WWII German Panther Type G, Late, 1/35 Tamiya

[Whiterook]

This is not quite a full build log, as much as it’s a reimagined work. Two things are at play here: 1. I need a model I can donate to an August Advanced Squad Leader tournament that’d I volunteered to donate, and time is running out quickly, compared to what I have on the bench (my Carro Armato, Italian tank); and 2. The model of this subject thread was my first kit built upon reentrance into model building a dozen or so years ago, and it shows! I’d never done paint work to that degree on models back in the 1970’s, and I’d not discovered the airbrush or liquid cement yet at that time!










A lot of rookie mistakes here… antennae too thick, decaying subpar, tracks not weathered correctly, and missing a lot of dirt and grime, as well as battle wear. Yeah, I know… it was my first, so not bad overalln but it can be better.

So back to the tournament… it’s called Tussle on the Tundra, implying Winter. Even though the criteria of “want” was anything military, I think this would be more in spirit. My plan is to tweak what needs tweaking, paint a whitewash over the existing ambush camouflage, and then weather. Finally, place her on a winter diorama base.

I look at it as a chance to breathe new life into a model collecting cobwebs, and repurpose it to paying it forward to a hobby (wargaming) that I love.

[Whiterook]

I’m thinking of something along these lines…

[mikeh]

Late Panther G, my favorite of the series. The snow camo early Tamiya Panther brings back a lot of memories also. You can still get that one for usually under $25.00 off Amazon.

[Whiterook]

I plan on doing several more Panthers in time… I never could choose between it and the Tiger I as my favorite tank of all… I think Tiger’s win by a smidge 

I didn’t really mention beyond the fact that this was my first model, getting back into the hobby after like four decades away! …but this was for a Group Build at Armchair General forums; for those unfamiliar with the term, a ‘Group Build’ is a friendly model building, including painting it, competition that many forums would have, the prose being bragging rights…the winner determined by forum vote. We”re nit near big enough to do it here, or even at the old forums, but I would dearly love to see a large cadre of modelers here doing so! Needless to say, this model didn’t win, but I felt I won by very fact that I entered a contest right out of the gate back into the hobby, which is actually a testament to the good nature of most model builders, as is with miniatures, Wargames, model railroads, etc. 

[Whiterook]

What I also failed to mention was, on the diorama… I’ve only done one with a cut piece of felt covered paper (from the craft store) glued to an old award plaque. This will be the first that I attempt to one with actual terrain… nothing too ambitious, though. It will be a winter scene with at minimum, built up snow in which the tank will be sunk into movement, with clumps of snow covered brush and maybe a couple small trees (the craft store generally has some decent diorama trees that you can get with a discount coupon).

I’d previously bought a couple unfinished wood (pine?) plaques from Hobby Lobby for another build… these are kinda small though so, I’ll have to see if the tank will fit. If not, I’ll see if there are larger ones for sale, or recycle an old award plaque (I don’t care about those now that I’m retired!). I’m thinking of spraying black acrylic and then a polyurethane rattlecan coat over it before assembling the diorama; the “snow” will either be hydocal, air dry clay, or permastone. I’d thought of celluclay, but it tends to warp wood so, I’d definitely need to poly the surface first!

Inspiration pics that struck my fancy give me a roadmap to follow, but I am sure I’ll diverge to my own overall design; however, these have elements I like, providing me a real picture of possibilities…



…that follows my initial thoughts of a tank treading though snow covered open ground terrain. I also found this next one, that shows road move,ent, which is intriguing…



…and of course, I could do something stupid nutty like this next idea, but I think not for an tournament award   (…supposedly, that’s the actual #413 tank in the Ardennes, Battle of the Bulge!)




I’m pushing the envelope with this diorama, even though it’s a planned simple one… but it will set me up for more ambitious projects on model dios and upon my model railroading layout.

[Whiterook]

So work progresses in the conversion to Winter camo and a dio base… more on the Panther later! The diorama base is new territory for me and it’s proving to be a learning experience. As this is a pro-bono gifting for a wargaming event, I’m not going nuts with an elaborate scene… just a simple snow scene with maybe a bit of earth showing? …I might try some brush and winter grass, but we’ll see.

My method chosen is simple… foamcore board, cut to a generic squared oval shaped base; which was then covered with spackle compound, applied thickly for texture. I used an art spatula to sculpt the surface a little. Then I allowed it to dry to the point where I could touch it without disturbing the spackle surface. I then flipped it and applied a generous amount of white glue on the bottom foamcore, and then placed in the wood base.





I was originally going to airbrush black to the base and white to the groundwork… but I’m running out of time, leaving for the gaming event on Thursday, and decided to go with brushed on Apple Barrel white and black acrylics. One coat of each and this is where we’re at…



It’s drying now, but looks mighty stark in contrast so, and I plan to put a coat of brown on top of the black, on the wood base, and maybe finish it with a coat of Future floor acrylic for shine. I’ll also work on the ground work in-between.

The a Panther has white camo in it now, but needs a little weathering. I’ll finish with some fake snow. Pictures of the tank coming 

[Whiterook]

The full day tomorrow will be finishing the model and diorama… I changed the base to brown, as the black was too stark in contrast to the white snow to come. I need to dirty up the groundwork, add some small grass and/or brush, and will probably put a gloss over the brown acrylic on the wood plaque to seal in the acrylic and give some sexy shine! I used Tamiya “Red Brown”.

The tank needs some dirt and snow… with snow on the diorama, too. Hopefully, I can find the fale snow I used on the Russian “Snow Coach” build a few years ago! I might add some mud effects… I don’t know, as I’m running out of time, needing her to be done tomorrow.





The brown acrylic is still wet, so it looks crappy on those pics at the moment… it’ll dry over night. I think a coat of Future will seal the deal, literally! I’m really rushing this project more than I’d like.

Oh, and the tank is toooooo white… that’ll probably be dirtied up a little with a Citadel acrylic wash in certain spots. My fear is, in rushing, I could potentially screw up parts of the paintwork, but fortunately I’m very good at fixing mistakes.

[mikeh]

Your dio is looking good coming into the home stretch!

[Whiterook]

The conversion project is done!!! Overall, it came out very nice and think it’ll do well at auction. Whatever proceeds it gains goes to the event to support its overhead.

The brown base paint dried nicely… I was going to put a gloss coat on but opted to leave it as is. I dirtied Ulta the snow a tad, especially at the track prints. Added some moss to simulate brown, and a few rock pebbles gathered from the driveway this morning. Added some snow mounds on the ground and tank. Applied some Citadel “Devlin Mud” wash for a dirty look and mud streaks in the Panther. Glued the Panther down with white glue. I’ll let everything cure and then sign the underside with the event name as well.














This one literally came in under the wire! …I leave for the tournament tomorrow, so it was cutting it close. So many things came up over the past weeks that I just couldn’t get the time into it, but it nonetheless came out where I’m satisfied with the results.

Oddly enough, it looks better than the original paint job, and his done of the mistakes. This model holds a lot of good memories for me, in being my re-entry Kit to modeling, and a Build entry on the old Armchair General modeling forum. I think it’s apropos and fitting that it had a little life breathed into it and is going to a good cause. Hopefully, it brings joy and good memories of the tournament event to whoever walks home with it.

Thanks for following along!