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

[josebagasteiz]

An important progress for your Panther and for you. The interior is already beginning to be full. I'm still far from that situation, I just finished with the engine compartment.

[LSP_K2]

On 12/26/2021 at 10:11 PM, Juggernut said:

Thanks Tom.  I’m persevering on this one.  I can’t let it fall onto the shelf if doom…it would never get done.

 

I'm feeling that way about my Jagdtiger; I have no idea when I'll resume work on it.

[N.H.71]

Hi Juggernut,

that looks fantastic!!!

 

For details on radio equipment and connections following link may help although on German language.

 

http://panther1944.de/index.php/de/sdkfz-171-pzkpfwg-panther/technik/funkausstattung

 

Best regards,

Nils

[Juggernut]

3 hours ago, N.H.71 said:

Hi Juggernut,

that looks fantastic!!!

 

For details on radio equipment and connections following link may help although on German language.

 

http://panther1944.de/index.php/de/sdkfz-171-pzkpfwg-panther/technik/funkausstattung

 

Best regards,

Nils

 

Awesome, Thanks!  Just what I needed.  There's also an English translation button in the upper right corner of the webpage so I clicked on that and a lot of it was translated into English.

[Juggernut]

14 hours ago, josebagasteiz said:

An important progress for your Panther and for you. The interior is already beginning to be full. I'm still far from that situation, I just finished with the engine compartment.

 

Thanks Jose.  Looking forward to seeing what you did with the engine compartment when you post some photos.

[Juggernut]

5 hours ago, LSP_K2 said:

 

I'm feeling that way about my Jagdtiger; I have no idea when I'll resume work on it.

 

Yeah, I've decided that I'm going to finish this thing if it kills me, before I even look at anything else....  LOL, I'm constantly looking at the "next" project but what that'll be I cannot say; I can say that it WON'T be another 1/16 scale vehicle...I need a break from the AMS trap I'm in.

[josebagasteiz]

11 hours ago, Juggernut said:

 

Gracias Jose. Espero ver lo que hizo con el compartimiento del motor cuando publique algunas fotos.

 

I'm adding the last details of the engine compartment. Soon I will upload new photos. ☺️

[Juggernut]

More progress this evening.... Boy, since I'm off this week, I seem to be getting things done on this vehicle.

 

I wasn't happy with the status of the coolant torch so I embellished it a little more to represent what it actually looked like.  The second photo is kind of dark and crappy.  Don't know why the flash worked on one shot but not the next one....

 

 

 

Here's the steering apparatus (for lack of a better, more correct term) before primer and paint.  Note to those who may be building this kit:  The rod across the vehicle with the steering brake handles does not fit well between the two end hydraulic assemblies.  I ended up having to remove the locating circles at either end of the rod so it would fit between the hydraulic ends and not bow up in the middle.  Test fit yours as I may have made errors.

 

 

 

 

 

And with some paint on the pieces:

 

 

 

 

 

Tracks are assembled and primed.  I'm onto the final stages of the hull assembly; I think I can see a pinlight at the end of this Panther tank tunnel.  I am enjoying it but this has been taxing my skills and my brain (and fingers) need a break.  Next up:  Ammunition rack storage securing bands and clips.

 

Edited January 1, 2022 by Juggernut

[CShanne]

Looking great Tim!

[Juggernut]

12 minutes ago, CShanne said:

Looking great Tim!

Hi Chris,

 

Thanks for the compliment.  Hope your holidays were good.  

[Uncarina]

Very impressive work! And congratulations on getting through those tracks.

 

Cheers,  Tom

[Juggernut]

12 minutes ago, Uncarina said:

Very impressive work! And congratulations on getting through those tracks.

 

Cheers,  Tom

 

Thanks Tom, I appreciate the encouragement.  I was going full-tilt at this kit during the first half of last week then I petered out....  I'll get back to it in a day or two while I figure out how to fabricate those ammo securing clips for the pannier storage.

[josebagasteiz]

On 30/12/2021 at 7:02, Juggernut said:

Más progreso esta noche ... Vaya, ya que salgo esta semana, parece que estoy haciendo cosas en este vehículo.

 

No estaba contento con el estado del soplete de refrigerante, así que lo embellecí un poco más para representar cómo se veía realmente. La segunda foto es un poco oscura y asquerosa. No sé por qué el flash funcionó en una toma pero no en la siguiente ...

 

 

 

Aquí está el aparato de dirección (a falta de un término mejor y más correcto) antes de la imprimación y la pintura. Nota para quienes puedan estar construyendo este kit: La varilla a través del vehículo con las manijas del freno de dirección no encaja bien entre los dos conjuntos hidráulicos de los extremos. Terminé teniendo que quitar los círculos de ubicación en cada extremo de la varilla para que encajara entre los extremos hidráulicos y no se arqueara en el medio. Pruebe el suyo, ya que puedo haber cometido errores.

 

 

 

 

 

Y con un poco de pintura en las piezas:

 

 

 

 

 

Las pistas están ensambladas y preparadas. Estoy en las etapas finales del ensamblaje del casco; Creo que puedo ver un semáforo al final de este túnel de tanques Panther. Lo estoy disfrutando, pero esto ha puesto a prueba mis habilidades y mi cerebro (y mis dedos) necesitan un descanso. A continuación: almacenamiento en bastidor de municiones que sujeta bandas y clips.

 

 

What envy!! All projectiles sanded and painted, how lazy I am to get to it!! 

 

By the way, where did you get the additional projectile decals?? 

[Juggernut]

7 minutes ago, josebagasteiz said:

 

What envy!! All projectiles sanded and painted, how lazy I am to get to it!! 

 

By the way, where did you get the additional projectile decals?? 

 

Hi Jose, if you're referring to the "FES" decals, those came in my kit.  I made the other decals using my Alps printer.  They didn't come out as good as I wanted them to but I suppose they're passable.

Edited January 5, 2022 by Juggernut

[Juggernut]

Sigh...lousy photos again.  I think I need to take a class on how to friggen take pictures where the depth of field is a little more than just the object in the foreground.  A little more progress this weekend... actually it's taken me quite awhile to get this far.   First up, the drivers instrument panel and switch box.  I modified this extensively from what Trumpeter provides based on photographs in the M.A.N Factory book I have that shows  the inside of a steel-wheeled Panther.  The speedometer and tachometer were made from decals I created using my ALPS printer as the Trumpeter ones were nowhere near correct.  I found out after the fact that the red outer color on the one instrument is actually a light grey color.  Oh well, it's tough to find good color shots of this area....  The decals on the power box were also custom made and they should actually be yellow with red text...again, 20/20 hindsight as I didn't find out until after I printed them.  Thepower conduit cable is an old 0.039" wire wound,guitar E string that I've saved for decades as I thought I'd find a use for it at some point.  It's a little stiffer than I would've liked but it looks the part.

 

 

Below is a shot of the radio racks in progress.  They're almost complete save for some retouching I need to do to make them more presentable.  The yellow lines were hand painted and I'm not at all happy with the way they turned out so I'll over paint them with the dark grey and look around for some yellow decal stripes that I can use.  I made the radio frequency (guess as to what they are but seems logical) scales using the Alps printer again.  Trumpeter did fairly well with the radio boxes but the racks themselves were a photo-etch nightmare so I chucked them and built new ones from styrene structural shapes.  There is one piece of radio equipment that Trumpeter does not provide and that's the intercom box which attaches to the aft side of the radio rack supports (not shown).  I'll have to scratch build that but it's a relatively easy task.  The wires from the power units on the right sponson will connect to the medium grey connectors I scratch built (lower right corner of each of the three radios).

 

These radios normally hang from roof supports at the front and rear of the racks, the rear mount is on the transmission cover.  In order to have the transmission cover removable, I need to engineer a way to mount the rear end to the transmission or leave it hanging.   There is an L bracket on the transmission cover that the rear support attaches to but I'm thinking I may be able to cement the rack only at the front location (on the glacis) and leave the rear support free, leaving the cover removable...we'll see.  I still need to create throat mikes, headsets (Trumpeter provides two that I know of) and the wires to connect them to the ICS box and radios.

 

Update: I decided that after I scratch build the ICS box, I'm going to strip all the paint off the radios and racks  and repaint the entire lot.  I'm so not happy with the way they look now.  I thought I'd be able to stomach them but I just can't.

 

 

 

That's all for now... Next up:  The Kugelblende 100 (aka the hull machine gun).

Edited February 22, 2022 by Juggernut