Academy 1:25 Panther G - 8/25 Onto the next problem

[Tojo72]

Yes,the barrel turned out great,still can't get over the wooden bsrrel.Whats the sense of spending money on AM if you have to do major surgery on it but you did save the day.

[chromdome35]

Aug 15, 2023 4:48:04 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

I'll be joining back in the fun myself this week sometime. Great to see you back at it buddy.

It feels good to be making progress again. I think going to Nats really pumped me up to get busy building again. It was great getting to see the results of what the masters of the hobby are doing.

[chromdome35]

Aug 15, 2023 4:59:26 GMT -5 Steve Zuleski said:

Excellent progress, Brian. That fine detail work on the barrel seemed to do the trick, awesome! Ya, I've been away from the brushes myself, so no worries. I'm building two rocking horses, taking a break from the JS figures. Keep Ruckin On!

Are you building them for yourself??? Something new to sit on while you work?

[hasenpfeffer]

Yes, sooo much better. Full steam ahead!

[adt70hk]

That's brilliant work on the turret... But never seen a wooden barrel before.

It's turned out very well indeed!

[406 Silverado]

Aug 15, 2023 9:44:01 GMT -5 chromdome35 said:

Aug 15, 2023 4:48:04 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

I'll be joining back in the fun myself this week sometime. Great to see you back at it buddy.

It feels good to be making progress again. I think going to Nats really pumped me up to get busy building again. It was great getting to see the results of what the masters of the hobby are doing.

It was definitely inspirational to say the least.

[Tobi]

Excellent progress Brian. I couldn't add anything else which the others haven't already pointed out/suggested to you.
It was the right decision to rework the mould seam on the mantlet, this way it looks much better.
I deem the surfacer you have in mind will be sufficient for the barrel. Maybe it will take some additional sanding after primer to make it smooth, but the wood grain looks fine from here.
I have been using Jadar's PE in the past and I did like them.

[chromdome35]

Continuing to plug away at this.

I added have added almost all of the handles and other details on the hull. I added lots of weld beads, put some Meng resin bolt heads below the glacis plate, and added the guard that was missing from the center vent on the rear deck. I also mounted the debris shield at the top of the mantlet.

I am currently living the hell that befalls every German armor modeler, road wheels. I'm a little over half way through removing the mold lines from the road wheels. I have to stop and wait a bit after doing about 4 of them because my hand starts cramping.

I still have a lot left to do, but I am much closer to being done than when I started.

Once I have the running gear sorted out, I will turn my attention to the fenders. I must admit, I'm a little intimidated by the complexity and number of parts that make up the front and side fenders, bending them wasn't much issue; however, combining them all together into a homogeneous unit that looks good...pray for me.

One thing I'm not very satisfied with is the length of the hull-mounted MG. I think it is too long and sticks out too far. It's super-glued in, but I think I'll throw on some debonder and see if I can pull it out. Then I'll cut it shorter and reinstall it.

Pictures

[handiabled]

This looks fantastic so far. What did you use for simulating the weld beads?

[Tojo72]

Nice work on all of those added details

[deafpanzer]

Those weld beads look great! You are getting there...

[406 Silverado]

I have heard lots of horror stories in regard to the road wheels on German tracked vehicles. I almost spit my coffee out laughing over the hands cramping and the "pray for me" line. lol

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the fenders come together on this Brian. Hang with 'er man.

[Joe Rix]

You have done some sweet detailing Brian. Your efforts thus far is really impressive and producing some very realistic results.

[chromdome35]

Aug 19, 2023 2:35:15 GMT -5 handiabled said:

This looks fantastic so far. What did you use for simulating the weld beads?

Green Stuff Epoxy Putty

I use two pieces of 3mm styrene sheet to roll it into very thin strands. Then I use a toothpick to work it into position around the detail I follow that up using a piece of aluminum can that is bent around a long cotton swab stick to do the texture.

ETA: I use Uncle Night Shifts recommended technique for the weld beads. This video starting at about the 10:15 point covers the use of epoxy putty and creation and useage of the texturing tools. Higly recommended.

[406 Silverado]

Aug 19, 2023 8:49:44 GMT -5 chromdome35 said:

Aug 19, 2023 2:35:15 GMT -5 handiabled said:

This looks fantastic so far. What did you use for simulating the weld beads?

Green Stuff Epoxy Putty

I use two pieces of 3mm styrene sheet to roll it into very thin strands. Then I use a toothpick to work it into position around the detail I follow that up using a piece of aluminum can that is bent around a long cotton swab stick to do the texture.

That sounds intense but it dang sure works I can tell ya that!!

[chromdome35]

I don't know how to combine quotes from everyone's comments into a thank-you post like some of you do. So I'll skip that part and offer a heartfelt thank you to you guys for your comments and support.

I'm still a noob at this hobby compared to most of you. This one is shaping up to be my best effort ever, I just hope I can keep from mucking it up in the painting stage.

[stikpusher]

Looking very sharp! I feel your pain on the road wheel stage..
One the reasons that my Panther is temporarily on the back burner while I concentrate on other projects first…. along with waiting for some AM stuff to show up. 😏

[hasenpfeffer]

Aug 19, 2023 9:15:33 GMT -5 chromdome35 said:

I don't know how to combine quotes from everyone's comments into a thank-you post like some of you do. So I'll skip that part and offer a heartfelt thank you to you guys for your comments and support.

I'm still a noob at this hobby compared to most of you. This one is shaping up to be my best effort ever, I just hope I can keep from mucking it up in the painting stage.

Nah, you got this. Everything is looking fantastic. Go for broke and add the weld beads for the AA MG ring on the cupola where the plates attach to the vision port covers. (Just sayin'... ya got the weld beads for the port guards themselves...)

[chromdome35]

Yes, I plan to add the weld beads to the MG ring once I permanently mount it. The coupla hasn't been attached yet as I need to paint the periscopes before I install them through the underside. Once that's all in place, I'll add the weld beads.

[chromdome35]

Got the road wheels all sanded and prepped. Did my first mounting of the wheels and tracks on one side to see how everything looked.

The Rubber Band tracks on this kit go together very easily, each track comes in two sections which are joined by pushing a metal pin through the join point. They are very stiff and as you can see from the photo's there is no sag in them.

I can easily pull them down to where I want them to be, I've heard some people say to tie them down using a black thread, and others say to glue the tracks to the road wheels which seems the much simpler route.

How would you handle it?

[handiabled]

Aug 19, 2023 8:49:44 GMT -5 chromdome35 said:

Aug 19, 2023 2:35:15 GMT -5 handiabled said:

This looks fantastic so far. What did you use for simulating the weld beads?

Green Stuff Epoxy Putty

I use two pieces of 3mm styrene sheet to roll it into very thin strands. Then I use a toothpick to work it into position around the detail I follow that up using a piece of aluminum can that is bent around a long cotton swab stick to do the texture.

Thank you!  This is a technique that I will put in my arsenal for future use

[stikpusher]

If you don’t feel like going the indy track link route (and who knows what’s out there for that in 1/25?), I’d suggest gluing the tracks to the tops of the road wheels to get proper sag. Epoxy works great for that, as CA and those vinyl tracks don’t tend to hold too well. Or like you said, you can tie the tracks to the wheels (not a method that I care for) or use metal wire such as music wire drilled and glued into the hull side to keep downward pressure on the tracks and keep them in place.

[chromdome35]

I couldn't find any aftermarket tracks for this. Not much market for 1/25 panther tracks.

I will probably glue them down. As I look at the way this tank sits on the roadwheels, it appears that the front drive sprocket is sitting on top of the first road wheel. In my reference materials, there is clearly a slight gap between the edge of the two wheels. All of the reference materials show a distinct angle, a tangent between the edge of the drive socket and the bottom of the first road wheel. On the model, it's a curve. When I push down on the first road wheel, it rotates to the correct position. I'm going to have to glue that torsion bar in place to keep the suspension from compacting too much.

This picture of a panther 2 I took at the US Armor Collection shows the separation between the drive sprocket and the 1st road wheel.

[stikpusher]

I wouldn’t use that Panther as reference for track tension. It’s most likely non operational, and has not been kept in proper maintenance anyways. Not to mention that the museum Panther has the less common steel rimmed road wheels, and not the standard rubber rimmed road wheels.

[deafpanzer]

Good point about no aftermarket for 1/25 tracks! Unless you pay somebody a lot of money to print customized tracks for you... way too much money I bet! LOL Just a thought... I used my son's heat gun for the FIRST time to straighten the resin gun barrel (another FUBAR by Black Dog) and I was surprised how it works fast so maybe you can use it 'gently' on the rubber bands until it is 'warm' enough then allow them settle on the tracks so it will stay that way. Just a thought...

[Leon]

I mostly glue my tracks to the road wheels!

[reserve]

Leave them out in the sun for a couple hours and then form them to the running gear. Glue the roadwheels so the do not turn, then glue the track to the bottom of the roadwheels. Then, as S sez, a series of pins drilled into the hull at the proper heights will hold the top of the run down so you get that nice Panther track curve. Paint the pins rust and presto no one will be the wiser.

I've used this method more times than I can count to good effect on bandy tracks

[stikpusher]

Now here is a good example of how properly tensioned tracks should drape on flat level ground. It looks like they should not touch the tops before the third or fourth pair of road wheels

[chromdome35]

Aug 20, 2023 14:35:28 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

I wouldn’t use that Panther as reference for track tension. It’s most likely non operational, and has not been kept in proper maintenance anyways. Not to mention that the museum Panther has the less common steel rimmed road wheels, and not the standard rubber rimmed road wheels.

I was using it to look at the spacing between the drive sprocket and the 1st road wheel. I'm using my Panzer Tracts 5-3 for the Panther G as my main reference, I also have Achtung Panzer #4 which covers the Panther, JagdPanter and Brummbar.

[chromdome35]

So our (stikpusher) exchange regarding aftermarket tracks got me thinking (you could probably smell the wood burning). I have the sister kit to this one, the 1/25 Jagdpanter in my stash. I opened that box up to look at it's tracks and what did I find?



Boom shaka laka! Individual linked TRACKS!!!!



They aren't very detailed, but I bet they sit on the tank a WHOLE lot better. Every single link has two injection spots... Good thing I'm a sanding stick whore.


There are a couple of other details I'm going to borrow from the Jagdpanter, Shackles, Radio mast base, and...the Jagd came with 1/25 figures. Now I just need to figure out how to steal Steve Zuleski skills in figure painting.


I feel kinda dumb for not cracking open the 1/25 Jagdpanther until now.

Ran into a slight problem, the drive sprockets have different geometry on the teeth. The sprocket from the Panther G kit has more teeth than the sprocket from the JagdPanther. This prevents the sprocket from the Panther G from working with the JagdPanther's tracks.



Fortunately, these are very similar kits, and the drive sprocket from the JagdPanther fits perfectly on the Panther G using the exact same mounting method.