1/35 Tamiya Panther Type G- My First Armor Build

[slusher]

Definitely going to be a great build!

[mustang1989]

On 7/11/2025 at 4:34 AM, STU111 said:

G’day Joe. Coming together well, that camo is looking good. The Germans had some interesting schemes on their tanks and planes. 

 

On 7/15/2025 at 6:00 AM, Mattilacken said:

Looking super! Nice cammo work mate! 

Thanks for the comments Stuart and Anton! Not catching as much benchtime as I would like but we're getting through this one a part at a time. 

 

 

[mustang1989]

On 7/15/2025 at 6:33 AM, slusher said:

Definitely going to be a great build!

Thanks Carl and it's great to have you along as well brother. 

 

[mustang1989]

Alright fellas. Been a bit since the last update as bench time has NOT been at a premium for me as of late. Our son is leaving for the military the next month or so and we've been spending a LOT of time with him.

BUT.....every now and then I get some good bench time and I did just that on Friday. I managed to get the rubber painted on the L/H side road wheels, install some hooks on the side of the turret for hanging things like water bottles, gear and camo netting, applied a pin wash over the details, installed all of the hand holds & handles and applied a dark wash using burnt umber & black oils mixed over the sides and lower sides of the hull.

Up next will be the chipping effects using different colors.

As it was on the last update to recap.....

and how it is now.....

[STU111]

G’day Joe. I built a Tiger a few years back and I painted the rubber sections on the wheels by hand, very time consuming. Things are coming along nicely with this build. 👍🏻

[slusher]

20 hours ago, mustang1989 said:

Alright fellas. Been a bit since the last update as bench time has NOT been at a premium for me as of late. Our son is leaving for the military the next month or so and we've been spending a LOT of time with him.

BUT.....every now and then I get some good bench time and I did just that on Friday. I managed to get the rubber painted on the L/H side road wheels, install some hooks on the side of the turret for hanging things like water bottles, gear and camo netting, applied a pin wash over the details, installed all of the hand holds & handles and applied a dark wash using burnt umber & black oils mixed over the sides and lower sides of the hull.

Up next will be the chipping effects using different colors.

As it was on the last update to recap.....

and how it is now.....

Fantastic work Joe!

[mustang1989]

On 7/23/2025 at 5:00 AM, STU111 said:

G’day Joe. I built a Tiger a few years back and I painted the rubber sections on the wheels by hand, very time consuming. Things are coming along nicely with this build. 👍🏻

I did that on the L/H side road wheels and it was definitely a pain in the neck. 'Preciate the good word Stuart. 

On 7/23/2025 at 7:51 AM, slusher said:

Fantastic work Joe!

Thank you for your comments as well Carl. 

I've managed to get the light and darker chipping effects going on in the well-traveled areas of the tank turret and hull topsides. but think I will be toning them down a bit with some rust oxide in the middle of the lighter chipping. Next up will be some vertical streaking.....

[shoopdog]

Coming along quite well.

[SfanGoch]

Nice work! Just a suggestion, don't overdo the chipping. Most AFV's, including tanks, had a short life expectancy and weren't around long enough to exhibit any significant paint wear, especially on the turret. The camo pattern on your Panther is late war and were knocked out within days, or a few weeks at most, of being issued to the respective units.

[mustang1989]

On 8/8/2025 at 5:34 PM, shoopdog said:

Coming along quite well.

'Preciate it Keith. Still trudging along with this beast. 

On 8/9/2025 at 8:57 AM, SfanGoch said:

Nice work! Just a suggestion, don't overdo the chipping. Most AFV's, including tanks, had a short life expectancy and weren't around long enough to exhibit any significant paint wear, especially on the turret. The camo pattern on your Panther is late war and were knocked out within days, or a few weeks at most, of being issued to the respective units.

Thank you for that good bit of info Joe and right you are about them not being in combat too awful long. There were a lucky few that managed to get out of being blown to bits but those were far and few and in the right place at the right time.  I'm spending more time in the dirt and mud aspects than I am a lot of wear and tear. I may do a small amount of streaking but that's gonna be about it.

[mustang1989]

As a few of you know, I haven't been around just a whole lot over the last month or two as my wife and I had been spending a LOT of time with our son before he shipped out to the military last week. It's been fun with a lot of venues, out of town trips, going away parties and all kinds of other stuff but we all had a good time.

I am FINALLY back at the bench and have made some progress in the weathering department. After reading a book called Panzer Ace over the past month or so I found out that these things got stuck all the time at the end of the war with some of the less experienced crews so I depicted this one as just getting out of a muddy situation. Things like grit effects, weathering pastes and washes took center stage here.

[mustang1989]

I feel that I may have gone a little overboard with some of the mud around the lower sides of the hull but it's all a learning curve for me right now. I can break some of that up with the addition of a side skirt panel or two I think though.

I took it a slight bit easier at the back of the hull:

These Panzerwerk tracks are the frickin' BOMB!! A little time consuming but these are SO easy to put together that it's almost a dang crime.

Got one side done and have it tacked in place with a glued together road wheel assembly on the build. 82 links per side. I am VERY pleased with this:

[Mattilacken]

Looks epic! Tracks are a huge improvment over many kit parts!

[shoopdog]

Hey Joe, if it’s not too late could you post a pic of the track components before assembly.

Mud looks fine to me.

[STU111]

Those panzerwerk tracks Joe, what are they made of? They certainly look good and sit nicely. Looking good. 👍🏻

[Codi]

Joe, the tracks really bring the detail to life on the model.  Can't wait to see them weathered as well but again, great choice and addition to your efforts here.  cheers, tim

[LDO]

Nice work. I really like that camo scheme. I want to do a Jagdpanther like that one of these days. 

[mustang1989]

On 9/16/2025 at 5:38 AM, Mattilacken said:

Looks epic! Tracks are a huge improvment over many kit parts!

Thanks Anton!! Glad you on board man. 

On 9/20/2025 at 6:00 PM, shoopdog said:

Hey Joe, if it’s not too late could you post a pic of the track components before assembly.

Mud looks fine to me.

I sure can Keith. Gimme a day or so and I'll get 'em posted up for you. Thanks for the comments fella. 

On 9/21/2025 at 9:23 AM, STU111 said:

Those panzerwerk tracks Joe, what are they made of? They certainly look good and sit nicely. Looking good. 👍🏻

They are 3D printed resin and they are easy as pie to assemble. Not one bit of clean up required. The instructions mentioned running a small drill bit through the hinge holes but I didn't have to do that. 

On 9/21/2025 at 1:59 PM, Codi said:

Joe, the tracks really bring the detail to life on the model.  Can't wait to see them weathered as well but again, great choice and addition to your efforts here.  cheers, tim

Thanks a lot for the comments Tim. I'll post up a picture of them painted up and weathered soon. 

19 hours ago, LDO said:

Nice work. I really like that camo scheme. I want to do a Jagdpanther like that one of these days. 

Thanks Lee. When I was first contemplating this scheme, it was pretty daunting but after laying out the process and looking at it a lot more closely I felt fairly confident that I could pull it off. You'll have to post up a thread on it when you get to that point and if you've got any questions, fire away bud. 

Edited Tuesday at 01:31 PM by mustang1989