Sd.Kfz 171 Panther G Late Colour Schemes

[Tim Coulson]

No problem Laurent. Thanks for trying.

Thanks for the info. I will be painting the static Panther as "301" & my Remote Control Panther as "302".

Was "302" likely to be in three colour camo or only in two? It's not easy to tell from the photo.

Tim

[Laurent Moitrot]

As I said, there's no problem identifying it. It is three tone but with "stripes". Not exactly the later striped pattern seen on some Panthers and Jagdpanthers but almost ...

This is tne "factory pattern" :



And this is the one seen on "302" :



Of course if you want to be as accurate as possible you want to check out for clear pics of the front plate as they show more or less a standardized pattern in each case.

also if looking for "details" don't overlook the rear stowage box specially the left one as you'll have to add the tail light cable armored cover, the Tamiya boxes cry for improvement. ...

[Tim Coulson]

Thank you Laurent.

Very helpful.

Tim

[Tim Coulson]

Hi Laurent, I've come across this build on Planet Armor.

http://planetarmor.com/forums/showpost. ... tcount=187

http://planetarmor.com/forums/showpost. ... tcount=239

I can't see that the roof plate is higher in the photos in the link below or in the photos that you posted.

http://jtrowbridge5.smugmug.com/PANTHER ... 0848_abkqX

I think that the top of the glacis plate is ever so slightly higher than the hull roof. See below.

gallery/image_page.php?album_id=15&image_id=672

http://planetarmor.com/forums/showpost. ... tcount=261

I've got the Panzer Tracts 5-3 book on the Panther G in the post at the moment, to help with the detailing.

I've filed down the glacis plate on my RC kit, using your photos as a guide. Unfortunately I haven't been able to photograph my progress, as I have had a cold since New Year's Eve.

I'm feeling a bit better now and I hope to make some progress over the next couple of days.

Tim

[Tim Coulson]

Just found this quote, from the Missing Lynx Axis Forum, by Darren Gawle

"the section of armoured roof plate just aft of the glacis needs a piece of 0.25mm styrene sheet laminated to it, rather than shaving the top of the glacis down"

Tim

[Laurent Moitrot]

As I said, you not only have to sand the glacis down to the roof level but, as I did, add apiece of styrene, L shapes, in order to re create the front plate angle. Do you see what I mean ?
Then as did Larry Bates re work on the foremost part of the roof.
once it is sanded :


You have to re create the "seam" between the gmacis and roof and then re create the angle of the front plate/
You can see the L shaped part in white here :




Here's the result. The top of the front plate is slightly higher than the roof but reduced to scale this is on ly half a millimeter (more or less).



Here's a (not scale) drawing I hope it'll explain what I'm trying to say.


on real tanks, this difference in height is not always the same. Small variations exist for example between the bovington panther (as seen on Dennis' pics) and the saumur one.

ps : when I say "slightly higher" here's what I mean :



On real German tanks variations +/- 1 cm in armor plates dimensions are considered "ok" by the inspectors.

[Tim Coulson]

Thanks again for your help, Laurent.

By filing down the glacis plate, I was able to keep the angle.

I am working on filling in the gap and making new weld seams.

I will post photos as soon as I am able.

Tim

[Allan Williams]

Tim,
Sorry to interrupt your thread, I just noticed your message about the 37mm Flak 36. You've disabled your private messages so can't respond.
Email me at ssjpeiper@yahoo.com.
Cheers
Allan

[Tim Coulson]

Oops! No problem Alan, I forgot that I had disabled messages

Tim

[Darren Gawle]

Sorry to be Johnny-come-lately on this one - '301' looks like the "classic" MAN scheme; I'd have to say those specks on the camouflage pattern are debris of some kind. It would be just too much to hope for they'd be concrete evidence of actual paint chipping on a German tank, though.

'302' looks like an MNH build to me - the stripey camouflage pattern and balkankreuz on the turret point in that direction, anyway.

To respond to an earlier point Laurent made about my treatment of the upper glacis edge on my '002' build, I think it bears remembering that I began that build back in 2001 (!) so I've learned a few things since then. It actually sat around, finished, for two years before the article in AFV Modeller came out (!!) Since DML's Panthers have hit the market, in my opinion, Tamiya's Panthers are just a mess. Anyway, I didn't correct the upper glacis at the time either because when I began the build I didn't know about that detail, or I was too afraid to try and fix it. I've since arrived at the same conclusion Laurent did about re-building the upper edge of the glacis with styrene. Funny thing is, regarding the periscope plate sitting higher than the rest of the hull roof, DML includes this detail in the upper hull for their "Ersatz M-10" kit, but in order to use it on a normal Panther you'll have to perform some surgery as the rear part of the side plates are cut off so that the styrene fake rear hull plate will fit.

DG