Having never built a tank, but having 2 in the stash, when I won this kit at our IPMS show in the summer I figured it was a good way to step into the “darkside”.
Im an airplane builder primarily but that will change after this.
I rebuilt the cleaning rod stowage tube from brass and styrene, replaced the grab handles with wire, rebuilt the exhaust/jack bracket with brass, added bronze necklace wire for the tow cable and model ship chain for the…well…chain. The bed roll on the side of the turret is from a Tamiya detail set. The spare tracks, jack, jack block and fire bottle are from an Italeri detail set.
I used the rubber band tracks from the kit, and while lacking inside detail they weren’t terrible to deal with.
Paints are all Vallejo with MM washes and MIG streaking effects.
I have to thank you all, as I’ve learned SO much from reading your posts and following your builds. Between you all and the FSM magazine, Im proud of this tank.
A good base effort. Obviously, the rubber band kit tracks detract from the other detailing that you worked so hard to acheive. The Panther is an interesting subject, and this old kit has a lot to be desired in terms of accuracy.
A good clean build, but, as an aircraft modeler, I know it’s hard to apply weathering and wear that most armor projects require.
Keep at it. If you can mange to get hold of any DML Panther kit, your horizons will be expanded. You can still discard these tracks and fit up a set of AM tracks that would really improve the presentation.
Below is my Panther D that was published in an edition of finescale modeler magazine - just an idea of the almost limitless possibilities you can acheive as your learning curve progresses…
Shawn M.: I’d be proud to call that my first tank! You were pretty bold to try all those upgrades…I commend the effort & execution![Y] She’s a real looker.
If you’re serious about staying over here on the dark side you’ll find there are TONS of things that can be done to keep taking the model to the next level…specifically weathering. If you want to look for stuff for the Panther just do a “search forums” and you’ll find all kinds of things from PE enhancements, to camo’ schemes to using graphite pencils to depict worn metal-to-metal on the road wheels!
Looks pretty darn cool to me! That same kit was my second ‘real’ tank. I’d second the Dragon kits, way better than this but the classic Tamiya you built is an excellent ‘entry drug’ to armour modeling!
