Tamiya Sd.Kfz.171 Panther Ausf. G Late

[Tim Coulson]

Tamiya Sd.Kfz. 171 Panther Ausf. G Late with extras.



Aber Etch & Barrel



Friulmodel Idler Wheels & SKP Model Individual Resin Track Links



Tamiya Engine Set

[Tim Coulson]

The sprues.


2x




1x Individual track links with solid guide horns

[Jamie Tainton]

Look forward to your progress reports

[Tim Coulson]

Dry fit of engine components. I still need to clean up some of the parts.





Comparing the engine to the original plans (its amazing what you can find on the Internet) at the bottom of this page, http://www.panzerbasics.com/index_files ... awings.htm it matches up well but the engine block seems to be too short. I will convert the plan dimensions into 1/35 to check it more accurately.

The two links below show the radiator pipes and engine bay of the Panther. The larger diameter section of the kit radiator pipework (top of photo, next to the T junction) needs to be removed. This part is present on the Tiger engine (see last link) which can also be built using this kit. It would have been nice if Tamiya had included radiator pipework for each engine and separate carburettors.

http://bp3.blogger.com/_CbwnjooteyI/R2T ... an+109.jpg

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h ... 99&bih=859

Tiger Engine
http://img6.imageshack.us/f/maybachhl210p30.jpg/

Check out these videos of the restoration of a Maybach HL230 P30 engine for the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation Panther.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MlR1yC6rgk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU2SDHha ... re=related

Tim

[Jamie Tainton]

Nice posting, I like your style lots of extra info that helps educate the viewer rather than just snaps of a finished model. Keep it up!

[Tim Coulson]

Thanks Jamie.

[Tim Coulson]

Thought I would check out the SKP tracks.

Each link needs a bit of clean up and then they can be clicked together.



Fully workable section

[Roy Schlicht]

You know for its age this is still a pretty nice kit (can you believe that it is nearly 20 yrs old). With all the additions it can be a winner. The SKP tracks look pretty nice. How is the progress with this build?

Roy

[Tim Coulson]

Hi Roy,

I'm concentrating on the R/C build at the moment, so I don't think that I will be making progress on this one for a little while.

Yes, it is still a nice kit for its age and it builds straight from the box into a good model, as the overall shape and size matches up well to the Panzer Tracts plans. It's the smaller details that let it down, mostly with undersized parts. With some scratch building and aftermarket parts it can be greatly improved. Of course the newer Dragon kit is even better but it should be due to the improved mold technology, research etc.

The SKP tracks are nice but are let down a little by having hexagonal instead of round track pin heads. But for the price, half of the Friul tracks they are very good, workable, hollow guide horn tracks.

My mini review that I did here on AW for a member who wanted to know more about them.

"Each link needs a little cleanup of resin flash. The links are nicely detailed and match the shape of the real track, but they don't have the cast numbers that the Friul & WW2 Productions tracks have. The only faults that I can see with the SKP tracks are that they don't appear to be "handed", the guide horns are straight on the inside edge instead of at a slight angle and that the track pins are hexagonal instead of round, but these are not that noticable and you can improve them by carefully filing. They do look nice and are fully workable. For cheap replacement hollow guide horn tracks, they are very good. Half the price of Friul tracks."

See also Terry's review on PMMS if you haven't already seen it. http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/r ... kp102.html

Tim

[John Mohnen]

Great start Tim, special with the extra detail and links you provided. Look forward to posting in the future. The tracks look good.