Another Monogram Panther
Tom's fine looking Panther and great story inspired me to dig up a few pics of my modest effort. An older build that finally made it out to the airport. This is the 1/48 Panther, painted with MM gloss dark blue. I would've liked to take more pics but I was afraid the gusty wind might take her airborne any minute. This kit has a lot of nice detail, especially the cockpit. The framing on the windscreen was way too big so I sanded it all off and masked it with tape to get the more correct size frame. I read about the canopy frame issue in FSM years ago. I was really hesitant to sand them off but I jumped in and gave it a try. Believe me, I was worried that it would never look right again. But my ol' dad used to say, "Even a blind hog finds an acorn now and then." Whew, a lot of polishing saved the day!
It's been a long time since the kit was built, but I don't recall any particular fit issues. I approached the canopy frame issue with great trepidation, but it turned out okay. As I said earlier, the cockpit has some nice detail and features, but one does find that in many Monogram kits of this vintage. I am going to replace the cannon barrels with hypodermic tubing as one of the kit barrels has fallen back into the fuselage since these pics were made. The metal parts will look better anyway. The decals are a mix of aftermarket and kit markings. Please excuse the crooked canopy in one of the overhead shots. I left it unattached so I could pose it either opened or closed and I didn't notice that it was askew before I took the pic. Thanks for checking out my Panther.
