Primed and ready!
The Panther project continues, started with a good coat of Tamiya fine grey primer, followed by the yellow then the Daimler Benz late war factory scheme. One of the harder schemes I have done, but as always a bit of the brew kept things moving!
OMG...! Now THAT paint job is gonna jump out at anybody lookin' at your display case! π
Perhaps you better cut back on the inspirational beverages while painting - lol
Boy, that is vivid! But I like it a lot! See that coming at you, you might be momentarily nonplussed, or something. Right up to hearing things whiz past you with ill intent.
It will be much more subdued after weathering. Years ago on Missing Lynx James Blackwell did an article on painting german schemes, it is still on the ML site and worth a read if you ever build german armor. It definitely is "AHH MY EYES!" at first, but after post shading, pin washes, an overall lightening coat done by misting very very thin tan coats over the whole model, and at the end pastels it will look much more realistic. As to the pattern itself, by late 1944 most german armor began to be painted in standard patterns at the factory rather than at the unit level. For Panthers the three factories MNH, MAN and Daimler Benz all had unique patterns as well as position of the national insignia. There was some slight variation of the schemes at each factory with Panthers, unlike the Tiger II which was very standardized. Also the MAN and Daimler Benz schemes can be very similar, and often the best way to tell which of those two factories built the particular cat in question is position of the national insignia cross. MAN put the cross on the hull front forward of the tool racks, DB was center hull. The pattern I chose is based on photographs of DB Panthers seen at collection points after the war, in particular ones seen in Czechoslovakia.
Rob, I (being a plane guy) had no idea. Learned something today, and thanks for the referall, in case I ever build a Panther. I do like the look of those, always have
In another life, I built the Aurora Panther.
I remember building the Aurora Panther. I also built their Tiger I, MBT 70 and Sherman! Another note should be added to my rather lengthy post above, Panthers had 2 sizes of idler wheels (the smaller rearmost wheel in the running gear) a "small" non self cleaning idler and a slightly larger one that was fitted to late Panthers, designed to clean mud snow and ice off thus preventing the tank from shedding its tracks. DB Panthers retained the earlier small idler throughout the war, DB never switching to the later self cleaning type. Also DB Panthers had a unique factory installed bracket to hold a spare wheel on the turret. LASTLY Germany switched to a green base coat for many tanks late in the war, some as early as December of 44, but it would appear that DB never switched and kept dunklegelb as their base color right up until the end. Ok I'm done now!
There seams to be some dunkelgelb obsession at Daimler.
The colour of today's German Taxis is quite close to dunkelgelb and 90% of them are Mercedes. π
Extremely interesting information, Rob. Keep it coming please ...
I've been watching your build of this large scale tank, and your beer consumption, with interest, Rob, thanks again for this update and the interesting information.
Hurry up Rob! I think you should call in sick tomorrow. Then you would have a whole day to do more. I am loving your progress on this build, very nice.
This is kind of the way I paint armor also so I really can't wait for the final lite
over spray and weathering.
California Steve
LOL Steve, got a ways to go yet. Biggest obstacle may be that "Blacken it" a product I was counting on to do the tracks is no longer made! I am looking into gun blueing as an alternative, and an india ink isopropyl alcohol home remedy I read about, that and lots of bits and bobs to be detail painted. I am as anxious as you are to be done as my wife got me the AFV Club Tiger I which will be my next build and I am itching to start that one. I will do a zimmerit tutorial on that one, if anyone is interested, epoxy putty, talcum powder and a rolling pin π
Now a zimmerit tutorial would be very cool. Looking forward to more progress.
California Steve
Tanks and beer, epic !
Looks great !
A great combination .
Beer with anything.
In moderation that is .
Don't know which I like best, the beer or the tank. For the camo do you mask or just free hand?
I free hand Tom, I use a Paasche Talon airbrush and the good old Testors small square bottles custom mixed. I like the small Testors a lot, but I think they are not quite up to the task of such an intricate scheme, too hard to get thinned just right for a tight spray pattern at a low PSI. I had to do a lot of touch up spraying.
Interesting paint job, how do the long necks fit into the tank's building progress?
Ha! Depends on how many I have! Usually once I start feeling fuzzy I know its time to stop for the night and head upstairs to watch TV with the wife π
"Arrogant Bastard" because "you're not good enough!" Very popular here in California now that Trader Joe's is carrying it for $1.50 less than the major markets (on sale). 7.5%, a man's ale.
Oh yeah, the tank's not bad either.
π