I tentatively present my first offering to this forum...(be gentle)

1/25th scale, out of box, minimal wear and weathering (almost spanky-new) Panther from Academy.

All that I have left to do to call it finished is add the antenna. (Not that any piece of armor is ever truly finished!) Of course there are your suggestions to consider....

Keith I think you did fine. Are those the single link clip together tracks? I think they are a tad bit rusty and you need to dry brush a little more metal color on the ground contact points(tread bars) and sides of the tracks. Also how did you get them tracks to rust up like that it looks real good in the rear view that shows the different shades of rust between the links. Cheers Kevin

you know, it is very good, but on the spare tracks there are some ejector pins that really stand out, and the can be even more visible with the exelent wash you gave them. if you could fix that(I hope its not too late) then this would be really good

I agree, this looks pretty darn good. The ejector pin marks on the spare tracks do stand out quite a bit. I would also suggest to try to weather the turret numbers a bit more to match the insignia on the hull. That track jack looks very realistic on the right side view by the way.

Whew. That wasn't too painful.

Thanks for the kind words and support.

I knew the ejector pin marks were still there. I was hoping perhaps the Germans molded their track links and those marks were part of the process? I guess not, huh? How do you file down vinyl? Shave it off?

Yup, the links are the individual snap together. 70+ per track if I remember right. I felt like a little ole lady doing needlepoint. I just sat on the couch putting together links while watching TV. (Nothing against needlepoint or little old ladies.)

The links are just hanging there, not glued on yet so it is not too late to fix them.

And the numerals will be a cinch to weather.

The way I do rust is pretty easy--
1. start with red primer paint
2. wash with dark brown mixed with a touch of gun metal
3. drybrush orange mixed with gun metal
4. mix up a batch of orange pastel chalk and water
then apply to the part(s) and let it dry sitting at the angle it will be on the subject
5. mix up an even more water batch of yellow pastel chalk and water and repeat the process in step 4
6. for running tracks rub pencil lead on the highlighted surfaces

Thanks again.

Any more comments, concerns, words-of-wisdom out there?