Another Trumpeter 1/16 Panther G Build - Steel Wheel - ONE MORE CORRECTION...DAMN TRACKS.

[Juggernut]

On 7/7/2021 at 6:48 PM, LSP_K2 said:

The bottom line (for me) is the ability to do the rubber rimmed road wheel version, but with the square chin mantlet; easy enough to scratch that particular detail, so I'm good.

 

Well, depending on how accurate you want to be, you'll also need the crew heater (radiator fan) on the left side of the engine deck.  Since you don't appear to be adding interior details (based solely on your Jagdtiger build), this shouldn't be a huge issue and just swapping out the parts will most likely suffice.  Of course, you'll need to source one of those (I believe I can help with that when the time comes - I have two of them).  You may also need the larger diameter idler wheels depending on the make of your chosen vehicle (MAN, MNH, or Diamler Benz).  I'm sure you're nowhere near ready to embark on this venture but when the time comes, this thread should still be around.

[LSP_K2]

It's a nice offer, and I appreciate it. When the time comes, I'll certainly keep you in mind. Thanks.

[mustang1989]

Been missing out on this one. Gonna get caught up on this marvelous build today.

[Maybach_man]

Chin Mantlet was introduced in September 1944....( drg 021 B 50258. Lots of evidence of Rubber wheeled G's. I have a dimensioned sketch when you are ready

Edited July 27, 2021 by Maybach_man

[Juggernut]

Wow, I've been neglecting to post (and actually work this model) since the end of July...here it is the beginning of September and I just took some photos while working on some "missing pieces" of the tank that I had to er, um, "scratch build".  You'll discover why I put the term scratch build in quotes when you see the parts.  OK, first up; the Trumpeter 1/16 Panther kits (both of them) come with a lot of interior details but having said that,  there's some things that they missed that need to be included.  The textured flooring around the driver's seat and also in front of the radio operator's seat had to be made from scratch as they're not provided in the kit.  Toward that end, I needed some uniquely designed treadplate.  The crew flooring is raised dots (for lack of a better or correct term) rather than the normal criss-cross hatch found in other vehicles.  I'm not sure if it's in any other German AFV's but it's definitely in this one.  SO!  Not finding any such designed treadplate commercially  (in any scale), I resigned myself to two possible methods of scratchbuilding; one - cut styrene flooring and use Archer's resin rivets to replicate the raised dots...  I tried it...WAY TOO COMPLICATED to get those resin details to lay down in such close proximity to each other.  Alright, that left me with one method - 3D printing.  So, I took a crash course in Fusion 360 and armed with that knowledge set out to design and print treadplate flooring for my Panther.  Below is the  result of about half a dozen print attempts and finding the best way to place the prints on the build plate and have them turn out with straight edges and 90 degree corners.   The lower left and right are the driver's side; the L shaped one fits around the seat pan and the one in front is in front of the seat pan.  The untextured portion is for a piece of angle styrene to be used as a foot rest for the accelerator pedal.  The one on the top goes in front of the radio operator's seat.  It took me about a week of fiddling around with Fusion 360 just to get these to a stage where I was ok with what I had done.  I tried staggering the raised dots but that was an exercise in futility with my limited knowledge of the software.

 

 

Here's a photo (a shitty one, I know) of these test fit in the chassis of the vehicle.  You'll note that the radio operator's floor does not fit very well; a mistake I made when designing the flooring.  I misread my notes and made it the same width as the wide portion of the drivers floor when it should have been the width of the minor width at the front.  Easy fix though with a #11 blade and a steel rule...scribe and snap... I discovered that 3D resin does not perform like styrene in that scribe and snap only works with small sections of the cut at a time.  No biggie, I just sanded the long edge flat after I was done trimming it to the proper width.  The flooring is only set it place so that's why the driver's floor along the side is showing the support brackets I installed on the seat support.

 

 

Next up, just as Jose is doing with his panther, I am at the point where I am going to need to install the fighting compartment flooring.  To do that, I need to terminate all the lubrication lines I put in (using 0.020-inch styrene rod).  I probably should've have used it as it's a chore to work with limited access but too late to back out now.  The termination points are at two points (fore and aft) of the mid-hull bulkheads (for lack of a better/correct term) and are composed of 12 lubrication fittings on each mount.  Trumpeter did something really weird here.  They provided all 12 for each installation on the BOTTOM of the part but only six on the top.  WHAT!?  OMG, how can you screw this up?  Oh well, after cussing them out for several minutes, I again resigned myself to the fact that more scratchbuilding was in order and proceeded to install 24 more lubrication fittings for the 4 x lubrication stations.  I haven't quite finished them yet but since they were relatively easy to scratch build, it's not a huge issue.  The below photo shows the Trumpeter provided fittings in grey and my added ones in white styrene.  I need to add one more concentric round on top and drill small holes in them so they match the Trumpeter ones.  Boy I wish I could really use this Nikon 3400 I have.... Auto mode really sucks at  giving me good depth of field and there's things that should be in focus that just aren't.  My apologies....

 

 

 

Last photo for this evening is the insanity of creating 85 75 mm shells in 1/16 scale.  Since a regular Panther G only held 82 rounds, I had three spares which I  turned into fired rounds.  There's two shades, brass and parkerized steel.  I used Alclad steel for a base on the parkerized shells and sprayed over that with Mr.Color steel which has a distinctly darker color.  I have decaled the stencil data onto the armor piercing rounds but the high explosive rounds have decals that go on both the case and the projectile so I have to gloss coat the projectile portion (I didn't have any gloss black available when I painted these).  Word of warning to anyone who may attempt this:  Do NOT put all the shells together in a plastic baggie after you paint them or spray a protective clear over them before doing so.  the Mr. Color brass and steel will rub off onto to the black of the projectile and will require  repainting.  Took me about 90 minutes to repaint all the projectiles by hand...really just a touchup but lesson learned.  You can judge how large these are by referencing the bottles of Tamiya Extra Thin cement behind them.  They're pretty big.  The Tiger II rounds are even larger!

 

 

 

 

Well, that's all I have for right now.  More to come as I progress through this project.  I hope it won't take three years (as Jose  was projecting his would take).  If I have to keep making parts though, it might.

[Uncarina]

You guys and your Panther builds: brilliant work going on in this relatively quiet part of the forum! Great catch and solutions to the missing details Tim. 

 

Cheers,  Tom

[LSP_Ray]

Looking good!

Is the raised dot non-slip plate the same pattern as used on Pz III fenders? 

[Juggernut]

1 hour ago, LSP_Ray said:

Looking good!

Is the raised dot non-slip plate the same pattern as used on Pz III fenders? 

Thanks.  I’m really not sure if it’s the same pattern as was used on the PzIII fenders, I never got that far in my search.

[Juggernut]

1 hour ago, Uncarina said:

You guys and your Panther builds: brilliant work going on in this relatively quiet part of the forum! Great catch and solutions to the missing details Tim. 

 

Cheers,  Tom

Thanks Tom.  I know of at least one more missing part that may get the 3D printing treatment, the exhaust fan duct from the spent shell holder in the turret basket to the fan housing on the turret roof.  It’s either hex or octagon shaped in cross-section.  

[Juggernut]

Ugh….I just discovered yesterday evening that the HE rounds had olive drab projectiles and not black.  I should’ve known better than to trust the Trumpeter instructions regarding the shell colors.   

 

Anyway, masking and respraying wasn’t real hard and was done in a few hours.  Now I just have to make all the missing decals that are on the HE projectiles and the bottoms of the cases that Trumpeter doesn’t give you… and there are a few.

Edited September 13, 2021 by Juggernut

[LSP_K2]

I do like your dedication, Jug.

[Juggernut]

38 minutes ago, LSP_K2 said:

I do like your dedication, Jug.

The devil is in the details my friend.  In this scale, you can see just about everything and stencils are legible with only slight magnification (with respect to the eyes of the viewer).

 

I’m also learning way more than I ever thought I’d need about German tank gun rounds and their markings.

Edited September 13, 2021 by Juggernut

[LSP_Ray]

1/16 German 75mm Round markings for PzIV & Panther.

[LSP_Ray]

You have probably seen this:

[LSP_K2]

1 hour ago, LSP_Ray said:

1/16 German 75mm Round markings for PzIV & Panther.

 

The same guy that built the big Jagdtiger (Parker?), is also doing some splendid 3D stuff for the big Panthers & Panzer IVs.