1/35 - German Panther Aus A - My First Historical Model

[CarolsHusband]

Evening Chaps,

Looking for a wee bit of advice......

Thought i would have a go at trying out the one piece tracks onto the Panther this evening but have come up against a couple of issues..... It seems that to connect each end of the tracks properly... the tracks themselves need to be under a bit of tension.....trying to do this on the model itself was becoming a pain in the back end.... and a risk of snapping something in the road wheel assembly.......

I had thought t connect and glue the tracks first and then almost stretch them a bit to get them to fit over the wheels but again this would pose its own issues.

Just looking for a bit of advice on what to do next.... any thoughts or words of wisdom from those who have tread this path before!

Many thanks,

Kev

It must be a Panther thing. My Italeri Bergepanther build stopped in its tracks (so to speak) decades ago for just this reason. I snapped the rear idlers off trying to fit the tracks. It's finished now (it's not too far down the armoured thread) but once I'd drilled and braced the rear idlers I still had to do as Mark suggests and trim the inner teeth off the tracks at the rear. I t worked, but if I do another Ill go for individual links.

Good luck when you get there !

[JR]

Looks better with those rough edges Kev, agree with smothing of the edges, would make it look more to scale .

[Mark1]

Yeah I agree with John, think I would be inclined to maybe put a few scores in with a blade to blend the grooves lightly out to the edge a bit more..but saying that I know bugger all about zimmerit lol.

[Guest]

I know bugger all about zimmerit lol.

Basically, it’s a paste that was applied to the tank and then given a pattern using some basic tools; the point of it was to prevent magnetic charges (explosive devices equipped with magnets) from sticking to the tank. The idea is simply that if there is a thick enough non-magnetic layer on the armour, the magnets won’t get enough grip and the charge won’t stick to the vehicle. The pattern served to raise some of the material to a greater thickness and thereby increase the distance between magnets and armour, making them even less likely to stick. (For this reason also, it was only applied to vertical and sloping surfaces, not to horizontal ones where it would be pointless, and only to the main armour — not to side skirts, stowage bins, mudguards, etc.)

The most common way to make the pattern was with a wide spatula, which was pressed into the paste at regular intervals to create columns of ridges all along the armour plate. Other patterns and methods were used as well, though. On the Panther, for example, the ridged columns were commonly combined with a grid pattern scored into the material, for reasons I don’t know (maybe to stop large chunks flaking off by creating break lines?).

[rtfoe]

Hi Kev, good thing you're tackling the tracks later and you could do with this suggestion. Tamiya have their wheels with poly caps that are inserted or are imbedded in the wheel for easy fitting onto the arms. So leave off the idler fit the tracks and then just insert the idler back or you could also do it with the sprockets.
As for the zimmerit it be a lot easier to work with two part putty. Get the ones that have a longer working time. Knead small portions that you need for the time you have to work with. It's easier to spread, stick and sculpt onto the corners. Better still to use it as full zimmerit and sculpt the pattern.

Cheers,
Richard

[KevWhalen90]

Hi All,

Hope all's well and everyone is doing good!

Apologies for the radio silence, the last number of weeks have been incredibly busy and challenging starting my new career in a new school!

But..... the workload is becoming more manageable and today was my birthday where a couple of generous friends have gifted me some additional models to be getting on with!

So.... no real update on the Panther currently however there are a couple of additional kits I now have to be adding to the queue!

Hoping to have some more pics of the Panther soon!

Thanks all and take it easy!

Cheers,

Kev

[adt70hk]

Nice additions there Kev.

All the best.

Andrew

[dalej2014]

Evening all....

Hope all's good..... Thanks for the info re. tracks.... I will leave them for now and deal with them once its all painted and "done"

Call me a glutton for punishment but I was looking at the Zimmerit again and decided I liked the placement and the random layout of the panels...... but the hard edges and raised edges were just not sitting right with me..... especially after reading about the clay / thick plaster nature of the material that some of you were kind enough to inform me about.

I wanted to try and soften the edges and give it that hand applied effect so spent a little time today with some fine poly filler and a craft knife to try and soften the edges and give more of a "homemade" effect. I have left some patches of filler on the panel itself to give more of a rough appearance....

Only done one side of the turret so far..... and I think its actually quite effective! Going to let it try and perhaps smooth off some of the thicker bits but overall I am happy!

Love to hear your thoughts,

cheers,

Kev,

Looking very good so far. Nice work. I bought this exact kit at Bovington last week, so I'll take a seat at the back if I may. The pics of the Stug III here show the Zimmerit quite well. I'll post the pics I took of the Panther too for you. I also got a manual on the Panther if there's specific info you may want. Looking forward to seeing this progress

[rtfoe]

Happy Birthday Kev, nice additions.

Cheers,
Richard

[boatman]

HI Kev sorry im late to the party well im not a tankie but a floaty thingy but i still like lookin at these tank builds BUT PLEASE COULD YOU FIT ON FULL SIZE PICS AS I CANT SEE THEM PROPBERLY ON WINDOWS 10 AS SOME OF THE PIC IS CUT OFF AN ANYONE ELES WHEN YOU ARE FITTING PICS ON PLEASE REMEMBER POOR OLE BOATMAN SO FULL SIZE PLEASE IF POSSIBLE
chris

[Jim R]

Belated happy birthday Kev. Nice collection of pressies.
Panther is looking fine and you're enjoying it - all good :tongue-out3: One thing you can do with those sorts of tracks is to leave the rear idle wheel off, fit the track loop and then fit the wheel. You may have to wedge the wheel in place because of the tension of the track while the glue sets. With a bit of fiddling of the wheel fitting it is possible to adjust the tension of the track by moving the wheel slightly backwards or forwards.
Jim

[dalej2014]

HI Kev sorry im late to the party well im not a tankie but a floaty thingy but i still like lookin at these tank builds BUT PLEASE COULD YOU FIT ON FULL SIZE PICS AS I CANT SEE THEM PROPBERLY ON WINDOWS 10 AS SOME OF THE PIC IS CUT OFF AN ANYONE ELES WHEN YOU ARE FITTING PICS ON PLEASE REMEMBER POOR OLE BOATMAN SO FULL SIZE PLEASE IF POSSIBLE
chris

Chris, If you click on the image you should get a full size picture. Once it's full screen, you'll find an "X" (top right) to close it again, like any other window. Hope this helps mate. Let us know if this works OK for you.

[boatman]

Chris, If you click on the image you should get a full size picture. Once it's full screen, you'll find an "X" (top right) to close it again, like any other window. Hope this helps mate. Let us know if this works OK for you.

HI Dale no it dont im afraid as ive had this prob ever since ive been on windows 10 an im in a low megabyte area but when i click on the pics an yes up they come but i still get a black line about 2inches high top an botton an the pics are cut off so i can only see about 80 per cent of the pics an i asked this the other day on some build an ALAN kindly made the pics full size for me
chris

[Guest]

Never mind