Steve Jones Panther Ausf G Early Production Rye Field Model 1:35 (AAGB)

[Si Benson]

Morning comrade,
Your flying through this build! You’ll have it painted by the end of next week:smiling5:

Plenty of nice details so far...keep it coming

[Allen Dewire]

It doesn’t say where they were stored, but I would suspect in the rear hull bins.

They could also be stored in the field made bins over the air intakes or like this in the 1 Pz. Rgt.



Or you could just throw them in the back wherever you felt like it,

I noticed a couple of steel rollers in the kit pics. will you be adding these to station 8 or will it be an all rubber tired Kitty?

HI Rick,

Stevie is sleeping off the meds Matron gave him at this time. The steel wheels on station 8 were on some last Panther G's MAN built in March/April 1945 and not on early G's. The reason being material shortages so late in the war. On 10 April, the Americans captured the MAN complex in Nürnberg ending production...

Prost
Allen

[BattleshipBob]

I have seen a early G with out the mantlet chin but with all steel wheels and a retro fitted crew heater?

[Fernando N]

Nice one Steve and great idea with a whitewashed diskcamo worn down.
Neat start on the tracks and gun.
Will follow along like the rest:smiling:

[Allen Dewire]

Yes Bob,

MAN built all steel wheeled type Panthers in September 1944 (chassis #'s 121032 - 121055) and they could have had normal or raised crew heaters. They had no chin mantlet. Panther's with one set of steel wheels on the last station were Late/last G's, not to be confused with all steel wheel model G's.

[BattleshipBob]

Thanks Allen

The monster 1/16 panther i had for my birthday has steel wheels but a choice of mantlets plus the crew heater

[Mini Me]

I now remember reading about that. There was also a change to the rear idler. If I remember correctly they went to a larger diameter to help prevent clogging of the road wheels with mud debris, etc.
Cheers, mates

[papa 695]

Great start

[Guest]

If you were having trouble at the beging mate then there is no point in me even thinking about one of these. It would have end up being shot up.
You seem to have got the better of it by now.

[Steve Jones]

Hi Everyone

Great to have you along for the blog Scottie. I will be using the cleats. They are great :thumb2:
Its a joy doing an OOB build Bob. Just have to worry about putting it together really.:thumb2:
Not quite Pete. Still a way to go. Lovin the Minions:thumb2:
Top man Jakko. Many thanks
Great to see you here Rick and keeping JR in check. Allen has very kindly saved my brain from exploding and answered the steel rim question for you. There are some PE disc camo stencils out there but the ones I have chosen are actual masks you stick on and take off and reuse. Looking forward to seeing how they cope with the job in hand.
Hello Wouter. How are yer mate?? Chip in anytime if I am going wrong with the build
Your telling me Jim. I thought I was making good head way until I realised I had only completed 7 stages out of 30:smiling5:
I dont want to wish the build away Comrade Benson but I cant wait to get to the wet stuff
Your the DB's Allen. Thank you ever so much for the photos. I will definately be adding them on as an extra piece of detailing. Feeling good about this one. Cheers mate
Bob/Allen/Rick - Thanks for all the questions and answers. I really am learning a lot on this build as I hope you all are as well. Lovin this moggeling lark
I'm so glad you picked up on the paint scheme Fernando. I have not seen it done before on disc camo so I hope it looks the part once done
Thanks Ian:thumb2:
I must say John 90% of the kit is going together really well. However, there are a few curve balls you need to avoid. Getting lots of help from everyone. Feeling the luv from the forum:smiling5:

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[Steve Jones]

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[scottie3158]

Steve,
Coming on very nicely.

[Mini Me]

Steve, The foliage loops on the turret sides you were asking about were factory installed on very late panthers only...March/April production if memory serves correctly. Rick H.

[Allen Dewire]

Evening Stevie,

It looks like you are having fun with this build. Very nice work so far. The 5 loops were welded on the turret sides of late MAN panthers in 1945 and used to hold foliage and tree branches for camouflage.

Good idea on the spare track holders as they were welded on the turret roof sides. The 3 handles/loops on the roof were used to remove the turret for maintenance. Part A4 is the port for the Nahverteidigungswaffe (close defense weapon) a launcher for grenades of different types.

Good call Rick!!!

Prost
Allen

[stillp]

Now the cons of having to do a kit designed for two different versions of the same model is that you have to add and take things away from the kit. In this instance I have to fill two large and deep groves on top of the mantle gubbins.



Not happy with this as the filler over time will split and crack. The only thing in my favour is that only a small part of this is noticable once put together.

Coming along nicely Steve. Wouldn't it be better to glue some plastic card into those grooves then file/sand it down flush?
Pete