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It is a certain reflective moment each time you get to be very close to any of these relic machines.
The spirit of the crews, the carnage and death they dealt out, and the lasting image of the idealism they represented cannot be ignored.
It’s just a ‘thing’
Both power and futility all at the same time.

I’ve been cutting, grinding and sanding pretty much exclusively on this so no worthwhile pics, unless you want to see green plastic sprayed all over every object for meters around !!
The mini vac has been the busiest tool in the house for now

Yes Herman! We want green plastic! Green plastic!

"It is a certain reflective moment each time you get to be very close to any of these relic machines.
The spirit of the crews, the carnage and death they dealt out, and the lasting image of the idealism they represented cannot be ignored.
It’s just a ‘thing’
Both power and futility all at the same time."

Yes, I agree, Herman. I had quite a feeling when fifty years ago my father too me to see the remains of the bridge at Remagen, long since turned into a peace memorial, but then just left alone.

War is war. About 45 minutes away from Houffalize is the village of Malmedy where 84 US prisoners were machine gunned during the battle of the Bulge.

Herr Dr. Professor wrote:Yes, I agree, Herman. I had quite a feeling when fifty years ago my father too me to see the remains of the bridge at Remagen, long since turned into a peace memorial, but then just left alone.

Agree, Remagen bridge seen here in a 2015 Rhine river roadtrip.

Thank you for the photos, neighbor to the north! Although now the Remagen bridgehead has been made into a peace memorial, when I was there, the bridgehead stood as today, as well as, I believe, one center pylon. I looked inside one of the pylons on shore and found some olive-drab pontoons with lovers' names scratched in hearts and arrows. I looked across the river at the opposite hillside and saw houses, probably a few hundred years old, slanted but standing, looking quizzical, as if to say, "What's the big deal? We've seen it all before."

I felt the same when I visited the town of Cassino(of the infamous Monte-Cassino) where so much life was lost and historic buildings ruined for such small gain, yet the days I was there, the entire place showed none of it, especially when a group of local school kids was haring through the main Allied cemetery like it was an amusement park...............(I'm certain the Teacher could not speak much English, judging by the look I got when I had a word)
The scars heal quicker than we think..................

The last couple of nights has been spent applying putty to fill holes, and spot sanding.
I have a set of ATAK zimmerit to put on for the first time ever, so Im a bit nervous of that.
All the H/L hull fittings will be gone, so I will need to make new ones from brass to replace them.
Now as you all know by now, Im NOT the Aber PE clamp guy, so all the replicated tool holding frames will need to be made out of spare brass sprue etc.
But thats ok, it only has to be near enough rather than near perfect, the thing still has to run., be put in a box, be stuck into a car etc etc !

lmcq11 wrote:Thank you Mr Herman,

You bring back memories of a roadtrip i did in 2011 with my late father who wanted to visit WW1 and WW2 sites in France and Belgium, me too of course. I made sure to bring him to Houffalize to see the Panther. The town put it in a prominent display downtown. I agree with its restauration.

Boy, that Panther's suspension looks like it's taken a beating. Keep up the good work Mr. Bix!

MedalofHonor2 wrote:

lmcq11 wrote:Thank you Mr Herman,

You bring back memories of a roadtrip i did in 2011 with my late father who wanted to visit WW1 and WW2 sites in France and Belgium, me too of course. I made sure to bring him to Houffalize to see the Panther. The town put it in a prominent display downtown. I agree with its restauration.

Boy, that Panther's suspension looks like it's taken a beating. Keep up the good work Mr. Bix!

Thanks Mr Medal, the suspension looks like it has been cut to gain access to the crew compartment back in the day.
Pictures from the various angles over time show degradation in stages.
When I got to walk all over it & really get intimate, the condition of the poor thing was apparent and sad.
I too am very glad its being restored at least to some form of respectable condition being its so rare and iconic.

Have got a bit of progress done.
I decided to take the plunge and strip off the skirt hanger runs, and go with a clean canvas.
The Atak Zimmerit kit I have although for a Tamiya Panther, will fit(well I will make it fit )and that then should allow the positioning of the relevant brackets & skirt hanger runs as required.
These will be made out of sprue material in a similar method to my Dozer-panther.
Heng Long plastic is bloody tough !..............it took a 4" angle grinder to remove the stuff in any sort of haste, and then dressed with a detail sander to get the lot smoothed off.
I actually had to vacuum up outside to get the burnt plastic off the ground before the kids bought it in on their feet
The rear plate received the same treatment, I am going to give PE stowage bins a go....................
I recovered the rounded cast covers for the exhausts from my Pantiger donor, cut the 3 pipes off & dressed the damage. Mr surfacer 500 will go over the mess.
Brass pipes & jack support will also be out of brass sprue.
Pipe covers from aluminium is the plan.
The drivers and radio mans hatches have also been removed, but the metal replacements need to have material added into the holes to bring the shape & size back to right. That will be next.

Lower hull needs the bump stops re-positioning, and the track support rollers putting on, old Pz III return rollers will be butchered up for these.
As this is an early G, the crew heater was not present. Thats been hacked off and replaced with some scrap material and a replacement resin vent from overseas.

Still lots to do but todays been good progress with the family out at a dance comp & me 'unsupervised' by adults

Green debris !