Armortek

Der Alder ist gelandet - (The Eagle has landed). My Panther A arrived May 1. Not too much apparent damage from overseas transit.

The boxes are heavier than I remember...



The saga begins....
Bob

Hello Robert, exciting times, the Panther A kit is a work of art, and as you say big and very heavy. I have to be careful with my words, back in my day I could describe her more colourfully Looking forward to your build log. Best wishes....Mick

can anyone advise me what paint to buy for the Panther A I am building
Thanks
Colin

Colin,
That's a deep dark question. But use a good primer first - I prefer a red oxide color as this was most authentic for German vehicles. Some prefer gray primer.

I like the Tamiya TS-3 spray for the dark yellow, although at $6 (USD) for a small can -you will need a lot of cans to complete, it gets pricey. Some builders have had automotive shops mix up cans of the dark yellow color for them as well.

There are many dark yellow varieties including water based acrylics. Humbrol makes a nice spray color for the dark yellow as well, they call it "desert tan". But its also spendy for a 150ml can.

The camo for A's was dependent on unit, field of operations, and season of year.

Hello Mick, yes I'm sure anyone facing one in field had many choice words for sure! Thanks for the encouragement.
best regards all,
Bob

Hi Colin, before I bang on about paint, what are ur plans for the Panther?

New detail part coming soon for Panther A. Early type exhaust with cooling side pipes. Exhaust housing will be most likely 3D printed Nylon, The rest metal. Prototype parts printing now.





best regards,
Bob

Hi Bob

Very nice ...I will take a set

Cheers

Hi David, thanks for the interest. I need to order the first printed parts in metal to check fits etc. It will be a bit more time. In the meantime I'm printing my own resin copy to show how it looks, fits together etc. More details to follow.
Bob

Looks great Bob!

Started work on the stamped steel wheels. Lots of trimming, deburring, priming, painting, bonding tires and of course hundreds of screws.

Machine ~2mm from rim of wheels:


I decided to replace the M2.5 screw with M2 on the outer facing wheels. Looks more scale.


Will keep the M2.5 screws on the hull facing side of the wheels.


Painted wheels with bonded tires (M2 bolts):




till next time,
Bob

Very nice job on the wheels Robert.
So much better using the M2 nuts - think I will have a look at getting some for my Panther.

Quality work is nice to see!

More Panther Tire bonding. I made this simple tire clamp that uses M4 x 20 screw and M4 nut. I'm willing to share STL? Similar concept will work for SDKFZ 7 tires.





Armortek is there a place/folder/we can share STL files?

Bob

Hi Bob - the forum setting have been updates so you will be able to upload STL files here. Let us know if this does not work.

Hello Armortek - it doesn't seem to be working. I get error "Invalid file type extension xxxxx.STL".

I tried editing and attaching to my post above and to a new post as attachment. Both have same message and fail,

Thanks,
Bob