RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Updates - cont'd - Washing the upper hull

I really thought about what other detail I could have left out on the upper hull, as I didn't want to redo it after the hull was primered and painted. I thought hard if I wanted to add the additional countersunk holes and bolts around the perimeter of the driver and radioman's hatch cover but decided against it.

Why? Well for one, the available reference I have are conflicting as to the holes' location.

Are they inside the hatch cover?


Or outside? Granted of course that this is a Panther F diagram, but still should they be that different from the G?


And finally I am wary of adding detail that isn't really there. As you can see in the picture of the Bovington Panther http://jtrowbridge5.smugmug.com/Panther ... #!p=8&n=10 (6th picture in the page) there is really only two countersunk holes and bolts on the hatch cover which the HL panther already has. I can see some very faint bulges for the bolt holes but I think there were covered over by putty from the factory so that the hatch cover is smooth all over. They are there but I think they are so faint as to be unnoticeable on the real tanks let alone at 1/16 scale.


So with that I decided enough is enough with the detailing and washed the upper hull for painting.


A little bit of soap never hurt anybody


I was careful to keep the turret traverse motor on the underside of the hull from getting wet. And here are some pics of her clean waiting to dry.

Updates - 7/2/2013 - Masking and Applying primer on upper hull

So started with primer. First I had to mask areas I didn't wan't painted. The removable tools are attached to the brackets using plug/sockets so I had to mask the sockets on the bracket (with blu tac). I was afraid paint spray on the sockets would add thickness to it which would make the tools difficult to re-attach.




Also covered all openings to prevent overspray in the interior.




I couldn't find any tamiya fine gray primer so settled for the regular one instead.


The spraying itself was pretty straightforward. Just spray three coats of primer paint, allowing some time to dry between coats.

Unfortunately most of the pics I took after the primer was applied turned out blurry. I'll post some new ones when I get the time, but here are a few that came out sharp. (Also lighting wasn't so good in these shots)





Also I noticed (you can see it in the closeup shots) that the sprayed primer left a sort of powdery surface almost like very fine sandpaper. If this was very small scale model then I might have been worried but since its 1/16, I have no opinion on it. I even sort of like it since I was afraid the untreated surface of the tank would come out to too smooth after spraying, but is this normal?

Primer is designed to be a key for whatever is going on top so its a a bit porous to allow the top coat to get a grip, the following coats provide the proper seal and finish. (that's why you see cars and narrow boats still rusting when left in just red primer)

Updated 7/21/2013 - Spraying pre-shade color

I sprayed on my modulation/pre-shade color using the same mix I used for the turret (50% Tamiya flat black and 50% dark grey). It went just like before with the same issues but I notice I had more problems this time with paint splatter and uneven coverage.

I don't know if the problem is with the air-brush, the paint mix I am using, my technique or the uneven air pressure I am getting from my current air pump setup.

I am trying to find out what is wrong before I go start painting the camo scheme on this. Hopefully I find that out soon.









Here it is fitted to lower hull.

Updates cont'd - Other stuff

With the turret and upper hull primed and pre-shaded, I thought I revisit some items I wanted to do.
The turret was a bit front heavy so I decided to add counterweights at the back. I used weights from old 4wd Tamiya racers I used to play around with. I attached it using a glue gun.



I still needed to do a lot of detailing on the lower hull before it can be primed. One of them is the fasteners on the 20 ton jack. The turn handles looked a bit out of scale so I cut it off using clippers.



I then drilled a hole ...


and inserted and glued a styrene rod for the new handle.

Updates 7/23/2013 - Detailing the Lower Hull

Decided to add the sprocket return rollers. In the real tank the return rollers controlled the track slack as the tracks are fed to the sprocket. This prevented misfeeds and resulting throwing of the track.

To add the return roller, I drilled a hole on the final drive housing.


Since I did not have the correct sized drill bit, I enlarged the hole using a large diameter pin.


I sourced the parts from my old Tamiya 4wd racer. I got a roller bearing, screws, washers and spacers.


Here are the parts assembled.


Here it is screwed and attached to the drive housing.


Compared to the real thing. (This is a panther A btw, the G has a slightly larger diameter return roller)


Clearance to the drive sprocket is pretty close.

This vehicle is soooo detailed it is amazing! On the priming and paint. That chalky finish you describe is your paint being virtually dry before hitting the target. You are basically sticking little balls of paint to your tank. This can be for a variety of reasons but the primary 2 I would start with is your airflow being too strong (again I run at 14 lbs.) and how thinned your paint is. Should be the consistancy of milk. Just for fun pull your needle on the airbrush and check to make sure it isn't bent or any burrs on it. You will need strong magnification to do that.
This is sometimes the cause of splatter. Let me know if any of this helps!

Thanks dgsselkirk. Seeing your fine work on MichaelC's stug you are the man to ask for advice. I am looking at the 2 possibilities you mentioned. I'll re-check my paint mix and air pressure. BTW what paint to thinner ratio are you using? Thanks.

Strange though, it was doing this even when I was initially just spraying on the primer and I sprayed the primer straight from the can. (not using an air compressor).

Updates 7/26/2013 - Detailing the Lower Hull - cont'd

Continuing with the lower hull, in the previous build log (Update 12/27/12 - http://www.rctankwarfare.co.uk/forums/v ... &start=180), I removed the front bump stops as this was placed (in HL panthers) too high and incorrectly.

Here I have re-attached and glued the front bump stops in their correct locations.

left side


right side


For added strength I drilled holes and created dowels made from styrene rods to secure the bump stops.

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the kind words on the Stug.. Michael is happy!

Just a quick hint on prepping the tank for paint. I use alcohol to prep all my surfaces. It cleans off pretty much anything I have to worry about and since it completely evaporates you don't have to worry about anything left behind. I just use a nice mid sizes fuzzy brush to apply and for big open areas that usually have a lot of finger prints, oil, etc.. I use a kids size toothbrush.

Proper airbrushing is like painting on canvas, using a can is like painting your house! You will have the same issues with the can as you can have with a compressor. The can propellant pressure is really high to make sure you can get all the paint out of the can before it runs out of propellant plus the nozzles aren't exactly made for detail work and I consider any painting on our tanks detail work! Chances are you didn't want to flood the piece so you were a little farther back and again the paint was pretty much dry before hitting the target. I assume that can you were using was Tamiya acrylic.

If I may suggest take an old fuzzy brush and 99% proof alcohol and just gently rub some of the detail work areas you have done. This will thin it down a little and remove some of the powder like finish.The big areas will be fine with the powdery primer but you don't want to lose any of that beautiful detail work you have done!

As far as my mixes go 90% of the paint I use is acylics mostly Tamiya so for my base primer coat I cut it 75% alcohol, 25% paint. coat base primer then one coat pre-shading. On the Stug that is the red oxide with shading.

For the base colour coat and camos 50/50. Basically if you have the consistancy of milk you are good to go. I ALSO strain it through cheese cloth to make sure no gritties are in there even tiny tiny ones will cause sputters or worse clog up the airbrush. Any filters 90 alcohol 10 paint. Pin washes 95% alcohol 5% paint. But those I do by hand of course. For oils depends on what I am doing whether details like wood simulation I make it pudding consistency, rust washes as low as 90/10.

Of course you could just send it to me to be painted, weathered, and highlights Michael wouldn't let me finish his completely! LOL! Too much of a hurry to play with it!


Anything else I can help you with just let me know! I am so looking forward to doing 2 panthers this winter with the help of your build. I want mine to fight but there are lots of details here I can do and still not worry too much about loss or damages on the field....