Panther 131, Kampfgruppe Peiper

[robwesterman]

Hi all,

been working on this panther for a while now. Subject is Panther 131 from kampfgruppe Peiper. It was destroyed on 18 december 1944 in Cheneux, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge.

A few pictures of this panther can be found in the excellent book Duel in the Mist (vol 2). On one of the pictures the remnants of the disc camouflage is clearly seen.



I've build this panther a few years ago, it's a Tamiya Panther (the steel wheel kit) updated with some Aber PE, crew heater from Tiger models and Fruil tracks.




Recently I had some time for painting. For the disc camo I used the stencils from AK Interactive / Uschi van der Rosten. 
Painting is done with Tamiya acrylics. First some black primer, then a green base coat, and the red brown camo was sprayed on. After that the discs were applied using a mixture of dark yellow and deck tan. And finally the dunkelgelb was sprayed on using the same mixture. It's a bit of a tedious job using the stencils and it's takes a lot of time! :-)












This is where I'm at right now. Weathering is done with oils and Vallejo acrylics (chipping etc).
















Still a lot to do! Next steps are adding some pigments and (mud)washes on the wheels and some more final detailing!


Rob.

[Leon]

Looking good Rob! The disc camo looks great.

[vindicareassassin]

Lovely job there mate!

[S e r z h]

I like this model! Quality construction and even higher quality painting!

[wbill76]

Always love to see the disc camo on a Panther. Nice! Those Uschi stencils are well worth the effort.

[tonylee]

Excellent workmanship my man


Tony lee

[Deano]

Stunning Pantherage , keep it coming !!!!

[TRM]

Awesome work on the Big Girl Rob! Top notch stuff!

[dupes]

Mmmmmm. I love the disc camo and you've pulled it off perfectly. Nice work!

[jhoenig]

Excellent work!

[deafpanzer]

One of best camo job I have seen... I look forward to more of this!

[sollie]

wow, late to the show , but that is one good looking Panther . Really dig to see the transformation. Is those before/after photos under same lamp/light ? would love to get some pointers as to how you work from a fresh paintjob to those 'after ' shots

[robwesterman]

Thank you very much for the replies!

@ Sollie: not sure if the "before" and "after" pics were made under the same circumstances.
But the weathering definitely alters the appearance and colors. An important step (imo) is adding filters. You can ad it by using very diluted oil paint or enamel (not a wash but more heavily thinned). In this case I used the dot filtering method: adding small dots of oil paint and wiping it of with a damp brush. I used many different colors, like yellowish, cadmium white, and raw umber.
Furthermore I used the winter streaking grime from AK Interactive, you can apply it in the same manner. 
Some more weathering is done by adding oil pin washes (with raw umber, van Dijck brown) and also adding streaks and scratches with Vallejo acrylics. I also did some "oil paint rendering" (Google for Mike Rinaldi and you know what I mean  ).
If you have more questions, let me know!

So, I finished the panther just in time for the Scale Model Challenge (Big Modeling comp in Holland) and won a bronze medal in de Advanced category!































Thanks for watching!

Grtz,

Rob.

[sollie]

Well done in the Show, modell looks smashing. Thanks for taking the time to explain

[Leon]

Congrats on the bronze medal Rob! You did an awesome job on the Panther.

[armorguy]

It's beautiful, I like the living colors, and the figures are skillfully painted ! Congrats !

[S e r z h]

Nice, very nice!

[wbill76]

Congrats on the bronze, well deserved!