Andrew's 1/72 Armourfast Panther G - paint and decals

[adt70hk]

Hi all

So this started X years ago elsewhere and I've finally got it to the point where it is now has decals.

The idea was to take one of these super simplified wargaming kits - £7.50 for two kits, a whole tank on each sprue and with only 20 pieces per tank - and 'tart' them up.

Below are a few pics of the in progress shots so you can see what I did to get it to where it is today. The zimmerit worked better in some places than others and was done using 'No More Nails' glue and and a 32 TPI junior hacksaw blade.

ACW as usual.

Yours

Andrew

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A very basic sprue!!




Build finished

 

[Steve Jones]

Some nice additions Andy which have painted up well. Lovely work my friend

 

[adt70hk]

Some nice additions Andy which have painted up well. Lovely work my friend

Thanks Steve. I'm really pleased how it came out, especially considering the base kit was so basic and plus it was only my third go at German tri-colour camo.

ATB

Andrew

 

[adt70hk]

Hi all

So a little over 8 that EIGHT years after a I started this, it is finally finished. I was inspired to get it over the finish line when I finished my Jagdpanthers.

To finish it off I simply added a clear coat ahead of some light weathering....basically some light chipping and a mixed sepia/umber pin wash to bring out the details, followed by a final matt clear coat.

This won't set the modelling world alight but just remember is started life as a £3.75 quick build wargaming kit with no detail to speak of....AND when I was a far less experienced modeller than I am now!

Also it was one of the first kits I airbrushed and did so using a cheap Chinese one that came with my compressor.

I'll do a proper completed post with more pics shortly!

ATB

Andrew

 

[A_J_Rimmer]

That is blooming lovely, if my builds came out looking anywhere near as good as that I'd be happy.

 

[Jim R]

I thought I was a slow builder but eight years must be some kind of record. That is a great result especially given the scale and the bargain price.

 

[Jakko]

a £3.75 quick build wargaming kit with no detail to speak of

I bought that set too, for wargaming, and felt that what I got in the box was so awful that the best I could do with it was turn them into Pantherturm bunkers … (I could show pictures if you want ) In other words, you’ve done quite a creditable job with this kit, given how poor it is.

 

[adt70hk]

That is blooming lovely, if my builds came out looking anywhere near as good as that I'd be happy.

I thought I was a slow builder but eight years must be some kind of record. That is a great result especially given the scale and the bargain price.

I bought that set too, for wargaming, and felt that what I got in the box was so awful that the best I could do with it was turn them into Pantherturm bunkers … (I could show pictures if you want ) In other words, you’ve done quite a creditable job with this kit, given how poor it is.

Thanks chaps. I was quite pleased given where it started from!

In case you missed it the full completed thread is here......https://www.scale-models.co.uk/threads/andrews-1-72-amourfast-panther-g.43480/


Jakko - would like to see what you did with them as Pantherturm's. Please feel free to put a couple of pics up on this thread, so people can do a comparison.


Thanks again.

ATB

Andrew

 

[Jakko]

What I did was build the turret, but without the cupola, adding a thicker roof (turrets for Pantherturm bunkers had that) and a simple scratchbuilt hatch for the commander. Then I built the top of the bunker from card, household filler and a scrap bit of plastic pipe from dimensions taken from real-world drawings I found online. I put this on a blank DVD:



I also built two more bases for which I glued the upper hull to a blank DVD too, building up groundwork around it with filler again. Though putting the turret from above on this is not 100% correct for a dug-in Panther, it gives just a little bit more choice for wargaming



BTW, with “blank DVD” I really do mean that: DVD discs without any coating on them to take the data. About ten years ago, I was somewhere that had whole stacks of them (they had apparently been used as dividers in boxes full of shaped DVDs), so I asked if I could have some. When I explained I could use them for crafting things (I didn’t bother trying to explain their use for wargaming terrain ) I got a stack of over 20 cm of them. And have so far used them for … these four Panther bunkers



And in use in a game:



Which shows very well why I wanted the blank DVDs, I think.

 

[adt70hk]

What I did was build the turret, but without the cupola, adding a thicker roof (turrets for Pantherturm bunkers had that) and a simple scratchbuilt hatch for the commander. Then I built the top of the bunker from card, household filler and a scrap bit of plastic pipe from dimensions taken from real-world drawings I found online. I put this on a blank DVD:

View attachment 509966View attachment 509970View attachment 509968

I also built two more bases for which I glued the upper hull to a blank DVD too, building up groundwork around it with filler again. Though putting the turret from above on this is not 100% correct for a dug-in Panther, it gives just a little bit more choice for wargaming

View attachment 509967

BTW, with “blank DVD” I really do mean that: DVD discs without any coating on them to take the data. About ten years ago, I was somewhere that had whole stacks of them (they had apparently been used as dividers in boxes full of shaped DVDs), so I asked if I could have some. When I explained I could use them for crafting things (I didn’t bother trying to explain their use for wargaming terrain ) I got a stack of over 20 cm of them. And have so far used them for … these four Panther bunkers

View attachment 509969

And in use in a game:

View attachment 509971

Which shows very well why I wanted the blank DVDs, I think.

Thanks jakko for that. They've turned out not too bad for what you needed them for!

 

[Scratchbuilder]

From a cheap basic kit to a little gem and fitted out with Zimmerit, well done.

 

[adt70hk]

From a cheap basic kit to a little gem and fitted out with Zimmerit, well done.

Thanks Mike. It's turned out nicely all things considered.....in case you missed it there are more pics here: https://www.scale-models.co.uk/threads/andrews-1-72-amourfast-panther-g.43480/

ATB

Andrew

 

[Lee Drennen]

Andrew very impressive like mike said what a little Gem.