My son, age 8, got a model for Christmas. One of those snap tite things. The upstanding dad that I am, I helped him assemble it.
Now, I used to fiddle around with models in my teens, but have not modeled since. But I was still offended at the bare plastic of the little kit.
So I helped him paint it a bit. The a bit more. Then weather it. Then we went to the store to get “him” another model.
This time it is a Tamiya Panther G.
Naturally, I “helped” him build this one.
I have attached a link for a few pictures of the completed model as I wait for the gloss coat to dry.
I plan to weather it a bit later. Like in an hour.
Comments and Critiques, please. But be gentle, this is the first in the last 20+ years. And no comments about the color scheme… my son insisted, and, afterall, this is “his” model…!
my son and I just started modeling together too. {he is 20} for some reason I seem to be doing ALL the spending [(-D] we are having fun which is the point just remember first it is the snap tite then it is the $20 kit with the $40.00 of aftermarket goodies [;)]
You are right. I, er, we, misinterpreted the directions. The kits is the ‘steel wheels’ version, and I think we straddled the line between the standard version and the steel wheels version.
It’s a ‘variant’. Yeah, that’s it. A variant.
I really admire your work. Incredible. Any suggestions on the next step for weathering?
Two things jump out. While the camo pattern is very nicely applied, the gray areas should be green. The 3 color patterns required a dark yellow base coat, with red brown and dark green usually applied in the field. By the time the G was introduced, gray had been discontinued for over a year.
The other thing is that the tracks should lay across the tops of the road wheels as seen in this picture:
To do this, you can super glue the tracks to the wheels or sew them down by running a thread between the axled and the top run of tracks.
Camo: Yeah, I know the colors are wrong. I tried to debate my son on the timing of the various camo patterns of the Wehrmacht, but lost. I let him run with it. Afterall, this is “his” model!!
Tracks: My son insisted that the wheels work and the tracks spin free. I think he wants to drive it around the rug, running over imaginary enemies and not-so-imaginary sisters. So no gluing for this one. I suspect that there will be many field expedient repair being made to this vehicle as various small parts get snapped off during ‘combat’.
(Is is heresy here to reveal that someone might consider it a toy and actually play with it?? I am worried that FSM will revoke my subscription for letting him handle the model…)
That’s one sharp looking Panther tank. 20 years and you still haven’t lost your skill. Well, I hope your son appreciates you spending time with him building models together.
Any time I hear about a father spending time with a son or daughter I get the warm fuzzies, and really don’t care about the quality of the finished product…although this one looks just fine.
That’s cool, working with your son. I enjoy my time with mine, WHEN he actually wants to work on it.
Other than some of the pointers you receive, the inner road-wheels rims would have worn down paint, thus should be painted metal. This is one of the most commonly forgotten painting oversight on Panthers.
No, those wheels you used are correct, you just didn’t paint the smaller portion of rubber that is sandwhiched between the steel rims there; those are there to allow the track teeth to pass the wheels without chewing up the rubber portions. In fact, that whole outside of the steel rim is always a bright silver, from rubbing against the track guides.
Next step for weathering? Well, if you’ve already gone the “washes” route, you can always add chips and powders–but I’m not sure how far you’ll want to go with that if your boy is gonna be handling it?
Well i think it looks great. I hope your boy is proud of his (and your) efforts. The more fathers who help there sons get into modelling the better. My father didnt help me get into anything and left by the time i was 8. Just started talking again in the last 10 years or so but always feel like hes got something better to be doing.
Thanks for the kind words on the camo…painters tape, x-acto blade, airbrush.
Wheels: I used the correct wheels, I just painted them wrong. And rather then try to paint those tiny little rims on the vehicle, I just punted. (And, yes, steel wheels should be worn shiny. I used a graphite pencil to shine em up. Perhaps it did not show well in the photo, or, perhaps it was too subtle. I will have another go at it.)
I went back into the box and found the side skirts. I had painted them grey for practice, so I threw them on to hide the wheels a bit.
Of course, the skirts are not done in the camo pattern, and I don’t really feel like going through that 3 day process again. So I needed to make them blend in a bit so it is not so obvious that they were not painted with the rest of the vehicle.
So I added big brown rust streaks from the attachement points, then added some yellow dust powder. Now they look rusty, dirty, and added after the main paint job!
So then I went back and added a few small rust marks on the tank for balance, added some dust (over did that a bit, I am afraid…) and then sealed the whole thing with some Dullcote.
And in our spare time, we painted up the crew figure. I really suck stink at painting figures, but it looks decent except for the face.
[#welcome] Well done! The camo is just fine, if that is how your boy wanted it than that is how it should be. I used to drive my tanks too. The schurzen or side skirts were often lost and or replaced from derilict vehicles. So that did not always match the camo scheme. I bought my son several models for him and I to build. But for now he is to wrapped up in his X-Box to start a model [sigh] . What ever happened to pong? [#offtopic] Looking forwards to your guy’s next post.
