Exterior Construction Begins
After five months of working on the Panther we finally start to work on the
exterior of the hull. Because of all the engine compartment detail I wanted
to be able to show off this detail when the model was finished.
I decided to open up the engine compartment; this is not supported in the kit.
To get the skin of engine compartment cover I carefully cut the cover from the
hull skin. I then placed the hull skin on the partially finished hull (the top
plate was not glued in place) and traced the outline of the cover. Measuring
in 2 mm from the tracing, I cut the compartment top out of the hull top. The
2 mm lip is needed to support the engine cover on the finished model. We need
to save the part we cut out to use as the back of the hull cover.
Now
we glue the hull top in place and we get a surprise, as you can see the front
glacis plate did not completely mate up to the top of the hull and we have a
.75 mm gap. I'll take the blame for the gap in my rush to glue the glacis plate
in place I did not check the over all fit with the top of the hull. After several
trial fits of the hull skin over the hull I was satisfied that this gap would
not be a problem. The hull top skin is one large piece that covers the top of
the hull and the two sides of the hull. I used the small grate openings over
the engine compartment as my guides for gluing the skin on to the hull.
When I finished gluing the hull top skin to the hull I found a second surprise
there was a 1 mm gap between the top hull skin and the rear hull skin.
Oh the joys of paper models...my next step is to call my optometrist to get
new glasses.
To fill this gap I butt glued a strip of 110 Lb. paper to the rear of the top
skin and painted the strip with watercolor paint. The results are satisfactory.
you can see the added strip in the photo.
Because of the problems I was having with the fit of the skins I decided to
stop and trial fit and trim the parts as needed, I also trimmed the hull to
enhance the fit of the skins. The trimming and fitting required a considerable
amount of time but the results were well worth the time spent.
Now that that we have all of the hull skins glued in place we can start on the
surface detail of the hull. Here we see the rear of the hull with the exhaust
stacks in place with the late model spark arresters on the exhaust. The exhaust
stacks were made from 16 ga. copper wire bent to shape. Thin strips of paper
were glued to the wire to represent the coupling between the exhaust stack and
the exhaust manifold on the rear of the hull.
As I said in an earlier article I am a slow builder, but even for me this build
is taking longer then I expected. I had hoped to be half-way done by this time.
To keep from losing my interest in the model, I make it a point to do something
on the model every evening. If all I do is clean up my worktable or cut out
one part I know I am moving forward and the model will eventually get finished.
If you should tackle a complex model with over 2000 parts my best advice is
to work on it nightly and to look at the model as a series of small models and
assemblies that can be finished in couple of evenings.
Summary
| Model: | PzKpfw V Panther 1-2/2002 |
| Kit: | Halinski |
| Designers: | Marian Sobel | Scale: | 1/25 |
| Difficulty: | Very complex, very difficult |
| Number of Parts: | Over 3000 |
| Instructions: | Polish, German and English |
| Diagrams: | 4 pages generally good |
| Fit: | Excellent |
| Coloring and Artwork: | Outstanding |
| Printing: | Excellent |
| Resources: | http://www.achtungpanzer.com/pz4.htm#panther
http://www.kithobbyist.com/AFVInteriors/pan/pan.html http://www.militarygameronline.com/Panzer/panther.html "Germany's Panther Tank" by Thomas L. Jentz Published by Schiffer Military History |
