Dragon Jagdpanther Ausf.G1 w/Zimmerit

[alextheblue]

Phew, made it!! A bit late, sorry about that, but very glad to be here at last. I'ts been a bit hectic and I've hardly had time to post comments on anyones build threads, but have been eagerly following them all whenever I can, and I must say there is some great stuff going on out there!!

Finally managed to snap off some pics last night, so here goes with the obligatory box shot - gotta luv' Dragon box-art!!



Lifting the lid reveals the usual tonnage of plastic that you would expect from Dragon.


I won't take shots of all of the sprues (I take toooo many photos as it is!) as you all know what a bunch of wheels and turret parts look like.




And the usual Dragon card loaded with goodies such as decals, PE, clear parts, string etc.




DS tracks are a new one for new as I've only built Dragon's Magic Tracks. I was tempted to get some AM ones instead, but from what I've seen of these in the past, the don't look half bad once painted and weathered, so I thought I'd give them a try.


My most favourite bit of any Dragon kit - the destructions!!! There not too bad once you're used to the lay-out of them and are prepared for their little "idiosyncrasies". When I built my first Dragon kit though, I thought I would be better off just cutting everybit off of the sprues, jumbling everything up in a box and then building the kit - with a blindfold on!!




Not actually made a start yet, but thought I'd chuck in some pics of the upper and lower hulls as well as a close-up of the zimmerit - i like!!



You'll notice that I haven't put up any blurb on the history etc. I thought that as many of us were building similar subjects, the facts & figures replication had probably already been done and probably a lot better than I could have done.

Thanks for taking a look - the very best of luck to everyone and may the fun begin!!!

[Paul]

Beautiful kit Alex, look forward to seeing it come together

[NAMBiohazard]

that is looking to be a very nice kit
love that zimmerit on the parts

Good luck

[MarkVerploeg]

Great kit
I like the square zimmerit
It is a nice change from the standard ridged patern
Good luck with the build
Cheers Mark

[PaulAyrey]

A stunning kit, can't wait to see your progress.

[alextheblue]

Cheers fellas, really looking forward to getting stuck into this one!

[alextheblue]

Update 1

Managed to sneak in a bit of time at the workbench last night, but I was soon recaptured and put back to manual labour (read as DIY!!). I was in two minds about posting an update as it's such a small one, but I wanted to convey my thoughts on Dragon kits in general. This is only my fifth one, so I'm not a total newb, but I still have a helluva lot to learn. The first time I cracked the lid on a Dragon kit I was dumbstruck at the amount of plastic that is crammed into the box and even more dumbstruck by the instructions!! I'm not sure if I'm alone in this, but the plastic that Dragon uses seems to have a "feel" of it's own - soft, but not too soft and with a slight matt finish that makes it really quite tactile.

Going slightly off topic here, but still tenuously relevant, but I use the following tray to catch all of the little "nubbins" that are attached to Dragon parts. They are the good old Mr Hobby paint trays/cups and I find they are ideal for cutting all the debris off in to and thus making it easy to throw away when finished.


As is the norm, wheels first and not too many this time - eight in total, pus a couple each of the sprockets and idlers.



The other thing I love about these kits, is the attention to detail. Dragon could quite easy go the "2 part" route for the idlers, but there's actually 4 parts to these, which really makes a difference once they are built. Only a small point, but it's these things that add up to a really nice kit. I know I'm probably preaching to the converted, but thought I would chuck in my tuppence-worth for the hell of it!


Hoping to get a LOT more down over the weekend - other projects willing!
Thanks for taking a look!

[Goose]

Hello,

if i can give you a advice, don't throw your debris in the bin.,

What i do is that Ii collect them and when my ultra thin tamiya pot is almost empty I prepare a home made filler. putting them in it.

Happy modelling

[alextheblue]

Hello,

if i can give you a advice, don't throw your debris in the bin.,

What i do is that Ii collect them and when my ultra thin tamiya pot is almost empty I prepare a home made filler. putting them in it.

Happy modelling

Thanks Goose, thats a great bit of advice!

[alextheblue]

Update 2

Made a bit of progress over the weekend - was hoping to get some primer on the landing craft I'm building for the D-Day GB, but unfortunately got a bit too involved with this one. Well, you know what it's like, all of those wheels and torsion bars have to cleaned up and that all takes time. Got it all done and everything fixed into place.




Plus, attached the blowers in place - must remember to get these painted up before attaching the upper hull.


I did have one, "oh no, what have I done moment". I had attached one of the sponsons to the side and was just about to attach the other when I noticed that it didn't quite line up. There's a notch in both the sponson and the lower hull that ensure that you line them up correctly and this then acts as a guide to attach the blower. I had test fitted it and was happy that everything was ok, but in picking up the lower hull, I must have inadvertently "flipped" it which resulted in me attaching it to the wrong side. Luckily I noticed straight away and managed to prise it away easily enough and re-attached it to the correct side - phew!!! As the old adage says, if you think you've checked it enough - check it again!

Now on to the rear plate and lots of goodies to attach here.


Especially like the jacks on Dragon kits - plenty of detail.


Everything in place.



And attached to the lower hull.


Dry fitted the upper hull, just to make sure everything lines up nicely - no problems here!




Now I look at it, it doesn't look like I've done too much at all, but with the wheels, running gear and suspension all done, I should be able to really press on with this one.

Thanks for taking a look!

[PaulAyrey]

Really good job so far!

[alextheblue]

Really good job so far!

Thanks Paul!

[Rob]

Another cracking Alex build to follow, excellent! Great start too

[alextheblue]

Another cracking Alex build to follow, excellent! Great start too

Thanks Rob, this is a cracking kit and I would thoroughly recommend it. Although, I do really like the look of those 1/72 Dragon kits that you've been turning into utter gems!!

[alextheblue]

Update 3

I've been lucky enough to grab a couple of days off of work and what do you think I've been up to? Outside basking in the glorious sunshine - nah! I've been locked in the man-cave hunched over the Jagdpanther, stroking it lovingly like Gollum with the magic ring - my precious, my precious!! To date I've only built four of Dragon's fine kits and I'm definitely a fan already. However, this is my favourite so far as it goes together like a dream. There is lots of the usual minuscule parts, but everything fits together so well - once you've deciphered the instructions!

Next up was to fit the hatches and covers on the rear hull and this includes the PE grill covers. I do like PE on a model and feel that it adds to the realism once it is painted and weathered, but my PE skills definitely need working on. I sit and marvel at the likes of Frans who just seem able to bend and mold the tinniest bits of brass to their will. Sure, if the measure of a PE master was gluing indiscernible metal shapes to your fingers and hands, then I would be right up there, but for now, lets just say its a work in progress!





I'm generally keeping to the steps in the instructions, but I'm improvising here and there. For example, you'll notice that I haven't attached the front fenders yet as I'm worried that if I get the angle slightly wrong it will throw it all out. Plus, there is small "filler" part that goes between the fender and the hull, so I decided to attach this to the fender first and then attach the whole part to the hull once the upper and lower parts are fixed together. So, it's onto the tools and all the bits and bobs that attach to the upper hull and boy is there a lot! That is the one things that I really like about German WW2 armour, all the ordinance tools, tow cables, hooks, handles and gubbings. Plus, I really love painting all this stuff once its on.






One bit that did give me the slightest bit of bother was the track hangers that attach to the side. The instructions show both sides empty, but you do get provided with the parts to make up some links if you want to show these in place. I decided to show one side empty and other side with the aforementioned track links in situ. The empty side all went nice and smooth, although you do have to be careful when cleaning the retaining pins as these are very thin. No problem though as I find that the plastic that Dragon uses has enough "give" when you're cutting and scraping away at these small bits. When it came to the other side I found that the holes that the lugs on the hanger go through aren't quite big enough. Out with the Ultimate Thinny sticks and that was soon solved. The next problem was that there wasn't enough clearance to pass the retaining pin through the holes of the lugs, so the links had to be removed and after some reshaping with my scalpel the job was a good 'un. I see now why the instructions show the finished model without the links on the hangers.


Fitted the rear hatches and I wanted to be able to show this both open and closed. Open, because there's some nice detail and closed because as there's no interior it does look a bit odd when open.



With only a couple of steps to go, I decided to press on and get a bit more done , so moved on to the hatches etc and here again is another example of the great detail that Dragon include on their kits.....



So now it really was just the barrel, tow rope and tracks and I was done - don't stop me now!







And that's it - time for primer and then painting - yahey!!! I only dry fitted the wheels and tracks to one side to give me an idea of whether there's going to be any problems and it all looks good so far. Although I do need to think of a way of getting some sag into the tracks - any help here would be gratefully received!

Thanks for taking a look!

[T3hGuppy]

Sweet job dude.

I love all the little details on this kit.

[martin57]

wow coming along great , fantastic detailed kit

[felisbarcinonensis]

loooking grrreat! Alex you are a talented narrator

[NAMBiohazard]

That is just gonna look so good with some paint ( and I can't wait to see that)
I love the look of ZIMMERIT

[alextheblue]

Thanks fellas, appreciate you taking the time to stop by and having a look and especially appreciate the comments!

[alextheblue]

Update 4

Wow there's a lot of stuff going on at the moment, build wise. Now don't get me wrong, I love being busy and having a few projects on the go helps ward off that "stale" feeling you sometimes get when a build seems to get to the sluggish stage. For me, priming is one of those sluggish stages. It's that transition between the build and the painting and without it you can't move from one to t'other. Don't get me wrong, there's some important decisions to be made as in, which colour primer, to pre-shade or not and should I spray naked or fully clothed. I'm kidding, always fully clothed - especially since the neighbours rallied together and issued a court injunction! But all things considered, it's hardly the most creative part of the whole scale model building process.

My weapon of choice is Vallejo primer and either the black or the grey as most of what I build tends to be armour. Sure, I've been tempted to stray by temptresses such as AK, but I always return to what I know best. I know some people have had problems with Vallejo primer and it was reading Paul's thread on the subject that prompted me to buy the AK, but personally I have found Vallejo to be spot on. I have only tried AK's black and white primers and I couldn't get on with the black at all. So, on with the task at hand and with the H&S Infinity filled with Vallejo black I'm ready to spray at about 22 psi







There, usual stuff - tracks and the obligatory shot of the wheel "forest". Now I can sit back, wait for the weekend and look forward to get the real painting underway. It's at this point that I could do with some help as I have no idea what colour scheme to go for. I've trawled across the interweb and have eagerly viewed the schemes that you chaps are using, but am still undecided - so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated (go-faster stripes and flames perhaps! ).

Thanks for taking a look!

[alextheblue]

Update 5

With the primer now dry it is time for the base coat and I'm opting for Mr Hobby Aqueous dark yellow (H403). I love the colour and the finish of this paint and I don't know if it's just me (probably!), but I find that it's quite temperamental to mix and is a bugga to clean out of the air-brush. Coupled with the fact that the temperature got to 25 degrees here in the UK over the weekend, heralding the entirety of our summer, and I knew that I might be in for a few problems. I mix this particular colour at a ratio of about 2:1 with Ultimate Thinner, as I have found that any more thinner than this and the paint is prone to running and pooling. After three very thin coats I was left with the following..........






I always curse myself for using a black primer under this colour as you have to build up the top coat nice and slowly, which requires some will power not to dive in and do the next coat too quickly. It is worth the patience though as I like the hint of shadow that you get by using black, especially on things like the wheels etc. Now onto the tracks and I used Vallejo Panzer Aces Track Primer over the base black primer. In my opinion, this gives a nice base for any tracks that are going to show some level of rusting.



Those that are looking and thinking that the top of the "turret" (I believe the proper technical term is "lid"! ) doesn't seem to be fixed quite right - you are quite right! I decided to leave this until it is painted and then fit the optics, rather than mask them and I'll attach it down then.

And that was it for this one over the weekend. Thanks for taking a peek!

[felisbarcinonensis]

Great progress!! Looking great so far!

[alextheblue]

You are getting there I guess.. and you all are just way faster than I... jeeeesus good job so far mate and thanks for being a part in this gb!

Thanks HM and a big thank you to you both for putting on this SiG. All this lovely tanky goodness!!

[alextheblue]

Great progress!! Looking great so far!

Thanks Felis!

[alextheblue]

Update 6

With the base coat well and truly dry and the D-Day GB going well, it's time to turn my attention back to the big cat! Deciding on which cam scheme to opt for has caused me more problems than I had anticipated as a lot of the reference pictures are of G1 lates or G2's. Ideally I would have liked to paint one of the bold "vertical" tri-tone camo patterns that we would normally associate with one of these big hunting cats. But alas, as it is a G1 early with zimmerit, I believe this makes it a pre-October 1944 model. Don't get me wrong, I'm not adverse to saying, "to hell with it, I'm doing it my way", but on this occasion I wanted to at least try for a modicum of historical accuracy. So with that in mind, it's out with the green and brown. Now please also bear in mind that this only my third camouflage scheme to date, so whilst I have some experience it is fairly limited. The base colour is Mr Hobby Aqueous dark yellow and previously I have used the dark green and red brown from the same range of paints. Looking at the one reference picture I had, the brown on the Jagdpanther seemed to be more of a definite brown, so for this one I opted to use Tamiya paints instead.



It's at this stage that I must make an apology as what follows is a huge amount of pictures that all look basically the same! Rest assured, they are actually different as I was trying to blend the colours gradually by applying different washes and filters and gradual is the key word here.

First on with the green.





And then the brown...






Hmmmmmm........not too sure about that, but I can't quite put my finger on it. A little bit too neat perhaps - hopefully the blending/fading will tone this down. With this in mind the next step is to start the blending process. I believe a lot of people use a lightened diluted version of the base colour, but I wanted to lose some the "yellow-ness", so instead I used the following colours in a ratio of roughly 70:30 - 70% dark yellow to 30% buff.





Now it's onto a filter and I used a tri-tone filter, which for want of a better description looks like dirty dish-water!





Starting to get there, but there's still a fair bit of work to do. I need to lighten down the green and brown whilst darkening the base colour and for this I used an earth wash from MiG. It is very heavy diluted and is more like a filter so I use it neat from the bottle.





And that's where I'm at so far - like I said, a lot of pictures that basically look the same!! Next up I think I'll get all the details painting and the out with the oils for a pin wash followed by a dot filter. If I use the right colours, this should help tie everything in even further - well, that's the plan!

Thanks for taking a look!

[NAMBiohazard]

That is coming along nicely...
Well done

[GIACOMER]

For me this is a high quality painting!!!

[felisbarcinonensis]

Looks gorgeous Alex! I have the same dilema with my cat's camo, I want at least to get some degree of historical accuracy or at least to hold on a shadow of possibility. Looking arround I 've reached some kind of conclusion; modern armies differ from those in the forties regarding uniformity; looks like crazy customisation was a bit more loose back then. So much stuff has been destroyed and forgotten that anything is virtually possible, except pink spots on a purple base colour...

Anyway, cheers mate!

[Rob]

Wow, that's the big cat's whiskers! Fantastic job on build and painting. Thanks for the guide - very handy.

[NAMBiohazard]

That ought to be an interesting camo
Purple with pink spots

[PaulAyrey]

Ooh, that is looking amazing, well done Alex

[alextheblue]

Thanks for all the great comments fellas - really helps to keep the old motivation going!

[alextheblue]

Update 7

This seems to be a never-ending round of washes and filters in an effort to try and get the colours all to blend in a bit better. I next added an oil wash of burnt umber and I think I'm going to leave it at that - for now! Whilst this was drying it was onto the wheels to paint in the tyres and time to get some weathering done on the tracks. Funnily enough, I have tried using a stencil for painting the wheels/tyres and I just couldn't get on it with - call me weird, but I prefer doing it by hand - and painting the wheels!!! Nothing too much as I will finish these off once they are on the tank, so it was a quick going over with a rust wash and them a quick dry-brushing with a dark steel colour.




Before I applied the burnt umber oil wash, I put the decals on and these seemed to lay into the zimmerit nicely with only a couple of applications of MircoSol. Whilst I'm still making up my mind as to whether or not I should apply yet another wash, I made a start on painting all the details and gubbings.






And got some weathering and pigments on the spare track links and exhausts.



Need to get the wheels and tracks on and get them weathered up and that should see me on the home straight!

Thanks for taking a peek!

[MarkVerploeg]

Lovely work on the camo Alex
Just the way i like german camo these big stripes of color
Much better then the more complex schemes they had
looking forward to the finished project
cheers Mark

[UKguyInUSA]

Looking great so far, Alex!

[felisbarcinonensis]

Looks wonderful Alex!

[NAMBiohazard]

WOW
That is really coming along marvelously

[GIACOMER]

Stunning work! Catch the eyes for sure.

[alextheblue]

Thanks fellas!

[alextheblue]

Update Eight

With the wheels and tracks painted up it's time to get them on the beast. It's my first time using DS tracks and I'm not quite sure what is the best way to achieve the right amount of sag. I know some people use pins to hold them in place, but I think for my first time out with these things, I will try glueing them to the road wheels in strategic places and see how that pans out. I'm a little worried that it might make them sit unrealistically low, but I think using the pin method could make the tracks sit at a funny angle if positioned incorrectly. So, on balance I opted for the former method and thought I could try using pins on a later build.






Fairly happy with the outcome and whilst they're not quite right position-wise, they'll do for me. The wheels look quite shiny as they've just had a filter and pin-wash. Once dry, I'll give them another wash with oils just to tone them down a bit further.

Now it's starting to look a bit more like a proper tank with tracks and everything, I should really add a bit of wear and tear to the paintwork and metal surfaces. A while ago, I bought some AKi chipping colour (as below) and I must say, for me, it just doesn't work. It would be interesting to know if anyone else has tried and if so, what do you think of it?


The first time I used it, I applied it with a brush (my preferred method for chipping), but it just didn't look right, so I abandoned it and used something else. This time round I decided to go the sponge route and see how this turned out. Badly is the answer!! I just can't get on with this product - to my mind, the colour isn't right and it's just too thin and runny. So, I replaced the lid and consigned it to the box marked, "Never To Be Used Again!". Instead I used Mr Hobby Aqueous burnt iron (H076 I think). I don't use this colour all the time for chipping, but it's quite nice for vehicles that would have been primed with a dark red. Plus it gives an almost "oily" finish.






Not quite finished with the chipping as I need to do some more at the rear end. Once this is done it will just need some dirt and dust and it will be finished.

Thanks for taking a look!

[peppie]

Looks great, never thought about using the burnt iron for chipping.
Thanks for the tip.

[felisbarcinonensis]

Great job!

[mannloon]

Looks really good.

[wappynutter]

Another cracking piece Alex.... Well done mate, you chipping looks fine to me..
All the best, continued success with the builds buddy..
Happy Modelling..

[alextheblue]

Thanks fellas, appreciate the great comments!

I like my tanks the same way I like me grub - chips with everything !

[alextheblue]

Final Update

Well, I managed to get this one finished over the weekend. There wasn't too much to do in the end, finish off the chipping and then add some dirt and mud. I didn't want it too dirty, just a bit on the wheels, tracks and the very bottom part of the body. I must confess, it is this part of the whole process that I still struggle with the most as I can never seem to get it just how I want. But like anything else, it all comes down to practice, practice and then a bit more practice. Main products used for this were Ultimate's dark dirt, MiG pigments light European dirt and earth effects and dark mud MiG enamels. I first mixed up some of the light European dirt with pigment fixer and applied this to all the parts where the dirt is likely to collect. Once this had dried I cleaned off any excess and then used the earth effects to darken certain areas. Then I added the dark mud to certain places here and there and then finally added Ultimate's dark dirt. The theory being that the dirt that has been on the longest will be the lightest as its had the longest to dry and the more recent stuff will be darkest - we'll that's the theory any ways!

I've only put up a couple of pics here and the rest will be in the Reveal section.






A big thank you to everyone that has taken the time to stop by and have a look and especially for all the great comments, it's always such a great motivation!

[felisbarcinonensis]

The dangerous cat looks gorgeous

[UKguyInUSA]

Awesome job, mate!

[AchtungPanzer]

for You mate. Model look s very well. Nice execution