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Harm
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Meng Sd.Kfz.171 Panther Ausf. A Early 1/35 Wiking

January 27, 2025 · in Armor · · 18 · 148

My first build with winter camouflage finish.

After a friend of mine recommended the autobiographical novel “De Stamhouder” (“The lineage holder”) by Dutch writer Alexander Münninghoff, I decided to use it as inspiration for this project.

Münninghoff's father Frans/Franz is one of the main characters in the book. He was born on 19 July 1920 in Riga and sent from Latvia to the Catholic part of the Netherlands by his father in 1932 as a twelve-year-old boy. Franz despises his father's native country and feels like a German Latvian. He voluntarily joins the Waffen-SS to liberate Latvia from the Soviets and works his way up at the front to become a clever sergeant, who escapes death several times. Franz recieves the Iron Cross, with which his father, if necessary, makes a good impression on the German occupiers in The Netherlands. After the war until his death, he is unpredictable and fickle due to the PTSD he has suffered. He dies on 9 January 1990 in Bladel.

For this build I used the kit TS-046. It's a
Sd.Kfz 171 Panther Ausf. A early w/o Zimmerit in scale. The kit builds quite well, apart from the tracks (174 track-links composed of three parts each…). Meng provides an after market decal kit for the Zimmerit, which I used. The decals didn't always stick that well, but I understood that they often were somewhat messy back then, so it wasn't a problem for me in the end.

This was my first time winter camouflage. Quite exciting to spray over the carefully airbrushed camo with chipping fluid and white paint. But I'm very happy with the result. The SS-Wiking decals from Star Decals complete the whole. I'm quite content with the result.

Reader reactions:
13  Awesome

21 additional images. Click to enlarge.


18 responses

  1. Awesome. Love seeing the process and how it all comes together.

  2. That's some very nice paintwork. the worn winter camo looks particularly realistic.

  3. Excellent result, Harm!

  4. That winter camo is SO good. Nice work.

  5. This Panther in winter camo looks amazing, Harm @hptiggelaar
    You have clearly tackled this camouflage approach on the very first try, first time right so to say.
    Well done.

  6. Really well done. Outstanding paintwork.

  7. Superb result 👏👏👏👏👏👏

  8. Well done, Harm. Nice job on the camo

  9. This inspires me to try it. You did a great job.

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