My two tanks

[Gary Brantley]

Here are a few pics of my only armor models. One is the Tamiya Panther Pzkpfw. V Ausf. A and the other is the Italeri M24 Chaffee light tank. Both are 1/35 scale. These are the only two I’ve built so far and I think they are easier than aircraft. The nature of the beast allows one to hide glitches easier and there aren’t any damned canopies to deal with.

These pics were made out at my farm a few years ago. Please excuse my crude attempt to create a cool diorama base for them. I threw the base together in about 10 minutes or so, and it was really just an experiment I guess. I did manage to get a few photos that weren’t too bad. After I had taken about 5 pics the damned battery played out on the camera and I left the card table and base in the pasture and drove back to town to recharge. When I returned a couple hours later, some calves had over-turned the table and messed it up and I had to start over, lol.

I did add a few scratch-built details such as the Schurzen plates and mounting hangers on the Panther, jack block on the Panther, the tarps on both tanks, tow cables on both and a fire extinguisher on the Panther. I added engine deck screens on the Panther and drilled out the exhausts as well as adding a bit of battle damage here and there.

Please excuse my very amateurish paint work on the Panther’s figures. I debated about adding them or not and probably should have left them off. They do lend a bit of scale to the tank though. So, please just “squint” a bit when viewing them.
Gary

[Stikpusher]

Ohyes, I do remember these two. Nicely done sir!

[Gary Brantley]

Thank you Stik! I appreciate that. sir.

[Stikpusher]

Now that you have started down this path, give yourself up to the dark side...

[LyleW]

Tex, just be strong and resist. You are a fly guy - Nice work, by the way!

[Gary Brantley]

Tex, just be strong and resist. You are a fly guy - Nice work, by the way!

Oh I am Lyle, I really am. I have a M-41 Walker Bulldog in the stash that might see light of day before long. Thanks, btw, I really appreciate it brother.

[BorgR3mc0]

Nice targets!

[Gary Brantley]

Nice targets!

Borg, my wife had an old uncle, a veteran of WWII and the Korean War. He was a tanker in both. One day after a Sunday dinner at her parent's home, I told Uncle Leo that as a kid, I thought 'd I'd want to be in tanks if I served in the Army. He was thoughtful for a second and then said, "well, they do tend to draw a lot of fire."
Thanks for the reply brother! Gary

[Duke Maddog]

Excellent models Tex! I also think your figures are very well done too. Way to go!

[Gary Brantley]

Excellent models Tex! I also think your figures are very well done too. Way to go!

Oh man, thank you so much Duke! I really appreciate that! You've made my day.

I really need to build that M-41; that might be just the ticket to get my "creative juices" flowing again.

Not long after the Panther was finished, I took both of the tanks down to King's Hobby in Austin (about 70 miles south of me). I just wanted to get the opinions of all the nice guys there because no one locally ever sees any of my models. They were pretty complimentary of them and suggested that I enter them in an upcoming armor (and ground-support aircraft) contest to held at Camp Mabry (U.S. Army installation there in Austin). I had never done that before so figured, what the heck?

http://www.texasmilitaryforcesmuseum.org/mabry.htm#

Oh dude, there were some simply amazing armored vehicles there and planes too. I set them up and looked around, then my wife and I left for a few hours. When we came back for the results, I couldn't believe my ears when my name was announced. Each of these had placed third in their respective categories. I guess there is something to "beginner's luck" after all! Thank you again Duke.
Gary