]

Nice work on the tree mate. That texturing will look great when you paint it, no problem

Looking forward to seeing that Panther coming on too.

[spock1701]

Nice work on the tree mate. That texturing will look great when you paint it, no problem

Looking forward to seeing that Panther coming on too.

Thanks, Stokesy. Good to hear

Something I forgot to post: when I was priming the Panther, I tried priming the DS tracks as well, just to keep them up with the rest of the kit and because I had the primer in the AB anyway.

However, when I sprayed on the primer, it didn't adhere to the tracks and it looked like the tracks might be coated with some kind of water-resistant substance. So last night I scrubbed the tracks with some dishwashing fluid (or washing-up fluid if you're from the wrong side of the pond ) and let them soak in soapy water. Hopefully that will change things.

[spock1701]

Greetings, friends.

Got some progress done on the Panther. Managed not to do any work on the tree, but it's calling me very loudly. Hard to resist.

Anyway, I cut the wheels and sprockets off the sprue. I was going to leave them on, but I realized last night that my method for panting the hubs while avoiding the rubber wouldn't work with the sprue in the way.



Then I remembered that the wheels had a mold seam on them, which I believe would be accurate if the actual tank were brand new. But it's not, so all seams must go. The plastic sanded down very easily, I must say. So did the primer, so I went back over the wheel rims with some Vallejo Model Color Black mixed with Vallejo Paint Retarder. It makes the pain dry slower, so it hand-paints better. It also reduces tip-dry when you are spraying. Good stuff.



Since my homework load wasn't bad last night, I decide to whip out my airbrush and slap on the base coat. I mixed Tamiya XF-60 Dark Yellow with the Vallejo Retarder and Ultimate Thinner in a spare dropper bottler. Initially I had some overspray issues, but I thinned it some more and it evened out nicely. Once you thin them enough, Tamiya paints spray fine, but I still prefer Vallejo Model Air. Here she is. What you see is all that was painted last night. I'll do the wheels at a later date when I have more time. FYI, the tank looks a tad lighter than it is in person. In person it is darker and more yellow, less tan.



That's all for right now, but I should have some more done by tomorrow when I can post from work. Until then, cheers!

[spock1701]

Hello, everyone.

Did work on the figures Friday and Saturday. Well, only the Verlinden figure. I'm holding off on the Trumpeter set, but I do have some pictures of it to show you.

I haven't worked with resin figures before, so the level of detail and the casting quality is astonishing to me. Really fantastic figures. I'll only be using one here, and the other two will go on my Dragon Panther G.

There's very little cleaning-up to do, apart from separating the arm from the casting block.



I glued the arm on with PVA just in case i needed to remove it for some reason. Here's how it looks in the cupola. As you can see, the right hand goes a bit beyond the rail, but it looks sufficiently natural to me. Let me know what you guys think.











Now on to the Trumpeter figures. The quality of the molding is very good, nice detail, and the faces look very good compared to the Tamiya figures I'm used to. The weapons and gear in the kit are also well-molded. There's an excellent MG42 on one of the sprues that actually isn't supposed to be held by one of the figures, and I've no idea why they included it. I will try my best to make one of the figures hold it, but I make no promises. Either way, no loss. It will make a great addition to the spares box. It comes with two belts of ammunition and two ammo boxes.

Helmets w/ camouflage cover:

Gear:

Weapons:

Legs:



Head and Torso:








Close-ups of the MG42:





That's all for now. Cheers!

[spock1701]

Hi guys.

Big update here, so hang on to your hats:

I got the wheels painted with the dunkelgelb.

I got the figures put together and primed.

I painted the camouflage on the Panther.

Wheels first, since that's the shortest bit. Pretty simple process, really. All I do is use the hole closest to the size of the wheel hubs on one of those green plastic things with holes cut out of it. Works well, I must say. Now I don't have to bother with hand-painting the rubber rims.



Next up we have the figures. I only used two of them because I thought the others didn't fit the scene. Moment of silence for all my hopes and dreams here, fellas....

The detail on the figures? Very nice. The fit of the figures? In the sh**ter. Total disappointment. There were plenty of big cracks and gaps to be filled on the torso/leg joins and on the torso/arm joins. Thin super glue for those. But then there were the hands. They don't fit the weapons properly. The kneeling figure's MP-40 sits at an odd angle, which I may be able to fix by gluing carefully. The standing figure... ... does not hold his rifle. His hands are closed and molded as a solid piece. So I had to drill them out, which resulted in one of his hands no longer having a thumb and part of his pinky. Not too noticeable, though. Useable, if not user-friendly.

I got this set for only $5 US, which is a very good price. But I basically got what I paid for. Unless you are a figure master, just discard the figures and use the accessories. The detail on them is very good and there is plenty of it. The gear itself is almost worth the price of the whole set.





Then I primed all three figures with Ultimate Black Primer. They look better painted, and the Verlinden figure looks great. Can't wait until my order from Sprue Brothers comes with the paints.







Now to the main event!

Got the camo coat on the Panther. First I masked off the large areas where I wanted the Dunkelgelb to stay. Then big blotches of Tamiya Nato Green. Then more blotches of Tamiya Nato Brown.

Then off came the masking, followed by touching-up with the camo colors and some extra Dunkelgelb to tone down the edges of the camo and fix some overspray.

Progress Pics:















And now the final result. This is my second freehand camo paint job, and have to say I am quite pleased with it. Let me know what you think!









That's all for right now, but there is more to come! Cheers!

[OneSmallStep1966]

Great work, keep it up

[spock1701]

Great work, keep it up

Thanks. I've been really enjoying this build, I have to say. I'm liking the opportunity to redo an old kit.

I have done two things over the weekend: detail painting and the first round of chipping.

For detail painting, I used mostly Vallejo Model Color paints, which are great for hand-painting. The metal parts are VMC Gunmetal Grey, and the wood handles on the tools are Tamiya XF-57 Buff. There wasn't much variety in the tools on this tank, so I only had to use two colors.

The first picture here was taken after the chipping, as I decided to repaint the wooden handles after I had done the chipping.

Pics:




Then chipping: for this I use Vallejo Model Color German Camouflage Black Brown on a piece of scouring pad. Makes a nice random pattern in the chips.

Pics:






That's it for today. My order from Sprue Brothers is coming tomorrow with some paints for the figures, so I will hopefully get started on those this week. Cheers!

[Stokesy44]

Coming along nicely. Like the camo and the chipping

[spock1701]

Coming along nicely. Like the camo and the chipping

Thanks, Stokesy. A lot of the camouflage you see on Panthers in Normandy is many small, elongated blotches, rather than the large, amorphous blotches I did on my tank. If you look at the reference picture of Panther 314, there are only two different areas of color on the side of the turret, which would suggest a large-blotch pattern. I was apprehensive about doing it that way at first, but I think the end result looks sufficiently realistic.

I got my chipping technique from Mike (Coen), who unfortunately has left us (in spirit anyway).

I know you didn't ask, but I wanted to share that anyway. In my experience, it's good to let out the thought process to clear the brain for the next step.

[spock1701]

Hi guys. More on the build here.

Last night I sat down to some well-deserved figure painting after a rough week of school.

I painted the flesh parts on all three figures but only finished the Verlinden commander figure, as it took a while to get all the colors and techniques fleshed out. If you've seen any of my more recent builds, you'll know that my figure painting skills are crap, but I was actually quite pleased with the result on the resin figure and I look forward to your thoughts on it.

I'll show you the process on the Verlinden figure, and just show you where I got on the infantrymen just so there aren't too many pictures.

I started out with a base of Vallejo Panzer Aces Flesh Base, which as you can see is a little dark for normal skin.



Then I did a semi-dry brushing of Vallejo Panzer Aces Flesh Highlight.



Then I worked on the facial features. The lips were painted with some more of the Flesh Base Color, the eyes are VMC White, and the pupils and eyebrows are VMC Flat Black.



Then I painted his uniform with Vallejo Panzer Aces German Tankcrew Uniform Black, which is more of an extremely dark grey, and looks somewhat lighter than the Ultimate primer. It looks excellent, in my opinion. The headsets are painted in VMC Gunmetal Grey, the buttons are VMC Silver,
and the wires are a mix of VMC Red and VMC Red Leather.



You may be thinking, as I did, that that is not a human being. It is a cadaver. He looks far too pale to be alive. So I took what was left of the paint mix I used for the wires, put a couple drops of water in, and brushed it over all his fleshy areas. It gave his skin a nicer rosy hue, and now he looks alive. The belt is VMC Leather Brown, and his hair is VMC Khaki.

Final Result: he reminds me a bit of Peter O'Toole's character in Night of the Generals, General Tanz. Excellent movie



And on the tank:



Please share any comments, questions, criticisms you have. I strive to improve. Cheers!

[Stokesy44]

[spock1701]

Thanks, Stokesy.

Small update on the figure painting here: got started on the clothing on the Trumpeter figures.

The color of the pants is odd, and I haven't seen it anywhere before, so I mixed up Vallejo Panzer Aces Feldgrau, VMC Neutral Grey, and VMC Khaki in about 40/40/20 ratio. It seemed close enough to me. The boots are VMC Leather Brown.



Then came the first coat on the jacket. I used Tamiya Flat Earth for the base. My plan for the camouflage is not quite solid yet, but I imagine it will involve plenty of mixing paint.



That's all for today. Cheers!

[Kevthemodeller]

Great work mate

[Topcat]

Superb tank man, look of surprise and expectation, nice.

[spock1701]

Superb tank man, look of surprise and expectation, nice.

Great work mate

Thanks, fellas.

No pics, but an update nonetheless. Got some camp on the figures, it looks okay. I'm not going to agonize over it as the level of intricacy is a bit beyond my skill level at this point.

Sad news: I'm going to scrap the tree.
It's just not good enough. There aren't enough branches and I can't fix that really. I just went out to nip some shrubs to see if I can make myself a natural tree.

I've also been thinking that I might do a hedgerow instead of a tree, as I know those were a major feature in the Normandy landscape. That might be more interesting, and easier to boot.

[spock1701]

Hi guys. Got the pics for the camo on the figures. I think now that I have those at a good spot I'll keep going with the Panther.

The base color is Tamiya Flat Earth, the dark patches and spots are a mix of VMC Feldgrau and VMC Black, and the green is just VMC German Camo Light Green.

There should probably be more spots and patches, but I don't feel like doing them as I'm getting a bit sick of these Trumpeter figures and it looks fine to me as is. Please let me know what you think of these figures, though.







Bye bye!

[spock1701]

Hi fellas.

Last night I decided to take a whole hour off from homework and do some work on the Panther. My original plan was to do a gloss coat, but I realized that the would make putting the wheels on much harder later, so I did the wheels instead. There were a number of fit problems, some of the wheels did not fit over the suspension rods, so I had to drill a few out. Not before I broke one of the rods off by trying to twist the wheels on.

In the end, the wheels all came out fine, and they look fairly good from most angles. I look forward to doing the Dragon Panther I have stashed away, as I imagine that has better parts fit.

Pics:





And here is the Panther as it stands now. I still have to paint the jack block and I want to do a base coat of rust color on the exhaust pipes to create a base for rust effects later. Then the gloss. I promise.



I got some good advice from the guys in the ISM Google Hangout last night on trees, and they pointed me to a good video on Youtube, so I'll be swinging by the hardware store tonight to pick up some supplies. I've decided to make both a hedgerow and a small tree for the diorama, about the same height as the first one probably but with thinner trunk and branches.

[OneSmallStep1966]

That's coming together beautifully

[Kevthemodeller]

Some good stuff going on here looking forward to the rest mate

[spock1701]

Hi guys. Quick update.

Gloss coat on and ready for decals.



And tracks primed with Ultimate Black primer.



That's all for now, but I should have the decals on by tomorrow.

[spock1701]

Hi all.

It was a long weekend, but also a productive one.

-Decals are on and sealed
-Dark wash applied
-Tracks done except for dirt, which will come with the diorama

The decals are aftermarket from Star Decals, SS Panther #2 Hohenstaufen Division. All their decals sets are cheap, under $5, and historically accurate. There are enough decals for several tanks. They went on pretty nice with Micro Set and Micro Sol. Much better than the original Tamiya decals.

The balkenkreuz look especially nice, I think.







Then on went the Ultimate Dark Dirt. Great stuff.



Excess wiped off:


Now, the tracks. The DS looks about 1,000,000 times better than the Tamiya rubber thingies, so I hope that I've done them justice.

Base coat of VMC Black mixed about 40/60 with VMC Red Leather:


VMC Gunmetal Grey brushed on the tops of the track links:



Then an oil wash of Burnt Sienna (no pics of that) followed by a wash of Ultimate Rust. Also great stuff. Then the areas brushed with Gunmetal Grey got most of the wash wiped off.



That was my weekend. I hope you guys are enjoying following this, I know I am enjoying building it. My next step is matte coat, followed by oil filters.

I have settled on a method for the diorama vegetation. Twisted wire bush armatures, with furnace filter material for thinner branch material. Plus a few small twisted wire trees.

Cheers!

[Stokesy44]

Tank looks great with the dark wash. Very nice.

As for the tracks

Keep it up mate

[demarcation]

Awesome work so far mate. A joy to watch!

[Nev]

Good job leaving the intakes free of rust that is a common mistake you see