International Scale Modeller

My first build for the drop in will be Tamiya's 1/48 Panther D

Here's some background from Tanks Encyclopaedia along with some images from t'interweb

With my current project waiting for some weathering bits I'm hoping to make a start on this one over the weekend

Here Kitty Kitty

Ok you have my attention.

Looks an interesting kit - I've never considered 1/48 armour before.

RangerNeil wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 12:44 am Looks an interesting kit - I've never considered 1/48 armour before.

I've heard good things about Hobbyboss 1/48, but must admit nothing about Tamiya or any other manufacturer.

RangerNeil wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 12:44 am Looks an interesting kit - I've never considered 1/48 armour before.

Opens up a lot of diorama possibilities

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 8:23 am

RangerNeil wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 12:44 am Looks an interesting kit - I've never considered 1/48 armour before.

Opens up a lot of diorama possibilities

Exactly my thoughts

RangerNeil wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 9:03 pm

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 8:23 am

RangerNeil wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 12:44 am Looks an interesting kit - I've never considered 1/48 armour before.

Opens up a lot of diorama possibilities

Exactly my thoughts

Railroad O scale is the same as 1/48 isn't it. Loads of that stuff around.

So far I only have good things to say about Tamiya 1/48 I really enjoy making them, hope you do too! I think for previous questions about O guage is actually about 1/43 so slightly larger but you can get away with it if you use perspective.

Paul

Thanks for checking in guys as well as the diorama possibilities the other thought about 1/48 armour was that it might save on shelf-space without resorting to 1/72

Anyway I've made a bit of a start on this one - the first few instruction sections focus on the running gear and as usual for me I'll leave the wheels off until later to make painting a bit easier.


Nothing too taxing here - and being a Tamiya kit it fits like a Tamiya kit


For completeness here are the next few steps of the instructions


All I've done from these is add the internal front latching plate


Over the page and it deals with putting the tracks on


So I dry fitted a selection of wheels with a blob of PVA glue and then built up the link & length tracks


Both sets built up fairly easily although there is one dodgy join where the top run joins the idler wheels but I think it'll be hidden when everything is in place


One thing I did spot was that the AM grille set I picked up were for the Ausf G and they're a different size to the vents on the Ausf D - so I've ordered up the correct set

So that's all for now - I'll hopefully make a start on the upper hull this week

Thanks as always for looking

Lovely Panther sag on those tracks

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 01, 2022 6:49 pm Lovely Panther sag on those tracks

Thanks mate - it's nice when the kit does the hard work for you

I've been pottering away at this one over the past couple of weeks but haven't had chance to post an update until now.

Following on from the tracks the next part covered the installation of the fenders/sponson floors & other underside bits plus the rear plate


Which all went without too much drama


Then it was time to install the upper hull


There was a little bit of shuffling involved to get everything lined up but it went in ok. You can also see in this shot that I decided to paint up the vents that would ultimately be covered by the grilles (not sure if they should be dark yellow or red oxide - but in the end it probably won't matter )


Talking of the grilles, the new set turned up and the other set has been consigned to a drawer until I get a 1/48 Panther G


And here they are installed... how much of the pre-painted stuff can we see through the teeny holes? Oh well, it's the thought that counts


The instructions then switch to the rear plate


No problems here, although the jack will be left off until painted


Then onto tools & stuff...


...and this is where me and Mr Tamiya-san had a bit of a falling out, as the string included for the tow cables was determined to fray no matter what sharp object I used to cut it and actually looked too bulky for the cable ends


So after a few attempts to tidy them up I caved in and got some AM cables that should work better - again they're for a G but I think they'll work ok for the D


Adding the tool racks


for some reason in 1/48 Tamiya decided to mould some of the tools integrally with the racks so I'll have to pick them out after painting up the hull


Next on the instructions the tow cables (no), the cleaning rod tube & the side skirts - I'm thinking of chopping the skirts into smaller sections as I'd like to have the sag on show


Then installation of the tool racks on the other side


Again spare tracks, tow cables & skirts will be added later


Then up to the turret




...and again no dramas here and the engineering just fell together


Final bits including the barrel & smoke launchers




The barrel did have a bit of a pesky mould line down the length on top & bottom but that's all


And here's everything together complete with the commander figure


A quick coat of Ultimate black primer to render stealth panther


And this time I really have used AK 3rd gen paints (for anyone who saw the confusion with the pz1 build!) - I'm still figuring out the thinning ratios but it went down really nicely


I did make a start on sorting out the wheels & tyres but naused up painting them using a mask so will sort them out next.

Thanks as always for looking

Nice progress mate. That base color has gone down well. How are you finding the paints? I saw an IDF set the other day I might be interested in. I have a couple of kits that will need their particular colors.

Nice buildup and painting. Are going to do a 2 or 3 color cammo scheme?

I like the paint, very smooth and glitchless.

Looks good so far. Nice job on the paint. The string that Tamiya provides never seems to fit nicely into the cable ends, it frustrates me every time! Hopefully the AM cables will fit nicely.

I'm really needing to go the way of 1/48. 1/35 is taking up to much room.
Absolutely beautiful job on this and awesome with A/M
DW

The cable end problem is wide spread...yippeee ...cause I thought it was just me....

I did resort to super gluing the ends then sniping off any bits that were a bit rebellious.

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 16, 2022 7:44 pm Nice progress mate. That base color has gone down well. How are you finding the paints? I saw an IDF set the other day I might be interested in. I have a couple of kits that will need their particular colors.

Thanks mate. The paint has taken a while to work out and needs some major thinning to work properly through the AB. I'm still experimenting but I think last time around it was probably 70% thinner to 30% paint at about 20psi. Earlier attempts weren't thin enough and splattered unless I upped the pressure.

Other than that it's gone down really nicely in a couple of coats.

The camo colours will need a little practising on scraps before I commit to the kit.

BigWall wrote: ↑Wed Mar 16, 2022 9:04 pm Nice buildup and painting. Are going to do a 2 or 3 color cammo scheme?

Thanks Joe - both the kit schemes are 3-colour wavy lines from the battle of Kursk so I'll be going with one of those.

I was thinking about doing a winter scheme but having done a little research (which in itself is unusual for me ) neither of the represented vehicles survived the battle so I'll be making them a little dusty in the weathering but not heaping on the mud too much other than in the fenders & tracks.

digger303 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 16, 2022 11:58 pm I like the paint, very smooth and glitchless.

The cable end problem is wide spread...yippeee ...cause I thought it was just me....

I did resort to super gluing the ends then sniping off any bits that were a bit rebellious.

ElCapitan wrote: ↑Thu Mar 17, 2022 9:22 am Looks good so far. Nice job on the paint. The string that Tamiya provides never seems to fit nicely into the cable ends, it frustrates me every time! Hopefully the AM cables will fit nicely.

Thanks guys - you are definitely not alone with the tow cable woes I tried the superglue trick as well but they just weren't playing and don't look right at all. I'll use the string ones to figure out where I want to put the metal ones as I'm thinking of draping one over the back of the vehicle around the towing points and seeing how that works.

Donkeywalloper wrote: ↑Thu Mar 17, 2022 1:46 pm
I'm really needing to go the way of 1/48. 1/35 is taking up to much room.
Absolutely beautiful job on this and awesome with A/M
DW

Thanks DW! I'm really impressed with how this one has gone together so I think there'll be more 1/48 armour in the future

going really well so far
Paul

Quax wrote: ↑Thu Mar 17, 2022 5:59 pm going really well so far
Paul

Thanks mate

Just a quick update as I've been struggling for bench time due to work.

But I've been pottering away at the wheels. I don't normally consider myself OCD about most things, but the exception appears to be AFV wheels as I feel the need to make sure the tyres are painted even on the back sides when I know that little to nothing will be seen once it's completed. Anyway... here's a pile of wheels...


I've also decided to cut down the skirts and install smaller panel sections as I've seen in many historical photographs


This serves two purposes... one - it allows the track sag to be seen, two - it adds a bit of interest and three - it'll give me somewhere to try out my camo squiggling with the new paints before committing to the main body.

Mock up courtesy of blue tac


That's all for now - hopefully I'll be able to make a bit more progress soon.

Thanks for looking & have a great weekend

Well it's been over a month since I posted an update for this kitty so it's probably well overdue.

Although I experimented with using the airbrush for the camo pattern I couldn't get it down tight enough so in the end resorted to using the mark I hairy stick. This is part of the reason this update has taken so long as I've had to tackle this over a number of sessions working around with both the camo colours bit by bit


There's a bit of tidying up to do but overall I'm happy with the result in the end.

My brother has kindly cut up another base for me since I fancy creating a steppe dio for Kursk


So I'll be adding a few from this set


And a lot from this...


I thought if I left the grass long enough it'd hide some of the dodgy paintwork

That's all for now, but hopefully now I've got that camo out of the way I can add the decals & paint up the details before starting in on the weathering.

Thanks as always for stopping by

Great work and style on the camo.

digger303 wrote: ↑Thu May 05, 2022 11:16 pm Great work and style on the camo.

Thanks mate

Still busy at the weekends at the moment but I've managed to get some bench time in.

First up decals were added and then some wear & tear was added with a stipple brush - I wanted a fairly worn appearance for this one and may have overdone it a little but hopefully it'll all get blended together with additional weathering. I've also made a start on the tools - these are moulded onto the racks so needed to be careful at picking out the details. The "rails" are just there to try & keep any loose pigment off the white background paper


I then worked up a concoction of enamel turned earth, pigments & grass to muck up the lower fenders & visible parts of the lower hull (and underside)


With that done & left to dry the wheels & tracks were added, both track runs came apart and had to be coaxed back into place with some CA


The turret also had decals and wear & tear added... if the middle "4" looks a bit odd that's because I wrecked the decal by prodding it about too much after applying the microsol so I've painted it back in freehand


Somewhere along the way I've dinged the paint on the rear deck, so I'll be making a feature out of that rather than trying to blend it back together


Finally for this update I've built up the replacement wire cables and rather than just drape them up the sides on their mounting points I've hooked one of them to the towing points with one of the "W" towing hooks


That should then dangle over the side of the skirt plates (held here with blu-tac) and hopefully give the impression of being chucked there in a hurry


That's all for this update, I need to finish the jacking block & fire extinguisher and add them to the tool racks and then make a start on the final weathering & build up the base.

Thanks as always for looking

I like it!

aur0ra145 wrote: ↑Wed May 11, 2022 11:31 pm I like it!

Thanks mate

A change in plans for the weekend meant that we actually ended up with a weekend off, so I had a couple of really good sessions at the bench.

Not a lot to show for this project but I made a start on the base... First up I used Sculptmold for the first time and misjudged the drying time (actually I don't think I mixed it wet enough), so it was a little on the hard side when I went to try and imprint the panther track marks, but otherwise really liked how it worked and will use it again for dio bases. This shot was taken after it got an initial coat of Vallejo "Parched Grass" primer


The following day I attacked it with various mig & ak enamels & pigments. Once it's fully dry I might give it a dusting with a lighter pigment since it's supposed to be a summer time scene, but mostly this should be hidden under the long grass...


And whilst that was drying I finished off the remaining tool rack


Next up I'll continue working on the base and make a start on the long grass and figures.

Thanks as always for looking in

This one has been left a little neglected for a couple of weeks so this weekend I made a start on the long grass...


It's pretty time consuming so I'm doing it in sections around other stuff at the bench but here it is after a couple of sessions


I thought I'd measured up & cut the strands to an appropriate length but a quick check showed it was a bit taller than I actually wanted (I've seen photos of Panthers covered up to around the top of the tracks)


So it was out with the strimmer to hack things back a bit after leaving it to dry overnight


Might still be a bit tall in places but I'll hack away at it and flatten bits as well as there should be some troops lost in there too


Still got the front & under the tank to do


Hopefully I can keep plugging away at this every so often when I get a spare half hour or so

Thanks for looking

On the way to brilliant

Looks nice so far. Did you place the grass by hand, or did you use a static grass thing?

digger303 wrote: ↑Mon May 30, 2022 12:56 am On the way to brilliant

Thanks mate - still plenty of scope to completely cock this up

aur0ra145 wrote: ↑Mon May 30, 2022 1:31 am Looks nice so far. Did you place the grass by hand, or did you use a static grass thing?

Thanks - this was done by hand; I wasn't sure the static applicator method would make the grass sticky enough. So I applied a thickish layer of PVA and then added the grass in clumps (which is why it looks a bit clumpy in places )

Very nice.

Reminds me of that scene in Saving Private Ryan when that half-track rumbles in and they all take cover in the grass.

I reckon there might be a bazooka team from the 101st in there somewhere......

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Mon May 30, 2022 5:54 pm Very nice.

Reminds me of that scene in Saving Private Ryan when that half-track rumbles in and they all take cover in the grass.

I reckon there might be a bazooka team from the 101st in there somewhere......

Thanks mate - I do have plans for lurkers although from the opposite team

So I've decided I needed to finish this one off before starting my Sci Fi build otherwise this would just lurk on the bench sulking at me.

I spent some time on Sunday planting more grass...


There's still some tidying up & maybe some gaps to fill but it was close enough to see how the kitty looked


Should be ok with a bit of tweaking methinks


I've also decided that I'm going to add a handful of figures from this set to hide in the long grass


According to Scalemates this set was released in 2005 and I have to say the quality is disappointing but they should come together ok with a little work


That's all for now - I'll hopefully make some headway with assembling & tidying up the rest of the figures this week.

Thanks as always for looking

Well, last week didn't go entirely to plan due to Mrs Tomcat testing positive for Covid for the second time even with all the jabs so priorities got changed a bit. The good news is that she's picked up over the weekend and tested clear yesterday morning.

As a result I've managed to get some more time to work on this dio...

Last week I did manage to strim the grass a little and check the height against the kitty which I think looked better, although still a little clumpy in places


This weekend I started dirtying up the Panther - the running gear was given a mix of loose earth, pigments & grass (and probably some other stuff I've forgotten). This was also applied to the exposed track run on the base, and as you can see I added the sections of skirt too.


The whole tank was given a thin Afrika Korps wash to start the weathering process; this will be left to dry and I'll start in with streaking & general dirt this week.


And here it is in the field


Finally for this update I've built & primed the various figures I'm going to add in - hopefully the next time you see these chaps they'll be in full technicolour


That's all for this update - thanks as always for looking

It's going to look specky when completed. Troops are going to be lost in the grass so I guess they will be riding up top. I'll be looking forward to see how you bring it all together.

Oups ! I miss this one it seems ! Great work as always. Did a stunning job on the tank. Even in close up it looks like a real one.

Cracking progress. Figures look nice and dynamic too

digger303 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 11:15 am It's going to look specky when completed.

Is that good????

digger303 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 11:15 am Troops are going to be lost in the grass so I guess they will be riding up top. I'll be looking forward to see how you bring it all together.

I'm hoping for a mix of some up top and some lurking in the undergrowth... be interesting to see if it works or not

Garion77 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 11:44 am Oups ! I miss this one it seems ! Great work as always. Did a stunning job on the tank. Even in close up it looks like a real one.

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 8:21 pm Cracking progress. Figures look nice and dynamic too

Thanks chaps

I think the grass really works very well, don't remember ever seeing a diorama anything quite like it. Very nice idea and great work.

Tomcat64 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 23, 2022 2:29 pm

digger303 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 11:15 am It's going to look specky when completed.

Is that good????

digger303 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 11:15 am Troops are going to be lost in the grass so I guess they will be riding up top. I'll be looking forward to see how you bring it all together.

I'm hoping for a mix of some up top and some lurking in the undergrowth... be interesting to see if it works or not

Garion77 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 11:44 am Oups ! I miss this one it seems ! Great work as always. Did a stunning job on the tank. Even in close up it looks like a real one.

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 8:21 pm Cracking progress. Figures look nice and dynamic too

Thanks chaps

Better than good.....

Now the pressure is on.......

WordenB wrote: ↑Thu Jun 23, 2022 5:31 pm I think the grass really works very well, don't remember ever seeing a diorama anything quite like it. Very nice idea and great work.

Cheers mate - thanks for dropping in

digger303 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 24, 2022 1:05 am

Tomcat64 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 23, 2022 2:29 pm

digger303 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 11:15 am It's going to look specky when completed.

Is that good????

digger303 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 11:15 am Troops are going to be lost in the grass so I guess they will be riding up top. I'll be looking forward to see how you bring it all together.

I'm hoping for a mix of some up top and some lurking in the undergrowth... be interesting to see if it works or not

Garion77 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 11:44 am Oups ! I miss this one it seems ! Great work as always. Did a stunning job on the tank. Even in close up it looks like a real one.

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 8:21 pm Cracking progress. Figures look nice and dynamic too

Thanks chaps

Better than good.....

Now the pressure is on.......

Still struggling a bit for bench time at the moment but have got these dudes just about done as good as they're gonna get

The chap with the arrow under him (we'll call him Arfur) is the one that came with the kit and I'm a bit concerned he's out of scale... I know people are all different sizes but... I dunno...


So I popped him into the turret along with the two that are going to be stood on the rear deck and I think I can live with it since I like the idea of the group of three...


So I just need to add some final weathering to the tank, tidy up the base & install the troops and put this one in the books.

Just a short update but thanks as always for looking in

Calling this one done & the reveal is now up here

Nice work. Short Round looks ok to me. Tankers were bigger than infantry cos they sat in their shiny little tanks all day

Stokesy44 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 03, 2022 6:08 pm Nice work. Short Round looks ok to me. Tankers were bigger than infantry cos they sat in their shiny little tanks all day

Cheers mate