Here Kitty Kitty - Meng Panther A

[KSaarni]

Very nice build so far!

- Kari

[Thomas_M]

Torben, so great job on the Zimmerit! But, a shame that those decals won´t hold! Now I am curious how they will look under a coat of primer!

[mostrich]

Thank you very much, Kari and Thomas!

After I've found and studied the pictures of the real thing there were some discrepancies that bothered me.


Meng told me to use the wrong exhaust system (three outlets on the left side), so this has to be changed. Then there is that jerrycan rack, a field modification that I had to make from scratch. And finally, the position of the jack had to be changed from vertical to horizontal. Consequently the support on the upper exhaust fastener had to be removed and the resulting gap in the Zim was closed.


Okay, but now we're ready for primer stage.

[Stikpusher]

The left side exhaust with two auxiliary pipes was more common on the ausf.A. Meng is just following the law of probabilities.

[mostrich]

You're absolutely right, Stik. But it cost me just a minute for typin' in "Panther 96" and to get a couple of pictures of this particular vehicle where the exhausts are shown in all their glory. Sometimes I wonder how much time those guys spent in research...

For further knowledge I ordered Osprey's well written and reasonably priced "Panther Medium Tank 1942-45" and found out some more interesting facts about my kitty cat. Due to the fact that it still sports the old fashioned exhausts pipes but at the same time's fittet with the Kugelblende 50 ball-mounted front MG and the monocular TFZ 12a sight in the turret mantlet means, that it was built either in December 43 or January 44. The 3rd Regiment of 2nd Panzerdivision received 32 Panther A on January 27-28, 1944.

Primer stage is done. Though the layer of Tamiya's grey primer is quite thin, the structure of Meng's Zim lacks a bit of depth. I think the approach of HobbyBoss/Trumpeter with their die-cut styrene sheets looks more promising for a sharper result. Anyway, I can live with how it came out. Two B/W-shots just for the looks and the better contrast:

[Stikpusher]

Your Panther is looking great! This kit looks awesome, no matter what shortcomings or slack research on markings vs production batch it has.

[Stuart]

Your Panther is looking great - the level of detail is !ovely. The decals are an interesting way of doing the zimmerit.

Having just got my first 1/35 Armour kit I've been looking at people's differing methods of building them. Was there a reason for leaving the road wheels off - was it this particular kit or just the way you work?

[mostrich]

Thank you two, glad you like it!

Stuart,
when a kit provides you with movable tracks you have the option to leave the wheels off until the final weathering stage.
Then you glue all the wheels with the exception of the sprocket-wheel. With its help you can easily pull the track over all wheels and close it. You now only have to apply a bit further bit of weathering to blend it all together.

[Stuart]

Thanks - that does indeed make sense.

[Duke Maddog]

Brilliant work Mostrich! That primer does look good.