working hard on the next big thing to do on this tank and it is painful to the extreme... I wanted to add the Schürzen skirts to this tank, oh boy, more scratch building. I should mention I don't have any fancy tools, drill press, lathe, stamping equipment, etc... Just my exacto, dremel, the basics so these will look a little crude but 20 feet away on our battlefield won't matter. Plus they will be functional and I hope fall off on occasion just for fun!

So I will let the pics speak for themselves. Using my line drawings and pics from assorted sources I used brass rectangle and square tube, and impact skirts meant for the Tamiya "G" model cut down. You can buy these really cheap as they have cosmetic blemishes but won't affect the final look of course.
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And here are some more. AA LOT of adjustment as I went along and still have some to do but I like the look of it so far...
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What I did was slide the arms into the bracket and soldered at the back. What this does is create a sort of spring effect that lets the arms move around but are very secure...
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Now that is a lot of brass stock!

Great detail forming of the fmall soldered parts.

Thanks Glen,
In the meantime someone PM'd me for a shot more head on and from underneath. I also still have to add nuts and bolts to the tops of all the frames as on the real thing and there are small lock plates that will be put on the front to close up any gaping that shouldn't be there...
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dgsselkirk wrote:

Plus they will be functional and I hope fall off on occasion just for fun!

Stince, here's an opportunity for a new event at outdoor meets; Find the skirt off the Panther A  



Now the new bar has been set for modeling Panther skirts.

STOP! STOP THE BATTLE! I LOST A SKIRT! LOL!

Enough playing with brass So now I want to address the HL road wheels ridge issue. I see some different methods tried by lots of people usually involving putty which I wanted to try and avoid so I choose styrene itty bitty strips and some knife work. So first here is the pic showing the ridges that everyone talks about.
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Take a new xacto knife blade and snap the the tip off. I use this to scrape the paint off so we are gluing directly to plastic.
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I am using .020 x .030 strips of styrene
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Sorry these are a little blurry. So using Tamiya extra thin glue I dab a little on the wheel and dab some on the beginning of the strip and wait 30 seconds till it gets a bit tacky and then using the curvd tweezers I start putting it into the groove
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It takes 2 strips with this method so started the next one
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Let these dry OVERNIGHT!!! if you start on them any sooner the styrene will still be soft and it will mak a mess. Then using the knife with the broke off tip start scraping away any ridge that is left and rounding the new white styrene into the wheel.
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And finally a little sanding and gentle filing making sure not to hit the bolt heads and you have a more realistic road wheel.
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I will be using Mr. Surfacer to give it the proper cast surface look it should have and this will also blend everything in together to make it seamless...

Well guys, after taking a week break to get my tanks ready and organize our club get together I am trying to get back at it now. It was time to tackle the zim. I really love working with this stuff. I know the kits are a bit expensive but having done all kinds of putty and burn zim, this is just soooo much easier!
It took some fitting and cutting and re-use of small pieces since this kit is made for a Tamiya G so there are some things that had to be adjusted of course.

First I had to replace the back tow pull points
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So here are the pics of the zim pretty well finished up except for the lower one side.
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Notice how the zim "bends" over the edges of the sides as per the real thing. This is done using a heat gun CAREFULLY just warm it to the point it flexes and then push it down with fingers. Yes, it;s a little warm but the results are much better than if you use a tool. You can just "feel" when it bends down right.
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So scratch built my rear hatch. The plan is to have a crew hanging out of it even in battle and yes, will probably have him doing some rude gesture to my enemies as usual or maybe I will female crew again, a companion for Greta on my L70. Let me know what you'd like to see boys!

Oh, and I didn't forget the center hatch keyhole just forgot to take a pic... Also yes, will be cleaning up my hinge on the inside and shortening the copper pin and adding some bolt fixtures...
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...and the next phase all the tool and track racks. This is for sure the most complicated detail on this vehicle. The Panther "A"s have a different configuration than the "G"s so this required some fill ins on the zim since the Atak kit is made for the Tamiya G. I used a different pattern that I had a sheet of for the bottom hull which left me with plenty of extra to do these fill ins and touch ups. you won't really see the fixes once paint is on. Suffice is to say it is taking a LOT of time to create these from scratch. Reference, measuring, fabricating the frames and small extras and then my favourite thing in the world to do PE!!! also basically rebuilding tools to make them look better whether from scratch like the pry bar or just trimming and filing like the axe, or in between where I took the Pantiger shovel and modified it to a different look just to be different. I find most of the HL tools are just slightly over scale so "thinning them down" makes them look better I think.
Having said that I think the effort will be worthwhile as it adds so much to a model. I am waiting for some scale chain to finish up this first bracket but thought I would post the picks of the frame empty and then with the tools on. The PE will be operational I think. I did an extra 10 clamps for when I inevitably loose one or 2!
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So more details...
Measured out the cleaning rod and antenna storage tube and began to build the covers. I scraped one opening to make the edging sharp and punched out 2 styrene ends. did a few to make sure I had 2 that would work.
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I then wrapped thin styrene around the ends and made the ring mounts exactly the way they are on the real thing
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Used crazy glue and glued them on in the right position and then used thin wire to draw them in tight to the body of the tube.
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Next moved on to the spare track holders. These actually went quicker and easier than I thought! Measured out a strip for width and length then took a piece of brass rectangle tubbing and removed one side with a dremel to make a hollow square. I then cut using the dremel each independent section and smoothed them off to make uniform and drilled the holes for the locking pins. I then used my diagrams, pictures, and the spare track I am going to use to measure the spacing between each section. Made the locking pins out the appropriate size of copper wire, bent the ends and soldered small chain with a larger ring on the end.
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this is alook with the main parts mounted:
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I have decided since these mounts look so cool I am only going to put the spare tracks on one side and leave the other empty so here is what the one side will look like with them mounted. I should mention too that the spare track needs some detailing to make it look better and more realistic. The "teeth" need to be hollowed out and some little styrene strips added to represent the small ridges on the teeth. You can see I started on a couple of the teeth ...
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Keep in mind I will be leaving or removing a lot of the really fine detail (for example the grab handles and chains that go on the cleaning rod storage tube) to do the painting and then add it back later.

Next I wanted to finish up the jack detailing. I decided to make the early version as the jack that comes with the HL Panther most closely resembles it. Added handles, trimmed the handle to look better, added a little ratchet at the head and remade the jack crown out of styrene. I also sanded/carved/thinned different parts to look more realiatic. If the jack was to be down at the bottom of the rear hull I might not have done so much detail but it is going to be mounted between the exhausts up high and very visable to wanted to make it look better...
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Inspirational as usual.

Fantastic work mate.... loce the track hanger idea been trying to find the right size brass strip but have had no luck, never thought to use box section and mod it.....

Cheers Ken

Dean you're making me feel incredibly lazy lately

This build looks awesome. No kids will be allowed anywhere near my T-34 when this is out... baahahaa

Well then, get to work!

Anyone hits this piece of work, their tank will immediately be destroyed by the Monty Python foot...

what if i put rubber bumpers on my tank?

I'll put a rubber boot on the Monty Python foot...

Hey Dean, hows the Panther A coming along?  Any chance of seeing it at the April indoor meet?

Too busy doing other people's tanks! LOL! Probably won't get back at it till June or so so hoping for it to be finished for fall before last outdoor battledays...

dgsselkirk wrote:

Anyone hits this piece of work, their tank will immediately be destroyed by the Monty Python foot...

I can understand that.

That is a very ambitious and detailed build, it will be interesting to see when it is done.

the 3 foot rule should be applied we all know what it takes to build or upgrade these tanks

I don't worry about it too much. There isn't anything I build I can't do a repair to. Accidents happen during urban battles, can't be helped! LOL!

WOW! 8 months since I last worked on my Panther A project! Was very busy with other builds but now I am determined to finish this up before the snow flies! I broke down and bought some Aber stuff. My god I don't know how anyone solders this stuff!    

I have a hard enough time making it look 1/2 assed presentable. My hats off to the real pros out there who make it look really good. I was O.K. with the scratch built antenna/cleaning rod tube but figured why not upgrade it. So here is about 4 or 5 hours worth of work to make it just a bit fancier. . It didn't turn out too bad me thinks. I am going to leave the one end open for display but tack the cover down so that doesn't get lost running around! Still some clean up to do and a little zim fill but I like it...

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Here is the exhaust mounted. I will be putting my favourite TARR 1 smoker with mega-steam in it of course! By the way, if anyone has some tricks for bending this tubing let me know! I did a hair dryer, hot water, I tried brass with a bender. Nothing really worked well. These were the best of an entire package of styrene tubing!!! The good part is if you look at the real thing they were actually pretty crude and rarely straight very long! Brass frame over the next few days...

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Dean, you're up too late!

For bending I always have my handy butane torch in hand... it's smelly, dangerous, and often results in a burn, but usually works well. For the bends you want I'd set the tube in a vice, apply heat on the outside of the bend, and yank it in a quick motion before things get melty.

Panthers eh... I hear they're cool, right?