Here’s what happened last night at the “Iron Werke”.
I found these pictures on a website where a fellow Panther enthusiast was building his version of the Cologne tank. It shows the water can and where it was located on the side of the turret.
The second picture shows a similar shape water can. This gave me a good idea of how big it was and how it was shaped.
Now it was time for me to try and scratch build one.
Here’s a few pictures showing how it was done. I used some .010 inch thick plastic sheet and rolled it up around a paint brush handle that was tapered to the correct shape.
The plastic was really thin and it was very hard to glue together because the glue would melt the plastic if I applied too much. I discovered that the hard way.
What you see here is the second attempt. The first one failed horribly.
I painted the water can with a light gray color to resemble how Galvanized finishes look after exposure a while to the elements.
I made the spout with stretched plastic sprue from a leftover tree that contained the parts for the Pershing. The actual water sprinkler part was made from the end of a parts tree and shaped into what looks similar to the one in the picture.
Using the pictures as a reference, I glued the water can in place on the turret. It fit very nicely but I think I got the angle it was mounted off just a little. It should have been rotated a little bit more counter clockwise in order to match it perfectly.
I was going to attempt to remove the water can and reposition it correctly, but I was worried that it might shatter if I tried. So I’m going to live with it as is.
There’s a small crease in the can under the handle, but I left it as is because it makes it look more realistic.
The water can fit perfectly in the position and this was mounted on the spare track center guides and the welded on track hanger blocks.
These pictures show how the Panther looks now that it is completed.
I think it will look better in the article when it is photographed then.
Then it was time to switch gears and start working on the Pershing.
I was in the zone and I didn’t get any pictures of how I made the brackets that held up the C ration boxes. First thing that I did was to bend a plastic square shaped strip into the correct shape and size. I used a plastic strip that measures .020 X .010. Once it was glued in place, I removed the C ration boxes from the turret so I could paint them and not get paint on the boxes.
You can see the results in the pictures.
Then it was time to build the radio antenna. Here I used a plastic tree from an American armor kit and heated it. It was stretched out until it was the appropriate size and thickness.
Next I used some small string and I pulled it apart. This gave me four smaller diameter pieces that were about the same diameter as the rope that held the antenna down as is visible in the pictures of the Pershing.
The final part was to add a little strip of tissue paper to represent the improvised warning that the crew had tied to the rope.
Next I tied the rope off on the turret lifting ring, but it was too long. The angle was wrong and the antenna was too high.
So I had to remove the rope shorten the rope a little.
The last thing I needed to do was bend the antenna itself a little bit and make it look like it was almost parallel with the ground.
I was very pleased with how it looked when done.
Here you can see the difference.
The final result is almost spot on to what we see in the pictures.
Here’s a look at the tank from the same angle as one of the screenshots I took from the original Army film.
It is looking very close to what we see in the original Army footage.
I still have to paint the tail lights and the headlights.
Scratch build the boxes and then install them on top of the front fenders.
Then the Pershing will be done too.
As always comments are encouraged.
Thanks for following along and hopefully I will get this done tonight.
Then it will be in the headlines on March 6th.
Take care everyone.
