1:35 MENG Panther Ausf. D

[hasenpfeffer]

So, I spent the better part of my last bench session sorting out the main gun installation. I briefly mentioned it last post, but the join area for the kit part is a semi-circular peg/hole arrangement with the hole being reinforced by ribbing on the inside of the mantlet.



I forgot to take pictures of the mantlet and replacement Aber barrel before I started, so you may have to use your imagination just a little bit, even though you can see how it all works in the end. Anyway, I first nipped off all of the reinforcement ribbing so that when I drilled it wouldn't take the bit to one side. I then used my Exacto to carve out as carefully as possible the other half of the semi-circle. This was the starting point for my drilling. I used a few sizes, each a little larger in diameter until I got it close. It turns out that the large diameter of the barrel needed to be pushed back further than the place it would have stopped if only the "pin" located it properly. This meant that the whole diameter needed to be bored out. This was still a bit tricky since the plastic wants to give or flex a little. I'm sure any of you that have drilled out MG ends, exhaust tips or the like have experienced this phenomenon. At this point the barrel fit quite snuggly into the hole which was intended. I made very small adjustments with rolled sandpaper to fine tune it further. From there it was getting the barrel straight in all directions (or at least as far as I could tell, LOL). I used UV glue on the back side to secure it in place.




A test fit to the turret revealed that I needed to drill a hole here as well so the aforementioned "pin" would not prevent the mantlet from seating correctly.



Great fit here! ^^^



I also counter weighted the turret with some bb's since the barrel is heavy and long. And, there she is.

As far as the tracks go, I decided to go AM as well. I couldn't find any early tracks at my usual stops, so I ponied up some dough for Panzerwerk Design links. I've heard good things about them, but have yet to try them myself. You'll see them here and my honest opinion soon.

Panzerwerk Design Panther Early Track Links



That's all for now. Questions and comments are always welcome.

[deafpanzer]

Looking great! I'd love to learn about the new 3D printed track set too especially that it doesn't require glue for assemble so I will be on look out for your updates as usual!

[Tojo72]

Good progress Dave,tracks look good,do you know how many links for a Panther D per side,at least as a starting point

[Joe Rix]

Excellent work on getting the barrel to fit Dave. Precise and clean.

[hasenpfeffer]

Jul 17, 2023 14:34:00 GMT -5 Tojo72 said:

Good progress Dave,tracks look good,do you know how many links for a Panther D per side,at least as a starting point

Thanks, guys.

Tony the instructions say 87/side, so somewhere in that ballpark. I should have some room for either spares or alternates if some turn out not fully formed, broken, etc.

[Leon]

That metal barrel really looks good Dave! Interested in seeing how those tracks work out.

[406 Silverado]

The way you worked that barrel into the mantlet was pretty ingenious. I've drilled out many an exhaust and know all too well about what you're talking about too. I'm also looking forward to seeing how these 3D tracks work out for you. I've heard lots of things about 3D printed parts being exceptionally brittle and hope that they are easy for you to work with. Will be watching for your review on those. Thank you for the detailed instructions on what you're doing Dave. You da MAN!!

[reserve]

Fiddle fiddle fiddle

Man over plastic!! Well done sir

[hasenpfeffer]

So, minus the tracks and a few other minor details (like the schurzen retaining plates) I think I am pretty much done with the build part of this Panther. I am still waiting for the tracks to get mailed. Panzerwerk Design has been on holiday for the last 2 weeks. LOL - great timing for me, eh? A few pics to look at before I start covering up the plastic and metal with primer.




Smoke grenade launchers with the wiring as good as I could get it. (0.25 mm lead wire)


I redid the welds for the glacis and hull sides, upper and lower, as well as the rear plate to hull sides. They were kinda small and didn't line up well enough to leave alone. At least that's the way I felt about it. So I stretched some sprue, cut it to length and used Extra Thin to soften it up. The fender brackets in the front were prettied up a little with bolt heads taking the place of the "nubs" to locate the brackets on the kit.


Of note is the orientation of the storage boxes on the rear deck. I find it strange that they are reversed. There is an offset of the brackets they sit on so that one end of the box has a larger overhang (towards the inside). So that means the kit is designed this way. I don't know if that is correct or not. I suppose it's not a huge deal either way.

Anyway, looking forward to getting those tracks and starting the paint!

I tried a little something different with the photos. Used the DSLR and some black posterboard. I have to play around a little with the exposure. Some of these look a little dark, which I suppose happens when you crank the aperture down for depth of field. Not as easy as snapping a quick shot with the phone! LOL

[Tojo72]

Assembly looks real clean,good progress.

[stikpusher]

That’s looking very sharp. Looks ready for primer and paint next.

[Joe Rix]

That is some terrific progress Dave. Your welds look every bit the part. PE work is nice and clean also. I hope your tracks arrive soon.

[deafpanzer]

Looking great especially the PE work!

[406 Silverado]

This looks good without the paint. So much detail to look at and we're not even to the color application stages yet. To say that this is intense would simply be an understatement.

[chromdome35]

Your build looks great and very clean.

I've never seen a picture of a panther with storage sitting on top of the back deck. Was that very common?

[hasenpfeffer]

Jul 30, 2023 19:08:17 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

That’s looking very sharp. Looks ready for primer and paint next.

Yep, have the black primer on... see below.

Jul 31, 2023 0:24:28 GMT -5 Joe Rix said:

That is some terrific progress Dave. Your welds look every bit the part. PE work is nice and clean also. I hope your tracks arrive soon.

Thanks! I don't know if it's just me, but the parts seem to be getting smaller and smaller. Panzerwerk Designs was on holiday from 7/15 to 7/30, so my timing sucked a bit there. But I've had a couple updates from them since Sunday. Just a matter of getting to Michigan from Poland.

Aug 1, 2023 10:47:32 GMT -5 chromdome35 said:

Your build looks great and very clean.

I've never seen a picture of a panther with storage sitting on top of the back deck. Was that very common?

Thanks, Brian. For most of the 51st and 52nd Battalion tanks during the summer and fall of 1943 it was fairly common. So much so that you can pretty much identify them by those bins.
You can see them present on both of these, for instance.

[chromdome35]

Aug 1, 2023 12:17:00 GMT -5 hasenpfeffer said:

Jul 30, 2023 19:08:17 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

That’s looking very sharp. Looks ready for primer and paint next.

Yep, have the black primer on... see below.

Jul 31, 2023 0:24:28 GMT -5 Joe Rix said:

That is some terrific progress Dave. Your welds look every bit the part. PE work is nice and clean also. I hope your tracks arrive soon.

Thanks! I don't know if it's just me, but the parts seem to be getting smaller and smaller. Panzerwerk Designs was on holiday from 7/15 to 7/30, so my timing sucked a bit there. But I've had a couple updates from them since Sunday. Just a matter of getting to Michigan from Poland.

Aug 1, 2023 10:47:32 GMT -5 chromdome35 said:

Your build looks great and very clean.

I've never seen a picture of a panther with storage sitting on top of the back deck. Was that very common?

Thanks, Brian. For most of the 51st and 52nd Battalion tanks during the summer and fall of 1943 it was fairly common. So much so that you can pretty much identify them by those bins.
You can see them present on both of these, for instance.

I love when I learn something new, Thank you!

[hasenpfeffer]

Got the primer layer on yesterday. Mr. Surfacer 1500 thinned with Mr. Color Levelling thinner.



I started to tinker around with the numbering for the turret. I used the extra turret sides provided in the kit - I'm sure for other variants. I'm not happy with the current results, but it's heading in the right direction. A little tweaking and it should turn out pretty good. My final camo pattern should be somewhat similar to what you see on the test pieces. My plan is to do 544 (5/PzAbt 52 July 1943, Kursk) as below.

[Joe Rix]

Nice to see that you have made it the primer stage. Looks good and I hope you get your camo scheme to where you feel comfortable so we can see some paint on this rig. All of your test shots look like there solid to me.

[deafpanzer]

Looking great!!! Out of three test shots I like the center because it is little more bold and it won't be lost or toned down after the weathering stage.

[reserve]

Gotta give Andy that one

Fine work sir

[hasenpfeffer]

Aug 1, 2023 19:45:58 GMT -5 Joe Rix said:

Nice to see that you have made it the primer stage. Looks good and I hope you get your camo scheme to where you feel comfortable so we can see some paint on this rig. All of your test shots look like there solid to me.

Thanks Joe. The test pieces were more to nail down the numbering than the camo. But I did experiment a little with that as well.

Aug 2, 2023 10:08:08 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

Looking great!!! Out of three test shots I like the center because it is little more bold and it won't be lost or toned down after the weathering stage.

Yep, when I get to that I will try to make it stand out some. Especially on the turret where the pic looks like they almost painted the lighter color over the camo again. It's hard to tell how they got that result. They often smeared local terrain (mud) on the vehicles to blend in better too. Almost all of the references show these tanks to have black numbers outlined in white. I tried the red too as the pics just look like they possibly could be that too. The wide open landscape with direct sunlight sure doesn't help in this regard.

Aug 6, 2023 17:49:07 GMT -5 reserve said:

Gotta give Andy that one

Fine work sir

Thank you, Mark.


A baby step forward. Or at least that's how it appears. I now have the red oxide primer on top of the black base and a nice coat of MRP Matte. I'm not real happy with the white specs that formed, but no big deal as it will all get covered up with the next layers of paint. I just have to make sure it's nice and smooth.


If you look closely in the lower left corner you can see the rare and ever elusive zebra-ketten. These were good for an extra 5-10 km/h, or so it's been rumored.  In reality it's just my continued work on disappearing the seam lines formed when gluing in the guide horns. As these are planned to be hung on the rear side hull brackets, the less visible the seam lines are the better.

[kyledehart5]

Looks great so far!

[hasenpfeffer]

Nothing too special yet. I put down the base color (Tamiya Dark Yellow XF-60) modulated a bit with plain ole Flat White. Still waiting for the tracks from Poland. Should be any time now.






Camo is next. I'm a little anxious about pulling it off correctly... Not sure why since it was something done by the crews in the field.

[406 Silverado]

The foundation work on this paint is gonna pay off big time Dave. I had to do a double take on the "zebra ketten". Almost had me there brutha. lol

[stikpusher]

Don’t overthink it. This is coming along great, and I’m sure that the cmo will look just right once you do that stage.

[kyledehart5]

That’s looking nice

[chromdome35]

That is looking really sweet, I like the highlights and agree with the don't overthink it advice. You have a great build going.

[Tojo72]

Very nice Dave,I feel the same way about doin camo

[Joe Rix]

Appears you have an excellent base on. You are developing some really nice effects. When it comes to painting your camo, well, you got this.