Meng Bergpanther Ausf.A

[kyledehart5]

Well that is certainly all looking really nice. Very interested to watch this one come together.

[Tojo72]

Good to see that your off and running on this one.

[tcoat]

Some more weathering. soon be ready to close up and all of this never be seen again.

[tcoat]

LOL
So glad I spent the time weathering up the Tamiya engine module I had kicking around!

[stikpusher]

Oh you must leave the driver and bow gunner hatches open to show off the drivers compartment just a little bit...

[tcoat]

Nov 12, 2023 20:58:53 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

Oh you must leave the driver and bow gunner hatches open to show off the drivers compartment just a little bit...

Oh it is far more open than a normal tank since there are no hatches but still almost impossible to see much beyond the seats. 

 

[tcoat]

Closed up.

[406 Silverado]

Man have I ever been missing out! This is frickin' COOL!! All that detailing looks just great Tony!! I'll be bookmarking this one so I don't miss any more updates.....

[stikpusher]

The interior looks great! You can see plenty in the drivers compartment, not to mention the winch area. Looking forward to seeing what happens next!

[kyledehart5]

Truly incredible detailing on this. It looks awesome still after you have closed it up. Really well done.

[tcoat]

Thanks guys! Still need to dirty it up but since it will eventually be part of a larger diorama I will leave that step until I decide what colour the dirt on the base will be.

[chromdome35]

This is really looking good. I love the detail, especially the cable spools! That looks like it would have been challenging to do.

[tcoat]

Nov 16, 2023 12:12:15 GMT -5 chromdome35 said:

This is really looking good. I love the detail, especially the cable spools! That looks like it would have been challenging to do.

The cable would have been impossible to do if I had used the stiff braded wire that came with the kit. It was all kinked up from being wound up and would not straighten or lay flat no matter what I did. Using the bead "thread" was a piece of cake though. It is slightly elastic so I could get nice tension on it without warping the delicate plastic parts. And let me tell you, some of those winch parts are very delicate! Painted up it looks more like steel cable than the actual steel cable did. 

[reserve]

Love the subtle "I been used some" look

[tcoat]

Nov 16, 2023 16:53:14 GMT -5 reserve said:

Love the subtle "I been used some" look

I learned a bit about these things when researching this build. They were used so much that some of them had two crews so they could operate 24 hours without stopping. Where most of the tanks they were built to recover total life operational run time was an average of 80 to 100 hours some of these would do that every week!

[406 Silverado]

Nov 16, 2023 17:13:43 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Nov 16, 2023 16:53:14 GMT -5 reserve said:

Love the subtle "I been used some" look

I learned a bit about these things when researching this build. They were used so much that some of them had two crews so they could operate 24 hours without stopping. Where most of the tanks they were built to recover total life operational run time was an average of 80 to 100 hours some of these would do that every week!

Man that's alot of use right there!! The maintenance & repair program on that vehicle would absolutely SUCK for the mechanic that had to work on that bad boy. I can't imagine this to be very easy to work on.

[tcoat]

Nov 16, 2023 19:53:17 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Nov 16, 2023 17:13:43 GMT -5 tcoat said:

I learned a bit about these things when researching this build. They were used so much that some of them had two crews so they could operate 24 hours without stopping. Where most of the tanks they were built to recover total life operational run time was an average of 80 to 100 hours some of these would do that every week!

Man that's alot of use right there!! The maintenance & repair program on that vehicle would absolutely SUCK for the mechanic that had to work on that bad boy. I can't imagine this to be very easy to work on.

Funny you say that. Note the inclusion of the two mechanic figures and the installation of the Tamiya engine module with an air filter removed.

Pretty sure they got used to it very quickly. How about a tranny swap in the middle of the forest? Not the removed plate on the ground to see how much wiggle room they had.

[M1Carbine]

tcoat - Wow, that looks insane. That's a lot of cabling for sure. Looks awesome.

-Bob

[406 Silverado]

Nov 16, 2023 20:03:33 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Nov 16, 2023 19:53:17 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Man that's alot of use right there!! The maintenance & repair program on that vehicle would absolutely SUCK for the mechanic that had to work on that bad boy. I can't imagine this to be very easy to work on.

Funny you say that. Note the inclusion of the two mechanic figures and the installation of the Tamiya engine module with an air filter removed.

Pretty sure they got used to it very quickly. How about a tranny swap in the middle of the forest? Not the removed plate on the ground to see how much wiggle room they had.

 That pac looks like a nightmare to install in those conditions. Being an ex-track mechanic, I can definitely sympathize with those guys. YEESH!!! 

[tcoat]

Nov 16, 2023 20:19:39 GMT -5 M1Carbine said:

tcoat - Wow, that looks insane. That's a lot of cabling for sure. Looks awesome.

-Bob

Well it looks like a lot. The whole cable probably took me under 5 minutes to get in place once I found a suitable substitute for the kit supplied stuff. I wasted almost an hour trying to straighten the wire that actually came with the kit before giving up.

[deafpanzer]

WOW! Loving all of the details and weathering on the interior!

[tcoat]

All exterior hull parts attached.

After painstakingly removing the etch screens, sanding off the attachment burrs, very carefully keeping them perfectly flat while gluing I took one look at the finial result, shook my head with a big NO and hammered them all concave and warped then pulled up edges in random spots. Much better.











Base coat of very thin hand brushed acrylic on all wood surfaces. The walking surface will receive several more weathering layers.

[kyledehart5]

That wood looks awesome!! Really looking forward to seeing this as part of a scene. Very cool

[tcoat]

Step 2 for wood. Coat of tinted future to bring out the grain and cracks.



Step 3. Coat of Citadel shade (wash) Agrax Earthshade

Hard to see in the pictures but there is a major difference I promise.



Next up will be a flat coat to seal it all in prep for the camo paint

[tcoat]

Light coat of Tamiya Dark yellow on all wood surfaces.



Because wood does not take paint the same as steel there should be a slight variation in tone and colour. Steel parts painted in AK acrylic dark yellow. The difference is apparent. All steel parts n the wood will be hand painted in the AK later in the process.




Base coat on rest. All AK.




Although main camo will be tri colour the instructions and several photos show wheels with just the yellow and green. Since I sort of like the look that is where I will take it. Base paint on.

[Tojo72]

Moving fast now,the wood looks real good

[tcoat]

Tamiya dark grey slapped on wheels with a brush. Precision not required as weathering will hide all sins.




Paint scrubbed off walking surfaces with water and an old brush. Timing is critical to get it dry enough to handle but wet enough to wear through easily.

[tcoat]

Road wheels with tinted Future wash vs base coat. Effect will tone down with dark brown wash and flat coat but details will still stand out.



Well worn wood decking done.

[406 Silverado]

Amazing progress and thank you for the tutorial on how you get wood to look this realistic. Great process used from start to finish Tony. +1 Karma to you brother!!

[handiabled]

The detailing and weathering on this are just stupendous. The worn deck effect is perfect looking