1/48 Tamiya Panther G

[dupes]

Alright! Inaugural return-to-MSC GB number one!

Nothing super fancy for me to start with...want to make sure I can get a quick completion in before summer really gets rolling up my way. Hoping to finish something else on the later part of the year as well. 1/48 Tamiya kit, going out of the box for speed purposes. Planning on an ambush scheme - been a while since I've done one of those. Away we go!



Spent night number one doing a few hull bits, and cleaning up roadwheels. The only tricky part of this build I foresee is how/when to paint the tracks. After dry fitting the wheels to the diecast chassis, I'm going to have to go with at least a partial paint-in-place strategy. There's a lot of slop between the plastic wheels and metal axles, unfortunately, so I don't think I can assemble everything pre-paint and then get everything back together afterwards. Going to have to paint the wheels and hull tub, add tracks, and touch up from there. I'm going to attempt to paint most of the tracks leaving the glue points free of paint. Haven't done that before, so we'll see how it goes!

[Tojo72]

I actually hate link and length,makes me indecisive,never sure how to handle.I would rather do indies anytime.

[deafpanzer]

You are very brave! I usually wait and work on the wheels til the very end. LOL

[DennisM]

I hate those die cast hulls.
I think it was a weight gimick to give the model some weight to help the kit sit on all of it's wheels and prevent floaters? I don't know but that is what I am going with.

You could try gluing the roadwheels to the tracks and painting as a whole assembly.
If I don't order 3d Printed workable tracks, that is probably what I will do on my 1/48 Panther

Here is a video of it being done.
youtu.be/o-x273N9PH8

[406 Silverado]

Jun 2, 2023 7:59:43 GMT -5 DennisM said:

I hate those die cast hulls.
I think it was a weight gimick to give the model some weight to help the kit sit on all of it's wheels and prevent floaters? I don't know but that is what I am going with.

You could try gluing the roadwheels to the tracks and painting as a whole assembly.
If I don't order 3d Printed workable tracks, that is probably what I will do on my 1/48 Panther

Here is a video of it being done.
youtu.be/o-x273N9PH8

I'm not an armor builder as of yet so I can't really have an opinion on what's good and what's not but I'll be in on this one to learn a thing or two.
And I do learn alot from you guys.

[Joe Rix]

Great start Dupes. I'm keen to your insight on the tracks. While working on my Firefly that same process of painting the tracks individually while leaving the glue points paint free had crossed my mind. This, on the other hand, presents a different challenge given the shear number of road wheels. I am certainly following with interest. Good luck on any approach.

[reserve]

Last time I had this problem I got some Evergreen tube of the proper diameter, cut lengths of it and glued them in the roadwheel sockets. I then drilled out the tube sections to fit the axle stubs and presto sloppy fit problem solved. Could be this will work for you

[dupes]

Jun 2, 2023 7:59:43 GMT -5 DennisM said:

I hate those die cast hulls.

I'm starting to lean that way myself. Having to superglue a lot of bits (important bits!) vs regular cement can only introduce issues further along in the build. Doing plastic-to-plastic joins would be MUCH easier.

[armornutii]

   Great start dupes, may venture into 48th armor someday....not today LOL.
    I'm with tojo, indy links while a pita are much easier to paint than link & length. That said I make runs of track for the top and bottom, them glue up links around the drive and idler, trying to include as much of the down angle as possible. This gives me just a couple of connecting points in the end.

[Leon]

Off to a good start Dupes!

[bbrowniii]

Looking good so far!

I'm excited to see the ambush scheme on this thing!!

[dupes]

Thanks fellas!

You and me both, Boyd. I'll be relieved when I'm actually at the ambush-painting phase...because that means that roadwheels and tracks will be behind me. 😂

[hasenpfeffer]

Yeah, I don't get the die cast hull either. I can't imagine that it was cheaper than tooling a plastic one. And like you said, it just makes everything incongruent for the main joining.

Nice step 1. I would 2nd what Mark recommended for the slop, if ya wanna spend the time/effort doing that. I'm interested in seeing how you tackle it either way.

[dupes]

Had a rough week at work - haven't touched the forum in days. You have no idea how happy it makes me that my post has been pushed all the way down to page 6. MSC is back, baby! 😁

Plugging away making slow progress at the Panther, hope to have some pics up tonight or this weekend.

[stikpusher]

Jun 8, 2023 13:31:28 GMT -5 dupes said:

Had a rough week at work - haven't touched the forum in days. You have no idea how happy it makes me that my post has been pushed all the way down to page 6. MSC is back, baby! 😁

Plugging away making slow progress at the Panther, hope to have some pics up tonight or this weekend.

Just from the time I go to sleep at night and check back in the next morning, it’s usually 1 1/2 pages of posts to go through to get caught up. I think only Kitmaker matches that level of activity right now.

Good to see you back and plugging away on your Panther.

[dupes]

Boy, I don't think that I was ever aware of Kitmaker being a thing. If that stat is true, though, that's awesome!

[stikpusher]

Jun 8, 2023 14:31:08 GMT -5 dupes said:

Boy, I don't think that I was ever aware of Kitmaker being a thing. If that stat is true, though, that's awesome!

Yeah, I joined Armorama many years ago, but dropped off kinda quickly. I went back on a few years ago when FSM really slowed down, and then they combined multiple sites under the Kitmaker umbrella and revamped the site. At least I think that’s what happened there. I never knew of all their branches before like Aeroscale and such.

[dupes]

Ohhhh, sure! I've visited Armorama before. I didn't associate it with Kitmaker, though.

[406 Silverado]

I’m on Kitmaker as well under the Automotive section. There’s not just a whole lot of activity there but what there is of it is ALL talent.

Still putting the word out to folks and have managed to scoop up a few of the original gang through birthday emails. It is indeed a good thing to see this place bounce back. The members here deserve to have their forum back. Stay tuned…..it ain’t over by a long shot .

[stikpusher]

Joe, I truly admire your dedication to reviving this site. It surely is worth it I see.

[dupes]

Been having some issues uploading to Postimg the past couple of days...finally got one to go through!

All subassemblies are complete. Time to start slinging paint and working on track bits.

[deafpanzer]

That was fast! You are truly a machine. I should try 1/48 one day.

[Tojo72]

Assembly looks good

[406 Silverado]

Jun 10, 2023 21:05:01 GMT -5 dupes said:

Been having some issues uploading to Postimg the past couple of days...finally got one to go through!

All subassemblies are complete. Time to start slinging paint and working on track bits.

Dang!! Blowin' right through this one dupes!!

[Joe Rix]

Excellent assembly Dupes. I have found with these 1/48 kits that the assembly part actually moves along rather quickly. Especially with the standard Tamiya excellent fit. I'm taking note of how you are going about your subassembly process. It will prove helpful and insightful to me. Great work my friend.

[dupes]

Jun 11, 2023 5:40:45 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

That was fast! You are truly a machine. I should try 1/48 one day.

In the winter, when I'm not at work nearly so much, I could easily do the build portion of one of these in two or three evenings. Deciding what to glue or not to glue for paint purposes takes more time than anything else!

[dupes]

Thanks Joe and Joe! Yeah, they move along fast. Here's hoping I can find the time to spend in the paint booth as easily!

[dupes]

Oooof. As expected, summer work got the best of me. It's been nearly three months since I got to touch this thing. I'm not quite out of the woods yet, but I should be able to start picking away at some builds again (finally)! Hopefully I can spend a bit more time on here again, too.

Had to look back in the thread to see what my plan was regarding tracks...I had totally forgotten!

[Joe Rix]

Good to see you are still with us. Sure understand the life type distractions. I'm stuck at the paint stage and like you it's all about finding a prolonged window of opportunity to hit the paint booth. It will be good to have you back at it when you can.

[kyledehart5]

Always a bummer when real life gets in the way but it happens to us all. This one was started prior to my joining so I will jump in here to watch now. Also not an armor guy but learning a ton watching this group build