Bish: they are simulated light lenses from M.V. Products. They come in a wide assortment of sizes, colors and combinations. Just google image “M.V. Products” (www.google.com/search) or “MV Lenses” (www.google.com/search)
Thanks, they look handy.
Bish: they are very handy…especially for headlights, spotlights, and the underwing recognition lights on those wingy-thingies. [;)]
I also got the turret sanded and painted.
The markings are next and then I’ll install the gun & mantlet. After that is the weathering phase.
Greg: Looks good! Very nice job with the rough cast texture.
I agree with the rough texture comment. I can’t see how tanks during WW2 can have smooth surfaces right off the factory lines. I’m liking the MV links as well. Something to think about for future builds.
It depends upon the type of armor- rolled/pressed or cast. Cast armor has the rough texture, but rolled/pressed armor is pretty smooth
I have just finished up the panther tonight. I still have a figure and the base to finish off before I am calling it done and hopefully I should be done tomorrow.
To finish off, I sprayed AK’s Dust effects going from bottom to top and adding slightly less as I went up. This was followed with AK earth effects on the running gear and lower hull. I had intended to remove the excess, but I was really happy with the result so I left it. I am finally getting the sort of finish on my armour that I would like. To finish off I added MiG Pigments European dust on the running gear and lower hull.
If anyone spots anything I might have missed, don’t be shy, as always, any comments or suggestions are very welcome.
I have to say that’s looking pretty neat-o!
Bish,
Really nice looking work. Congratulations. I do have a question, though. It’s something I have to figure out on a King Tiger I’m building off and on. It’s about the spare links of track mounted on the tank. Most everything I’ve read says track links rusted up pretty fast. So, I’m thinking that if the links aren’t covered with dirt, snow, or whatever, or scraped against rock or something so the steel shows through, that they are going to be rusty. I noticed that you left the spare links mounted on your Panther grey. Did the Germans paint these spare links so they didn’t rust up? You paid too much attention to detail not to have thought about the appearance of the links. I’m just wondering how that affects the links mounted on my KT. Do I paint them grey, rust, or what? How do you determine when to represent rust on tracks and when not to? Thanks.
I gotta agree with the hamster… but I would suggest doing something about the upper run of the tracks. They look a bit too high off the road wheels to my eye.
I second that.
Great job Bish. Your usual fantastic work.
Very sweet build bish. Looking for a bigger bush to hide my Cromwell behind. For hardy souls enamel products are good tools. Do like the very clear contrast between below and above the fenders. (Rinaldi would have suggested a final oil wash on the wheels after the pigments just to prevent uniformity.)
You did a better job than I did of getting the kit in scale and keep it lighter after the weathering process. And I certainly don’t quibble with the dust effects - absolutely no doubt that an AFV in the front line would have been dusty even if it had only moved a few miles.
Very nice.
Eric
Greg - great job on the textured surface of the turret
Bish - I like your Panther very much, that camou is certainly eye catching. You might be able to get some slack going by giving the drive sprockets a twist to the rear, or are they glued solid?
I did some looking up on the spare track colour question. Usually by this stage of the war, they left the factory unpainted, but if the tank had camou added later in the field, that might receive some overspray. German tracks supposedly had a high manganese content, which did not rust easily. Also, many of these tanks had a very short life span, so not much time to rust.
regards,
Jack
Thanks for the comments guys. In regards to the tracks, they will be adjusted once it goes onto the base. I am posing this on the move, so I want to try and get a bit of movement into the tracks rather than just have them laying flat on top of the road wheels. The drive sprocket has been fixed but the tracks can be pulled round the rear idler.
This is how i plan to have the tracks once its on the base
And of course i also have to add some foliage as in the Hamster’s pic. No self respecting Panther should been seen out in Normandy without something to cover its modesty.
In regards to the rust on the spare links, to be honest I am not a big fan. Some of the features on this Panther indicate a vehicle that’s very new in Normandy, built either in late May or early June. New track came with a black tar like coating on it, they still do today which protects them from rust. I would disagree that these links rusted up quickly. I used to drive a Warrior IFV and as an armour modeller i tried to pay attention to things like this, and i did notice that it did take some time for the rust to build up, especially in dry conditions.
Barrett, one of the problems is that most photos from WW2, especially of German armour, are in black and white, so its really hard to tell. My suggestion would be to determine how long your vehicle has been in the field. Or more accurately, how long those spare links have been on there. Also, what’s the environment. I painted mine semi gloss black and then highlighted with some gun metal powder. The grey look you mentioned, that’s from the dusting effects i added.
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions guys, much appreciated.
Eric, its taken quite some time to get to this. The first time i added washes i didn’t allow at all for the effects of weathering when i painted and that came out really dark. The oil wash was a really thin one, and i think that had less of an effect on the shade and the AK dusting effects are really nice and i find easy to use.
Bish,
Thanks for the response. That’s very helpful. You’re the first person I’ve read who said the tracks came with a coating on them to help prevent rust. That’s very important information. That would explain why you don’t see rust streaks down the sides of tanks below their mounted track links. Again, great work on the Panther.
Jgeratic,
Thanks for your comments on track rust. It seems to me, the life of tanks is a really important issue when doing weathering. I sometimes wonder if people do too much weathering. After all, probably most tanks were only in action a few years. What’s your guess on how long a Panther or Tiger was actually in service?
Panther came out great Bish!