I threatened in Past Work 2 to put this one next on the bench, and I did. That was 6 days ago. I am just about ready for priming. For me that is phenomenal work to get this far this quickly.
I think this week I have spent about 7 or 8 hours building. Not sure if it is the blog driving me, the kit itself (It is Tamiya at its best - you shake the box and the parts just fall together), or I am looking at the unbuilt kits on the shelf, remembering my age, and I am the one with the shorter shelf life, not the models.
So anyway, this thing just floats together by itself. Not knowing a lot of the history of this beast, so doing just a bit of reading, I built the kit as is, no scratch mods, no aftermarket (I am lying here, see below), and no special work other than scraping seam lines for cleanup.
This is the LATE Jagdpanther, so no Zimmerit, (thanks be to whatever higher power you look up to). Did I ever tell you that I hate Zimmerit?
This will be a Jagdpather in 1945 - post Bulge, probably March/April - so no excess mud going on, just dust. The kit has options for the very late production model to meet this time frame (See exhausts for example).
I really want to try some paint chipping on this one. I found a site that a guy has for selling built kits. He does great work, and he really has the rust/chipping technique down pat (some are overdone, but the technique is fantastic!) Check out this link for Finn Hobby. It takes you right to the AFV section.
I think I like the tri-color camo pattern from this time period better as well. According to what I am reading, prior to 1945 the tri-color was base Yellow, with Green overlay only in the summer (1944 anyway) and added Red in the fall. In 1945, and I didn't know this, they changed to Green base with patches of Yellow and Red. It was the overabundance of green instead of yellow that draws me to this type of camo.
So when I looked at this the other day as it was shaping up, and had looked at pictures of completed builds, I saw a glaring oversight. This kit REALLY needs the Photo Etch (PE) screens over the air intake grills on the back deck. So back to eBay, and for $14 I got a set coming in the next week or two.
Being somewhat impatient when it comes to waiting, I dived into an unbuilt Dragon Panther G w/Zimmerit already on it - kit 6384 (again - thanks be to whatever higher power you look up to). I robbed the PE set of grills that came with that (both G models, same basic chassis - thus interchangeable), and when I go to build the Panther (which just might be next - I am on a German roll now), the ones from eBay will be here.
With apologies to General Ira Eaker... 8th Air Force
"I won't do much more talking until I've done more building"
Some progress picks...
(right side only, I don't have the schurzen rail glued on the left side yet).
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