Panther Ausführung A früh

Dragon 6168

In the following article I will show you the building and painting progress of my Panther Ausf.A

As you can see I have used a pretty basic Dragon kit, still good enough. Although the box shows the Late Type Ausf.A, you can actually build all production types of the Panther. I decided to build the classic early type A, which is recognizable by the basic MG slit and not the ball mount machine gun port at the front armour plate. Also the early type still uses the basic two pipe exhaust system from the Ausführung D.

Here you can see all after-market kits I have used for this model to enhance the overall detail of the kit. I´ve found out that many Panthers of the Ausf.A still had the simple tracks of the Ausf.D so I decided to use them.

-Friul Panther Ausf.D tracks

-Voyager Panther A Photo edged parts

-Aber 7.5cm KwK 42 L/70 aluminium gun barrel

I. Building

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀Finished turret with FlaMG. Note the spare track links at the turret sides.

I decided to bring in some life by adding a figure, in this case the commander of the Panther.

Painting figures is one of the hardest things in scale modeling, so it is necessary to keep on practicing.

I usually use oil paints for the skin only. Clothing is either made by Tamiya or acrylic paints from AK, Vallejo or Ammo.

Here you can see mainly the hull with an manually applied Zimmerit coating from resin by ATAK.

II. Painting

AK track burnishing fluid is applied on the tracks to get a realistic color and texture.

After that I use several pigments and washes.

After using pigments and some wash I simply file of the top layer and the spots where the road wheels would have constant contact to the track.

Before the painting progress can start I do some research and plan out the camouflage pattern.

1. priming

Priming is done with Vallejo black primer.

2. Base coat

Base coat is done with AK Interactive acrylic paints. In this stage I renounced to do any chipping with the hairspray method, scratches and chips on the base coat are later done by brush.

3. Camouflage Scheme