Now Complete: Tamiya (1/35) Late Version Jagdpanther (21.11.10)

Modeling Subjects Armor
1

Good afternoon folks,

Well, the Panther G has been all wrapped up and is complete it’s time for the Jagdpanther! [t$t]

Let me show you the kit and accessories first if you don’t mind…

Photo 1: Here you can obviously see the box & box art, the black vinyl track is the Tamiya offering and the beige one is one of the Dragon DS (Dragon Styrene) tracks that I have left over from my Panther G seeing as that build got the Fruil treatment! I’m keeping costs down on this one as I spent a fair bit on the Panther and accessories so this will be having the DS vinyl tracks - no Fruils this time!

You will also see the Armorscale 88mm Jagdpanther Barrel and Resin Mantlet. That was an essential AM piece as the Tamiya barrel is the style that has that awful seam down the centre where the halves join and as you no doubt know it’s a pig to get the barrel neat & tidy without creating flat spots ets when sanding.

The only other (ESSENTIAL) AM item is the Tamiya PE Grill set which I have on back order with the LHS.

Finally in this picture you’ll see the leftover Fruil Panther track links which were unused-these will replace the plastic kit ones that go on the rear sides. These will make a big difference as the Tamiya links are pretty ugly and don’t help in the looks department!

Photo 2: I was having a good old rummage to see what the kit offered and was interested to see what they were handing out in the way of metal tow cables? String? Wire? No - moulded plastic tow cables complete with eyelets (see top right of picture). This is something very new to me in 1/35 and something that I, personally, have not seen before. Tbh I’m not 100% convinced. They ask you to apply ‘heat’ and then gently bend to get the dead striaght plastic cable to take on some form. I’ll try the Hairdryer/hot water methods but I’ll be VERY careful (and reluctant tbh) if I have to go near a flame with them! I’ve got spare Panther eyelets left over from the Panther kit so I may try other methods when I get to this stage of the build. Who knows, I might be very impressed with them!

Photo 3: Having looked at various pictures of JP’s it seems that the side skirts are fitted in single parts - not in a single piece as supplied in the kit (the box art depicts this too - check it out in the first photo). With this in mind I picked up a 12" x 2" piece of 0.10" of brass sheet for £1-50. I’d like to try to use this instead of the kit skirts which aren’t accurate. I’ll be able to bang them up, bend them, whatever. Again, it’s a while away yet so I’m not too concerned yet. Other options involve gently slicing up the one piece plastic skirts and put some bends on the corners of them with the hairdryer or hot water. The other option open to me is if I decide to go with a proper factory build in which case the side skirts would be straight and tidy.

>>>>>Onwards…this kit offers two options called ‘A’ & '‘B’ oddly enough [;)]

Option A covers the tank between May to Dec 1944. Option B covers it from Dec 1944 onwards.

The diffences being A gives her the LHS (as you look from the rear) Muffler c/w air cooling inlet pipes, B will give her the Muflers with Flame Dampers (I think these look cool).

Option B also replaces the rear LHS standard engine grille with a heater unit for the crew compartment.

I think I’m going to go with the ‘B’ Option as it offers a bit of variety and something different - I can’t see any other A & B differences but I’ve only had a quick skim of the instructions at present.

Finally, I need to think of painting options. I’m going to push myself into making some serious AB progress and will be trying to replicate one of the cammo schemes seen on the box art. There are two options: The first is the usual Dunkel Gelb base coat with Red Brown & Dark Green over the top. The second refers to the change in German paint schemes from 1944 onwards - basically a Dark Green base coat with Dunkel Gelb and Red Brown over the top. The second option, in theory, would tie in with the later ‘B’ option which I am going for. The box art shows this scheme of red brown and Dunky Yellow over dark Green. What do you guys think to this scheme? If I wanted this build to be accurate would I need to go with the green base coat to allow option B to work?

Thanks for dropping in.

Work proper will commence tomorrow…

ATVB

Ben [t$t]

2

It’s a great kit. Looking forward to seeing this built up!

3

Option A could require zimmerit, because of the date May 44 - Dec 44. Zimmerit did cease in Sept 44, so you could probably get away with none.

I agree on the PE screens and barrel. This is why I’ve held off on mine. I’m thinking of getting the Dragon kit so I won’t have to add these pieces.

4

Good point TM,

Strange that Tamiya make no reference whatsoever to Zim being used on this kit-they are normally pretty good with that side side of things?

I’ll definately be going for the second, later option so it will be good to do some research on the green base coat cammo scheme. I don’t fancy doing Zim myself (yet), it looks like a right PITA!

Any input you chaps have to offer regarding this late cammo scheme I’d love to hear it. Is it a necessity or would the crew compartment heater & flame dampers have been seen on normal Dunky Yellow base coat cammo scheme JP’s too?

First update tomorrow!

ATVB

Ben [Y]

5

Ben,

Way to go!!! You are already ditching the single piece schurzen! It’ll be more work but, you won’t regret it. THe hangers for the schurzen were woefully weak and the rear ones were prone to getting ripped apart by the return track. I’m looking forward to this build. Hopefully the email notification will start working again. I’ll make sure to keep this on my radar if it doesn’t.

Cheers

Dave

6

Hinksy find the Karya tow cable set for the Panther

http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/KYTCR01

I have a set for the Panther G and they look good with 2 different sizes of tow cable

7

Superb! Thanks Mikey!

I’ll definately be getting a pair of these cables! I’ve got to order some MK tracks from these guys too so this is perfect. I haven’t used them before (Hannants, that is) but a lot of folk have recommended them to me.

Hughes: Yep, I’m feeling brave buddy and all the JP’s I’ve seen have had obvious individual side Shurzen fitted one small square panel at a time giving them an offset look-not in a perfectly aligned row.

The only sheet metal they had in the store yesterday was what I picked up and it is pretty heavy being 0.10" brass (compared to the kit plastic) so CA will be needed to hold it I think. I’l see how it goes otherwise I’ll probably slice the kit Shurzen along the panel lines and go for the same look that way and I’ll use the hair dryer or hot water to get some corner bends-the sheet brass will still come in handy for future builds no doubt…

Now then,should this Zimmerit thing be a concern? There is no reference made to the use of Zim but obviously most JP’s would have had Zim. As previously mentioned the use of Zim was knocked on the head in late '44 so should I be able to get away with not using it if I opt for the Dec '44 onwards option inparticular (which I was planning to anyway)?

I tried my hand at ‘home made’ Zim a while back and it it didn’t work well-infact it was a dramatic failure! Saying that this was a while ago so I’m up for a challenge. I much prefer the look of a well applied self-styled Zim as opposed to the uniform look of pre-moulded Zim like found on a lot of Dragon models.

I’m going to catch the climax of the Formula 1 race and I’ll be making a start!

Thanks guys,

ATVB

Ben [:D]

8

Hi Ben,

If you are making the “late” version with the crew heater, you may consider adding the shutters for the rectangular vents on the RHS of the engine deck. The vents on the RHS had a sliding shutter arrangement which allowed the crew to adjust the airflow through the cooling system.

I have been unsucessfully looking for ref pics to show you what I mean.

9

I wouldn’t use the 0.10 as Shurzen since if it is heavy it might not hold up to the task of being CA’d to the lower hull(read as constanty breaking off). You can use the brass you have to make the hangers though and use sheet styrene to make the Shurzen.

10

Hey guys,

Mikey: I’m honestly not sure what I’ll be using yet but thinking about it when the side Schurzen is cut down as it should be into 5 equal squares a 1" x 1" x 0.10" section of brass will weigh very little and I can’t see the CA having problems holding that. I haven’t definately committed to using the brass yet as the kit Schurzen has the correct bolt heads where the fittings are but I don’t want to fit the Schurzen in long equal lengths like Tamiya supply it, I want them to appear as they should be in 5 separate sections. If I go with the brass I’ll have to cut some bolt heads from spare PE fret, or if I use the kit plastic Schurzen then I’ll have to chop them into sections along the vertical panel lines. Obviously the benefit of brass is the ease with which I’ll be able to bend the corners but if I go with the factory look it won’t be an issue anyway - hmmmm [:S]

Anyway, as promised I watched the rest of the F1 race and I then got everything sorted out. I wanted to keep the build simple this afternoon as I’ve had a stonking headache all weekend, that’s thy I didn’t start her yesterday. I marked out a spot on the build guide where I wanted to get to this afternoon. I planned on getting the suspension arms fitted, the front drive sprockets, the rear idlers, rear bins and the mufflers/flame dampers. I cut all of these pieces off, cleaned them up and on they went - WIP underway!

Like I normally do with most of the types of large wheeled tanks I will be fitting the wheels last to allow me to gain full access to the lower hull etc to lay pigment etc…

Photo 1: Underside showing fitted suspension arms…

Photo 2: Mufflers c/w flame dampers in place aswell as rear bins…

Photo 3: The basic stucture…

Thanks for looking guys [H]

One thing which I will be looking into is the Dunkel Gelb which I will use on this build. The bulk of my previous builds which required Dunky Yellow have been painted with a 1:1 mix of deck tan and dark yellow (Tamiya). The Panther build which I have just completed was done using Gunze ‘Sand Gelb’ but this was a little pale but still very good.

I’d like this build to have a ‘brighter’ yellow colour seeing as I’m planning a ‘factory fresh’ look. I don’t mean more yellow like a Lemon, just a ‘brighter’ yellow than the normal browny yellow which I use if you know what I mean? Like the yellow on the box art which can be seen in post number one.

I did pick up a couple of jars of XF-59 Desert Yellow to try - I haven’t decided for definate what to use yet. Any suggestions for colours or combinations for this required look will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers guys,

ATVB

Ben [H]

11

Griffon Models makes a decent PE set for the JagdPanther including the gun rod storage tube.

http://www.greatmodels.com/~smartcart/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=GRML35019

http://www.greatmodels.com/~smartcart/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=GRML35029

also here is the armor plate for the cooling system

http://www.greatmodels.com/~smartcart/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=GRML35A002

and if you just want the Shurzen

http://www.greatmodels.com/~smartcart/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=GRML35A013

The storage tubes in the first two Griffon sets have my interest piqued. what about you Hinksy?

12

Dammit Mikey

I think that ‘piqued’ isn’t the word! I was planning to keep this build cheap, quick & easy after my expensive last Panther project but I’m loving them Griffon kits!

I’m pretty much a PE virgin except for the usual grilles etc which come OOB but the Schurzen set would be great. I’m going to have to look into that kit and I’m sure my ‘Fruil Tracks guy’ over here in the UK sells Griffon stuff.

My next big WIP (no idea what yet) will be given the full PE treatment as I really should start using it to it’s full extent to further my work.

I’m sure I’ll be getting the Schurzen set as that is exactly what I need - thanks for the link buddy [Y]

ATVB

Ben [:D]

13

Man I know I have a Dragon JagdPanther and Tamiya JagdPanther I need to get started on as well as the Tamiya Panther G well at least I have 2 sets of the Tamiya Panther G indi track links so I definitely need to get the Friuls for the Dragon JagdPanther and then the Griffon sets then I need to get some interior sets.

UGH!!! I think I have AMS

14

Looks like another fine project in the works for you Ben! Most JPs didn’t get zim due to the production timeframe when they were produced but since you’ve gone with the later features as Option B it’s a moot point now regardless.

In terms of the camo schemes, since you’ve gone with the Option B components, the paint schemes most likely seen for those would’ve been factory-applied schemes with Olivegrun as the base coat vs. Dunkelgelb, so the amount of DY visible wouldn’t have been much less than the “normal” 3-tone patterns. Many of the factory schemes used broad angled stripes in their patterns, look around online for color plates or similar and you’ll see what I mean.

15

So far so good.

16

I see I’m a little late to the party, Hinksy.

I forgot you were doing this thred, untill a few minutes ago. So, I’m late to the kit introduction and the first of the gluing, but I’m sticking around for the rest of the build. It out to be as good as that Panther, knowing you.

17

Cheers RF,

If she turns out even in the same league as the Panther I’ll be very happy. It’s a cheap kit and I really want to test my AB skills out and see what I can do.

I was having a look at her last night. The Armourscale Barrel & Mantlet seems spot-on and should look great. I’m still undecided re the Schurzen (plastic or brass etc). I’m drawn towards the kit version now but can’t decide wether to keep the skirts in one piece or cut them into 5 separates as they would have been?

Hmmm…?

Hopefully I’ll have a completed and primered basic build for you by Sunday evening. There is very little left to do now.

I just want a basic exterior to AB. The tools and wheels will be left until last and when I do the AB’ing I’ll fix the Schurzen with sticky pads to allow me to remove them agin one dry so I can weather the lower hull behind the road wheels and fit the road wheels too. I like to have no cammo on tools as they contrast nicely when painted with wood and normal tool colours imo.

Also, I’ve actually managed to track down and order a set of 1/48 Fruils for my Tamiya Early Tiger I upstairs! I thought it was going to be a real long shot but he (my ‘Fruil guy’) had one box left! I HATE 1/48 Link & Length!

ATVB

Ben [:D]

18

Good luck with the Tamiya Tiger I when you get around to it (subliminal message: please do a WIP, please do a WIP)

with the schurzen, in my opinion, I would scratch-build it with brass. It all depends on how much work you want to do.

19

Hello guys-it’s modelling time again!

God it’s been a long week!

I have a couple of questions relating to my builds and other builds too so you might learn something here depending on the answers…

  1. I am planning to build my JP as if it were either fresh off the production line with no battle bamage, scars, mud ets but that also means no rust (which I’m getting good at) or a JP that is not long off the productiopn line so everything is pretty tidy but maybe a bit of dust etc - either way, this must make for a pretty boring build, right?

I don’t want a boring build-who does? Is there a way to make a fresh tank look ‘good’. Pinwashes, preshading, accurate and effective AB factory cammo? There must be something that I can do to bring a brand new tank to life?

Any suggestions? If not it’s going to get the treatment and get rusted, beaten and bruised!!!

I’ll be continuing with the WIP shortly so watch out!

ATVB

Ben [H]

20

Ben,

It’s a common misconception that a vehicle must be heavily chipped, weathered, rusted, etc. in order for it not to be “boring” and have visual appeal. Nothing could be further from the truth but it is accurate to say that subtler weathering does involve taking a different approach. It doesn’t mean you have to leave it in a “factory fresh” condition and I would still recommend using pin washes to bring out details, overall surface washes (light) to tie the camo pattern together, use of filters if you want to show a light dusty appearance, etc. All vehicles were test driven prior to their leaving the factory and being accepted by the Waffenamt, loaded up on rail transport for delivery, and then shipped to the depots. By the time they found their way to their assigned units, they would not still be “factory fresh” ala a new car sitting on the dealer’s lot and would’ve accumulated some dust and grime along the way as a matter of course. All it would take is one road march for it to pick up some additional dust from moving around and voilà!. Something to consider in terms of how you approach this one at any rate. [;)]