HL Panther G customization diary

[palepainter]

I just wanted to say thanks for taking such great strides in all the details you have shared with us. Your efforts here have made my tank building experience an enjoyable one. With what you have provided and the other research I have done, all bases have been covered. Beers to ya.

[jeff1101]

Thanks for the nice comments guys. It was always my intention to do a "how-to" log of my build when I started this thread. It's pretty hard to start a customizing from scratch (like I did) and getting the necessary information from disparate sources. The fact that already people are using the thread and getting inspiration from it, I consider my objective as accomplished.

[Horses45]

Just being reading trough and this log is brilliant for me to follow if you don't mind, as in sure I can try and make my heng long panthers look like they should do and yours looks absolutely brilliant

[jeff1101]

Updates 11/25/2013 - Correcting Road Wheels - Part Deux

In one of my very early post, I described how I tried to correct the inaccurate double ridge in Heng Long Panther road wheels.


See my 12/14/2012 diary entry - viewtopic.php?f=22&t=8956&start=160

Now that I was preparing to prime the wheels, It was time to do the fine detailing. The road wheels still have the grooves from the previous sanding and blending. At this point I think it is not advisable to use the exacto knife to sand it further as it will probably create more grooves than removing them.


For this I needed to use sandpaper instead. But first I need a filler to fill in the grooves. I used Tamiya basic putty.


Be careful applying it and only add a small amount as the putty can melt plastic. This is how it adheres to the plastic surface.


I then used this curved tool to press the sandpaper inside the wheel.


Again using my hand drill as a makeshift lathe, I attached the wheel to the drill, spun it at low speed and sanded the grooves down. Here you can see how I used the curved tool to press the sandpaper down so that it can "bite" at the plastic. The curve in the tool helps me clear the rim bolts and prevents them from getting damaged as the wheel is spinning.


With the grooves sanded down I sprayed on the primer. Not bad I think.


And here is the whole wheel set corrected, sanded and primed. It took me an average of 1 hour per wheel. With 8 of these needing correction, that's a solid 8 hours...

[palepainter]

Wow. That was ambitious. Hats off to you!!!

[jeff1101]

Updates cont'd - Painting the wheels

From the start, I always envisioned my panther with multi-colored wheels. Of course, I could just have painted all the wheels olive green and be done with it. That would have been the "easy" way to do it. However, readers following this thread from the beginning already know I hate doing things the easy way... \

So with that, I decided to randomly color the wheels using the following set.
3 wheels - Dark Yellow
4 wheels - Red Brown
9 wheels - Olive Green

Since the wheels will be a darker color from the tank body, I just used the Tamiya colors (Dark Yellow, Red Brown and Olive Green) straight from the bottle with no mixing with other colors.

But first I sprayed all the wheels with my mix of "Red Oxide" primer color. I also sprayed Johnson's "Kleer" protection layer to seal it.


Next I weathered some of the wheels using the salt technique to show paint chipping. Here is a pic of the salt on the wheels after being sprayed with paint.

Here are the wheels after painting.




Next I painted the following mix for rubber rims.
- 10 parts Tamiya Dark Iron
- 5 parts Tamiya Flat black
- 3 parts Tamiya Dark Grey

For the rubber rims, I decided to hand brush the rubber color mix. Here you can see how I used capillary action to fill in the nooks and crannies where the steel ends and the rubber rim begins. For this technique to work (i.e. the paint to flow) I used a thinner paint mix than usual. (i.e. more paint thinner than is usual).

I used method 1 in this "how-to" link. http://www.scalemodelguide.com/painting ... nk-wheels/


And here are the wheels test fitted on the tank.


Here you can see the curious white colored "splotches" that appeared on some of the wheels when it dried. I am guessing some sort of reaction happened between the leftover salt and the "Klear" gloss after I had sprayed the final protection layer. I kinda like the effect. as it looks like hard water condensates...




With the wheels and tracks painted, I can now start adding weathering effects on the panther.

[PainlessWolf]

Good Morning,
Splendid work on those wheels, my friend. Your detail work with the 'hairy stick' on the rubber rims is very good and most instructive. A pin wash of thinned paint will be something that I'll employ on my new Build.
warm regards,
Painless

[jeff1101]

Updates - 12/03/2013 - Weathering WIP and other stuff

I have been a bit busy finalizing the look of the panther. Here I test fitted the schurzen plates. I re-cut the rearmost plate to make it more rounded as there are no documentary evidence for straight cut plates like I did before.




It is debatable if this was a field mod or the factory themselves did this as this was a certainly rare with only a few photos of panthers (including panther 242) sporting this particular feature.


I went through all of the trouble attaching the "authentic" looking schurzen hangers specifically so I can give my panther a unique look.

I have also started doing the weathering effects on the panther. Here are my first attempts of adding paint chips on the turret. Just in small areas that are prone to wear (i.e. areas of the turret getting foot traffic and hatches). I was conscious not to overdo this as my target tank is still relatively new. (2 months old)

I used the same color I used for the rubber rims when I painted the road wheels.



I also started adding this color on the idlers and road wheels. Here you can see camo paint chipping to reveal the red oxide primer and then the red oxide chipping to reveal "bare" metal. I plan to add more of this bare metal color to the wheels as this area of the tank gets the most wear.


It was at this point of adding the chipping that I stopped and realized that washes should go first before the chipping...

So I shifted gears and began the wash. But first I had to prepare my materials. Bought oil based paint from the craft store. This contains all the colors I would ever need and then some.



For thinner I bought this. Basically (from doing my research ) there are 2 types of thinners for oil based paints. Turpentine, derived from tree resin and mineral or white spirits derived from synthetic sources as a substitute. They should both behave the same. Mine was the mineral spirit variety.


Again, just because you read oil based paints and thinners are safe to use on top of acrylic paints doesn't mean you should apply it on your tank from the get go. I tested the thinner and oil paint on some plastic sheets that I have painted on with acrylic. When there was no reaction, only then did I use it on the tank.

What are washes for? Well it accentuates panel lines and other features on flat surfaces so that it stands out and gives it a more 3 dimensional look.

With that, I chose Burnt umber for my wash.


Then dissolve a bit of the oil paint using roughly 9 to 1 ratio. (9 parts thinner to 1 part oil paint). Again, since oil paint is very lumpy and thick, measuring this is very hard to do so you may have to do some guesswork on this and start thinning the paint based on how it behaves when you apply it. (ie. it should flow readily upon application purely on breaking of surface tension and capillary action alone.)


Here you can see the difference with adding a bit of the wash.


At this point you have to let the wash dry, and then you can start cleaning the excess wash. I will show how to do this on my next post...

I have to admit that this stage of the build (applying weathering effects) is the most gratifying for me. For the first time, I am enjoying the build and not looking at it as a chore. This is because I can now directly see and appreciate some of the subtle effects I am adding to the overall look of the panther.

I am certainly in no hurry to finish this phase as I find the work strangely relaxing.

[PainlessWolf]

Good Morning, Jeff,
Thank you for the excellent painting tips! I was examining the photo of the Panther and I noticed that the rear schurzen plate has a curve on it to match the front plate. It is hard to see but what appears to be the upper tip of a slanted rear plate is actually the hull under the spare track hanging there. I know that you value detail and authenticity on your incredible Panther build, my friend. Since other photos of Panthers have this slanted rear plate feature, it definitely belongs on yours. ;o) Lends such a massive war machine an almost jaunty appearance.
regards,
Painless

[jeff1101]

Ha Ha Good eye, Painless. Yes you are correct, the cut angle in the picture for the rear skirt is an optical illusion. What looks like the rear skirt is actually the angle for the side armour plate of the panther.

Anyway, The look of the cut on the rear side skirt has grown on me so I think I will keep them that way. It kinda looks better this way rather than having the rear skirt cut look the same as the front skirt. We'll just chalk it up to variations in the field connversions and not tell anyone...