ausf

Hull assembly and zim. Modeled after ref pics where the rows are put down, then obstructions are redone with a border. It's scale thickness, between rows metal is visible.








On her feet:



It's a great kit so far.

CHIEFSONN

Great job Jeff I like the zimmeret look. During your last build you were not sure if the Sturmgeschutz. that I think was so cool and the best one I have seen on the many sites,not to mention the hidden battle system. I did come across a picture in one of my books with the waffle pattern. when I find it again I will post it ,till then keep up the great work. Btw what tool are we using to apply the pattern?

ausf

Thanks for the kind words Wayne.

The tool was simply a waste piece of brass flat stock cut to width and stuck in an exatco handle. My ref pics showed 4 rows between the top of the bumper housing and the bogie housing, so I measured the space and cut the brass to one quarter of it. I'll use the same piece on the upper, I assume the same tools were used throughout the application.

karel47

great work too man, very nice done

tch2000

Looking great!!

manchu9inf

great job, what are you using? Milliput?

ausf

Thanks guys,

No Milliput for me, I live by Aves. The zim is Apoxie Sculpt, I extended and sealed the leaf springs with Fix-it.

Buckeye36

My Feedback: (3)

Really nice work.

MAUS45

Looks great so far!!!! Zim is so much fun!!!

ausf

Thanks you guys. Yes Rudy, zim is fun.

An update.

I blasted the lower hull with Vallejo Grey Primer, than their Model Air Dunkelgelb and two coats of Future. The only other color here was the dry brushing of oily steel on the plastic return rollers before the Future coat. This gives a tough, solid finish before everything else and gets me to the point where I could install the rubber tires and gears, motors and electronics. The drive sprocket, idler and tracks are only on temporarily to check for function, they'll come off for paint and weather. It rides beautiful and tracks straight, drifting about an inch over 30 feet without adjustments. The sound is great too.

Front and sides (right side showing suspension deflection):





Can't leave the muffler untouched of course. Drilled out the pipe too and it'll get the appropriate rust treatment.



And finally, I was lucky to find a recycler on eBay who was selling copper mesh in an appropriate size for the Thoma Shields. Copper or brass was important so I could solder the frames and brackets. This is an exact match to my reference pics (15 across the width of a roadwheel). Even better it was only $5 for a square foot, shipped. Muffler to give perspective:

Panther F

"Tam P IV underway (update 7-29)" Is it August already? [] Where did July go?


You PIV is turning into a masterpiece!



~ Jeff

ausf

It seemed like it. [&:]

Thanks for the kind words Jeff.

MAUS45

Is that Thoma screen under the muffler? Great looking lower hull base coat. Muffler will look good when you rust it!!!!

ausf

Yep, it's 11 x 18 mesh, almost an exact match to my ref pics.

It's Vallejo's Dark Yellow, which has one of the best greenish tints that I've seen. It's pretty glossy now with the Future, but by the time it's field camo'ed, washed and weathered, it'll look right. The Future just protects it so well, it's designed to be walked on after all.

ausf

Working out the Thoma Schurzen. I used copper mesh, wrapped with .005 brass stock, cut, tack soldered and folded over. Played around a bit with damage, the denting is intentional. I just need to clean up some solder.

I needed to get to this stage with the fender brackets and bar, so I know where to line up the holder on the plates themselves. I ony built the two mid brackets so far, but they hold the bar steady as is.

I'm contemplating whether to make them removable or not. I set the upper up with magnets and a rear pivot, so the schurzen won't be in the way if they are set permanently. They are flexible enough that I don't think any contact with disturb them. I soldered the ends, so the mesh won't unravel.

It's hard to get a good photo in the shiney copper state, hopefully you can see it when it's painted, the mesh is almost identical to my ref photos.

Panther F

Man... you're going for gold, huh?

Looks great!



~ Jeff

ausf

Thanks Jeff.

I blew my budget on this, I gotta make it last.

Since I have some extra screen, I may be stupid enough to put the horizontal ones too.

I probably already over stepped accuracy with zim and Thoma, but if I have the side and top panels, I probably shouldn't zim the upper sides, right?
I've seen the mantlet done without the rest of the turret when the panels are in place, I assume it would be the same deal with the hull as well.

Panther F

Yeah... I'm due for another one here real soon. After my A1E8 build I was severely burnt out and remembered all the $$$ taking flight.

Maybe that 1/16 Panther F build will turn into the E-50 Project. The 1/35 Trumpeter version for sure.



~ Jeff

ausf

Schurzen brackets are in. One of my references had the forward two brackets following the hull side angle so I went with that, it seemed more interesting. Here's the 8 brackets with detail of the angled ones. All brass and soldered.




Here they are on the hull. I angled the front of the bars down to follow the hull line, just thinking it was German engineering at hand, but once I put the turret in place, I saw the reason, turret depression:





Two other mods were the moving of the switch from under the spare track link hangar (adding other links and metal bars) to the turret bin.



And using magnets on the hull instead on screwing in at the hinges. I also added a pivot at the rear which will make access easier than trying to lay the upper on it's side for battery change. Due to design, the turret doesn't lift off, so the entire upper on these half to be removed.

MAUS45

Wow!!! How did you bend the hangers and keep them all the same???? Very Cool. Like you track hanger. Just need some closed pin tracks to hang on it.
I really need to try magnets on my hulls!!!

ausf

Hey Rudy,

I just built one as a prototype, then bent the others of each type to match. They all needed some slight adjustments as they were installed. I had a problem with mounting on the outside with the StuG bracket, so this time I made them go through the hull and fender sides, then I'll add the attachment pieces for decoration instead of function. It was much easier to adjust since there was wiggle room that way and much stronger since the brass ends are completely embedded in Aves. The bracket is sturdy enough to lift the whole tank, tracks, gearboxes and all.

I'll be filling the injection pin marks and closing the track links when I clean up the rest of the detail.

I'm seeing the advantage of magnets myself now. The Tamiya design was a screw embedded in the front tranny cover hinges. There was no way in hell I was going to screw and unscrew everytime I needed to pull the battery. When I was looking it over when I first got it, I checked the hull for being able to access the battery via the turret opening like the Tiger I and it seemed okay. It wasn't until I put the turret together until I realized it's screwed in place from underneath, so I had to scramble to find a way to make it simpler.

Here's better pic of the brackets, for some reason I can't link to it:

MAUS45

You love that Aves!!! Looks like it is strong stuff. Is that what you will use to close the tracks up?
Did you use telescoping size larger tube for the part the tube hangers slide into on the brackets?

Good stuff Jeff!!!

Cruiser133

Beautiful work! I know mine will never compare to the level of detail you have accomplished.

maintcoder

I agree, awesome work - I can't wait to see the progress!

ausf

You will too soon enough. The stuff literally gave me a new career in sculpting. Yes, the track link will be dressed up with it too.

Yeah, I started to bend brass over like the real thing but it was way to much work to line it up. Much easier to use a tube cutter on the larger size brass tube and soldeer it. I can always either wrap the outside of the tube with a thin brass sheet, but most likely I'll just sculpt it with...you guessed it...Aves so I can drop a bolt head in it if I decide to go that route.

It turns out that the top screens may have been crew walkways instead of protective screens, so I'll definitely be adding them, thoroughy abused. If so, very little of the tube connector will be seen.

Thanks again you guys for the kind words, I was starting to think there wasn't much interest in this build.