This kit is already finished . Here are some of the assembly pictures .
As far as i know only the turret was built .
There were no lift hooks provided for the turret so i made them from copper wire .
The periscopes were empty holes so i used silver mylar tape painted with clear green to represent the glass. I glued the green mylar to a bracket made from styrene stripes and attached them to the inside of the hull and turret .
I put some dents in the container for the gun barrel cleaning rods .
The track came up a half link short / long on the port/ left side run so i lengthened one tread plate with some plastic sheet .
There was a small fret of PE for engine deck .
The weld seams for the front upper hall plate were molded to thin so i filled and rescribed them to make that plate look thicker .
I’ve got the same kit, but I’m not sure I’m up to the appropriate skill level to assemble it. I thought some of the instructions were vague and confusing (I understand DML is famous for that). I plan on printing your WIP photos (with your permission) and saving them as a guide when I tackle this kit.
MaJ. i havent followed your builds ,I’ve been away from this site for a long time , do you prefer Tamiya Panther kits ?
Here’s some of the painting i did .I used the paints i had on hand and got the colors close enough for my satisfaction . Seeing as to how lighting and the photo editing process affects colors in pictures so much i dont know what a genuine dead on color really looks like .
For the dunkelgelb i mixed Model Master enamel Armor Sand (fs302770) and Afrika Mustard (fs302660) at 50/50 .
For the olivbraun i used Model Master enamel Dark Greeen (fs 34079)
Thats a finishing nail stuck in the gun trunion to make handling while painting easier.
Then i coated the model in a clear enamel to even out the finish .
I haven’t posted any photos because my production skills aren’t up to the standards I see here. I only started modeling again after a 30 year lapse.
I like the Tamiya kits because they’re straight-forward and I can choose the level of detail to introduce. I gave up on the exact Panther II kit you’ve presented herein, but by using your posts as a guide I think I’ll give it another try.
I like the Model Master paints, but the dunklegelb seems way too green. I’ll use your mix on my next German panzer. I also want to try the mylar tape trick for periscopes.
Maj. I agree the dunkelgelb looks greenish (grunish?) . That might be due to the olivgrun camo around it and that i tried to apply a thinner coat of dunkelgelb to let the dark gray primer show thru, an idea i dont think turned out well .
Here’s the finished model . I did a wash with thinned black and raw sienna acrylic paint made by Folkart . I used some pastel chalks that were ground down to dust for weathering and applied that with a brush, using mostly light brown and some dark grays. For the metalic finish i first painted those parts dark gray enamel and then went over that with a number 2 pencil lead.
WOW! What an awesome, amazing job! It’s people like you guys (The more experienced modelers) that give guys like me (Less experienced modelers) something to shoot for. I appreciate your ideas, your painting tipsand build insights.
Just want to say… .Thank you man!
On the bench- Trumpeter 1/35 German Pz.kpFm KV-2 754(R) Tank
Next up- Dragon 1/35 Sherman M4A4 75mm My first Sherman (Yep a Sherman virgin)
Hey guys !!! Thank you all for the positive feedback !!! I’m going to stick around here for awhile now !!!
I forgot to mention that after i clear coated the entire model and applied the 2 decals and the acrylic wash i sprayed the model with a couple coats of Krylon matt , the stuff in a spray can . I de-canned it into a airbrush jar and thinned it with Model Master thinner so that it would spray easier. After that ,then i applied the chalks . I used a light coat of a mixture of 60 % Tamiya flat base mixed with Tamiya clear and thinned with glass cleaner to seal and hold the chalks . You can use Future instead of the Tamiya clear . Some reapplication of the chalks was necessary after that .
