Panther A Late - 1/21 Really done, I swear!

[wing_nut]

Feels good getting the 1st WIP pics going. "normal" size this time ;D




The tub has all it little goodies attached with the axles. Road wheels sanded and chunked up. Some track links keep the teeth on the drive sprocket aligned.






This Dremel bit is used for several of the wheel prep steps. When chucked in the Dremel the tire is spun against a sanding stick making quick work of the mold line. It also leaves a little bit of tooth in the holes that allow it to stay snug on the axle, for fitting the tracks, without glue or poster tack.









I use a piece of tape to check get the length of the track since my experience with the number of links the Dragon sheet says to use has a high probability of being wrong. Make 1 cut and that's the length needed. The wood block starts it all off nice and square and the blue line is the length of the masking tape. The sheet says 81 links and it was 85. Some blocks of wood and weight to keep everything flat and in contact with the road wheels.

[Deleted]

Nice start Marc . I like the idea of the tape to measure the length .I cant wait to start my first one here also .

Ahhhh ......whats in that jar ?

[eastrock]

that's fast Marc another great looking build

[spud]

ohh i built this, its a fantastic Kit

[Deleted]

You did that That Purrrrrdy !
Bet Marcs will be a beauty also !

[wing_nut]

Carl, that my brush cleaning (not so) odorless mineral spirits

Thank ER

Spud... Oh my. I think I need a cold shower. I like the extra armor plates. Is that the ATAK zim? Id there a WIP thread on that somewhere?

[406 Silverado]

Wow what a start to a cool kitten. Boring part is done, now for the fun eh Marc.

[tobias5555]

Good start with the running gear.

[spud]

yep its Atak zimm and i couldn't find the build on here but here it is over on ism
irishscalemodeller.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=640

[wbill76]

Looks like a cool project and off and rolling on it Marc! I bet it feels good to be back in 1/35 scale.

[danb.]

Nice start on the Panther Wing nut thanks for the track hints and tips keep going buddy this will be an amazing project.

Dan B

[wing_nut]

Bill, Dan... thanks for stopping in. And yes Bill, very nice to work in a scale when a shovel is nearly the same size as an entire vehicle. And a "BTW" as far as the tracks. There are separate track links for the sprocket so Dragon actually did get the track length correct.

[wing_nut]

Not a lot of real progress as I wait for the ATAK zim to get there. I was looking for a suitable replacement for the cable that comes in Dragon kits since I never thought it looked all the good. Then I noticed... no cable with this kit. and the loop ends are no where to be found on the sprues. Did the late A's not have cables for some reason? Or is this simply a Dragon oversight? Either way I am going to be a good little tank commander and scavenge some if the field

[406 Silverado]

Pretty sure they had cables Marc.

[spud]

It didn't come with one so I bought a brass tow cable from armor models

[reserve]

Yeah, they did have cables. Looks to be a good kit in spite of this omission, sure it's going to end well.

Regards,
Mark

[wing_nut]

I had a feeling about the cables should've been there.

Dicky... It's all fun!

Mail comes in about an hour and hopefully there will be zim. In the mean time, since I can't do too much, I noticed the welds on the top of the turret looked a little to deep down in a trough so that was filled with Squadron green, wiped with an acetone dampened q-tip and "welded' with one of my little tools for that task.
Kit didn't come with cables for some reason. I had some extra tow loops in the sparse box. The loop itself was the exact same size as the one the came in the G that was my 1st ever armor kit from long ago in the before time. The sleeve was too thick and long. I chucked a piece of plastic tube in a Dremel and snaded from .095" to about .082", taped one end and glued the loop cut off the big one to the tube.

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I've tried twisting all different kinds of wire in all different combinations and while some were OK... they were just OK. If the twist was in any way uneven it didn't look right. I've tried picture hanging wire before but it was of such poor quality... in the way it was twisted... it didn't look good either. I looked at the picture wire section again and found one I had not seen before made by "Ook". It’s covered with a clear plastic sheathing like an electric wire but the twist looked very even. After taking the plastic off, annealing the cable to soften I tightened the twist and I am very pleased with the way it turned out. The 1st pic below is a close up of some wires/cables. From left to right., what usually comes in a Dragon kit and looks more like a rope than a cable, Then the Ook wire with the plastic off before and after annealing and tightening. And an AM cable for armor. Except for the fact the twist is opposite... and I won't tell anyone of you don't... the last 2 look pretty darn close to me.
The AM cable... $6 each and ya need 2. The Ook cables... 9 feet for 3 clams. At that price the twist nearly looks like it goes the right way after all.

[wbill76]

Highly doubt anyone will be examining your twists for directionality Marc...but you never know!

Nice score on the wire...sometimes the AM stuff is pricey when you consider the cost per inch or foot for some stuff. And Dragon's braided steel wire in their kits is about as useless as can be...virtually impossible to anneal without a blowtorch and very 'springy'. I usually end up replacing it with crochet rope on smaller tow cables or use copper wire instead.

[spud]

that cable looks sweet Marc.

[redleg12]

Marc - You are in the Northern Hemisphere so your twists look correct!!

Rounds Complete!!

[reserve]

The great thing about this site is that no one cares what direction the cable twist is, unlike others where such things would result in three pages of arguing.

That being said, I think they turned out beautifully. Myself, I use some kind of craft string I found at Hobby Lobby, looks presentable and if I live to be 5,000 I'll never use all of the roll.

I can see where this is going and can tell it's gonna be good. Keep 'em rollin Wingy

Regards,
Mark

[wing_nut]

Mike that's almost makes sense So does Ook twist the wire the other way down under?

[dupes]

I build this guy about 4ish years ago...converted it to an "early" A model because that was the type of zim I happened to have (all of the parts are in the box to do so, btw). I like Spud's whitewash-weathering waaaaay better, though. Nice!

[dupes]

Just read through again and caught your tape track-measuring trick. How simple (and smart) is that?

[dupes]

Question about your OOK wire - what gauge is that that matches up with tow cable size? Getting a small order from jackwagon Blick and it looks like they have a lot of OOK goodies in stock.

[dupes]

Ahhh, since you said "9 foot lengths", I'm guessing it's this?

www.dickblick.com/products/ook-framers-pro-wire/?clickTracking=true

Would have to be the smaller size (30 lb), I'm assuming?

[wing_nut]

Yes,, the 30 lbs is what i used. Package looks the same with product #50173

[dupes]

Bingo. On it's way.

[bbd468]

Hey Marc,

Playin' a bit of catch-up on the treads. Man, im lookin' forward to this build! That is some fantastic lookin' welds you made there W-N. Me being a welder for many years, looks spot on to me!

Gary

[406 Silverado]

Man those are some very nice cables Marc. I haven't had to twist wire in a long time........yu know, wrecks and all.