Panther G Redux

[MrChef]

Hey, Chef, you've cooked up a great Panther; you should be quite happy with that kitty! I have been diddling with electronics and mechanicals on my FAMO and M10 for so long, I miss the sort of work you are showing so effectively here. I see some familiar things: RustOleum 2X red primer (stinks to high heaven; sprays the whole booth if you don't decant it and use an aribrush' but great for German AFVs, especially metal parts), paper cards with samples of paint colors ("I got a million of 'em"), and SuperClean as paint remover. And even though I use an airbrush most often, I do sometimes use the Tamiya spray bombs, too.

Thank you Herr Dr.

This project has kept me busy since I started it early July.

Things I've learned with this build-

How Acrylic, Enamel and Lacquer paints work in high heat and high humidity environments.

How to Solder. Never did it before. Got a soldering iron and solder from Autozone, watched a video and voila.

Different weathering products and techniques.

The interior Electronics and mechanical stuff used to be daunting but now that I've stripped a whole tank down I'm much more comfortable. Especially when everything goes back together and works like it did before. Side note: the tank already had a recoil gun albeit not servo controlled but after reassembly the recoil is much smoother and more pronounced which I'm satisfied with.

I love to continue to learn as I go.This is such an addicting hobby.

[MrChef]

Nice work on a nice panther! The desire to go beyond one's comfort zone is the prerequisite for all learning and improvement!
I really like the steel texture work!

Did you apply hairspray before applying the Dunkelgelb?
I know that many use this technique to then create the chipping with a watered-down brush.

I follow with interest!

Thank you VonDomenic.

Skipping ahead, Yes I did apply Hairspray over the Red Primer before the TS3 for the Michael Rinaldi chipping method. I ran into a couple challenges this time though. I have used the TS paint previously for this chipping method and it worked on my Jagdpanther. But it works best with Acrylic paint to chip like on my KV1 the first time I tried it. The Tamiya TS paint as I understand it is a hybrid lacquer which is not as easy to chip, ok it's hard to chip and I needed to use all sorts of pointy stuff for it to do anything. I chalked the difference up between the models to Time, Temperature environment differences.

[Meter rat]

I thought your first paint job on this Panther was good, but this is next level. To learn from one’s mistakes, and to see improvement, don’t half give one confidence to go beyond your own comfort level.

[tankme]

I bought a California Air Compressor...it's really quiet and I think now Harbor Freight sells a clone of it that is really quiet. This one is very similar to my name brand compressor: https://www.harborfreight.com/1-gallon- ... 64592.html

I like having a pressure tank as it cycles less.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

You got it, Chef. BINGO! Two aspects of the hobby keep me fascinated: 1) I have always been fascinated by miniatures of machines; and 2) Just exactly as you say: "I love to continue to learn as I go."

[Jofaur86]

Hello,

[MrChef]

Hello Jofaur86, Thank you for sharing that list. It will be useful.

So onto wheels, wheels so many wheels. They're metal so I just pryed the rubber tire off then black primer time. these are he outside wheels that will show the most. Theres plenty more where these came from but I'm not going to bore you.

[MrChef]

So with unit 213 in mind as inspiration. I got to thinking about how to pull the camo/paint scheme off. Then I remembered a member here posting not too long ago how he painted his Tiger I upgrade.

LordLudikrous demonstrated in his post here: viewtopic.php?t=34395 how he did a 3 tone camo with faded edged camouflage with spray paint cans, ironically the same 3 Tamiya TS colors I went with.

Thanks to you sir for your guidance.

The concept has been done with the masking tape noodles to raise the masking tape above the tank a few mm so the edge painted is softer. The only difference for me was I used AK camo masking putty as the noodles to raise the tape line. The AK putty works well. I had very interesting but ultimately good experience with it for my Jagdpanther build.

The one thing I'd like to share about it is it doesn't make a difference what the ambient temperature is, this stuff moves. So don't go thinking you can mask up a pattern with it the night before and paint it tomorrow. You could but the vertical surfaces it is placed on it will shift and drip ever so slowly.

So AK masking putty and 2 new rolls of scotch blue masking tape in hand I was on with the adventure. I decided since it was 3 colors I'd try to make the 3 different color sections similar in size, breaking the tank colors into 3rds. Below is the first mask before application of brown. Those are the strong lines for the camo. Then I ran noodles along the edges on the lines then taped about 3/4 inch overhang above.







Ta Da!!! here we go...








NOTE- it is much easier to paint the tank and this pattern when the turret is removed from the hull.

[MrChef]

So that worked out pretty well, lets try again.

Ooops, the turret motor solder connection broke. Something new to learn and teach myself to do. FYI its not hard to do and it's also not hard to solder correctly, just watch a video how and practice. The soldering iron was $10 from local Autozone. The solder not as inexpensive but I got the real lead/tin stuff with flux core. It worked well.

Back to camo work-

Careful taping again-



Ahhh here we are!!!









About this time I'm pretty happy with myself. But I'm also aware how paint acts and reacts differently in higher temperatures. This tank was painted at temps between 75-85F and between 60-80% relative humidity.

[VonDomenic]

It's the first time I've seen this method, to avoid using the airbrush!
it's ingenious and I have to say that the result already makes it better than the previous camo, which was too dark.

With the right aging and markings, it will be even better!