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Gary Brantley
44 articles

Two Tanks

December 7, 2012 · in Armor · · 12 · 7.6K

Here are a few pics of my only armor models. One is the Panther Pzkpfw. V Ausf. A and the other is the M24 Chaffee light tank. Both are scale. These are the only two I've built so far and I think they are easier than aircraft. The nature of the beast allows one to hide glitches easier and there aren't any damned canopies to deal with.

These pics were made out at my farm a few years ago. Please excuse my crude attempt to create a cool diorama base for them. I threw the base together in about 10 minutes or so, and it was really just an experiment I guess. I did manage to get a few photos that weren't too bad. After I had taken about 5 pics the damned battery played out on the camera and I left the card table and base in the pasture and drove back to town to recharge. When I returned a couple hours later, some calves had over-turned the table and messed it up and I had to start over, lol.

I did add a few scratch-built details such as the Schurzen plates and mounting hangers on the Panther, jack block on the Panther, the tarps on both tanks, tow cables on both and a fire extinguisher on the Panther. I added engine deck screens on the Panther and drilled out the exhausts as well as adding a bit of battle damage here and there.

Please excuse my very amateurish paint work on the Panther's figures. I debated about adding them or not and probably should have left them off. They do lend a bit of scale to the tank though. So, please just "squint" a bit when viewing them. 🙂
Gary

Reader reactions:
4  Awesome

12 additional images. Click to enlarge.


12 responses

  1. You should delve into armor more often...those are great pieces! A big "thumbs up" on those. Nice pics, too.

  2. Thank you Craig! Much appreciated.

  3. Really nice, very realistic work on the models and good presentation in the pictures. Having done some armor myself as an airplane modeler, I agree with you that it can be "easier." In fact I have had some championship AFV modelers tell me they wouldn't touch an airplane, with all that area where the paint has to be "perfect." Doing armor is a good break from being in a rut with airplanes.

  4. great job on both mate. class work

  5. Gary,

    I love your Panther ad the effort you put into the excellent photos! I'm still not brave or talented enough
    to depict appropriately bent and missing panels and other physical battle damage. But your build
    shows how that adds to realism and interest in such efforts. Thank you for leading others to take this
    next step! Cheers

  6. @jagmkx, Clarence, thanks for the kind comments! I enjoyed building those tanks and have a few more in my model stash. It's about time to tackle another one! And, you're quite welcome too. ?

  7. Nice work, Gary. I enjoyed looking at your photos, love the outdoor scenery, and your armor paint work & detail is awesome!

    • @jroamer, Thanks a million Joe! Man, what a nice comment to wake up to! 😀 I'm pretty close to finishing my third tank model and will, of course, publish an article on it as soon as I can. I really appreciate your comment Joe! 🍻

  8. Great looking armor builds!

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