Details of the left side tool rack, last one for today i have to get of to work. I replaced the plastic 'gun cleaning rod holder' with a piece of 2.5mm brass tube, i think it's much better. It still slides within the brackets and in this shot it's a couple of mm out of place . Odly enough the Part PE set has only 2 end cap latches instead of the 4 that are need, I say odd because there are about 10-15 PE parts still on the frets that arn't even marked on the instruction sheet?? And i have no idea what they are for or where they go!!

Close up of one of the track links i made from a reshaping of the kit part, this took about 2 hours!! and still needs some work. I'm going to have to learn how to cast in resin as I'm definately not making another 11 of these, for one i'll never ever get them the same.

Detailed view of the front left tool rack. NOte the blue tak holding the gun barrel in place.

Detailed view of commanders cupola finaly finished, i reckon it's taken me more than 2 weeks of routing around, I'm still not 100% happy but it'll do. Next time I'll do it very differently, I should have taken a cast (if i knew how) because I'm sure there are plenty of other panther builders out there who would like to not have to do the reworking of the cupola.

Just putting the final bits and pieces of PE in place, it should be ready to paint very soon. That's if I can stop fussing around and wanting to make everything just a little bit better. I gave the gun Mantlet and the coupolla a coat of black to pick up any blemishes, the coupolla got a final sanding and the i need to get a scribe to put the zim lines in some of the areas i puttied up.

Another photo that i just liked, but it does show the great gun travel lock chain and the extra epoxy putty zim i had to add.

Now for the 3rd and most difficult of the "revell panther problems". The commanders coupola has only 6 of the 7 periscopes, what is wrong with me why did i think i needed to fix this one!!?? Sounds simple cut 4 of them off and move them over a bit and make a 5th one, right...wrong!!! they look alright from this angle but look at the next post.

Another close up of the patched zim.

To make things more difficult I lost one of the periscopes i cut off to the carpet gods and had to make 2 extras. From this photo you can see that the periscope to the left looks allright (this is one I made myself) but trust me, the rest are shit house and already have had 2 coats of putty. I just don't understand why the 3 remaing periscopes i transplanted fit so terribly. Why is it that once a model manufacturer is aware of a problem they don't fix it!!! I know margins are small and all that other business crap but surely over the 30+ year life of a kit wouldn't they sell more and have happier customers if they made the corrections. I hope dragon (DML) is listening to this re: their new T34/76 1940 and it's terrible tracks (my next blog).

Now the next problem, the engine deck hatches have no hinges??? neither does the PE set??? So i suppose i had better get the epoxy putty our one more time.

Adding all the final details now, the spare track racks look great but the detail on the kit spare track links is terrible and makes them unusable. I reckon i've got 3 options use them, make new ones from epoxy putty or modify the kit parts. All three options sound unappealing to me and I've half started the latter two options or I suppose i could leave them (or some of them) off?

I'm very happy with the storage bins (appart from the missing latch!!!). Some of those parts are so small i have no idea how i got them into place. The smallest PE part in the set I actually lost twice and found it both times, why can't i find that latch??? Hhhmmmm.

That 2" inch hold and fold I bought is just the most fabulous thing, I wouldn't hesitate in recomending it too anyone. If you've seen them and thought they were too expensive, I can tell you if you had to fold one of these storage bins with out it then one with it you'd buy it on the spot.

The rear of the Panther is nearing completion, unfortunatly I lost one of the latches to the right storage bin. I'm not sure how I'm going to replace it, any ideas?

Rear tail light, this is the tiniest little part and is made up of 6 layers of PE. I actually built it up on the sprue because it was just to small.

Here are the beginings of the huge amount of PE storge that PART provide in thier PE set. That little 2" hold and fold i bought is certainly comming in handy.

Here is a rear view of the tank with the PE exhaust brackets sitting in place ready to be glued. Again I've had to do a substancial amount off gap filling around the edges of the PE zim.

I've started to get all the PE and extra details added on to the hull. Here you can see the re-made gun storage lock and the PE zim gaps have been filled with Tamiya epoxy putty. The tracks have also been permanantly added. I've left the hatches unglued at this stage and i think I'll leave them that way.

A good idea?

Well here it is, as well as being an amature model maker I'm also an amature film maker and I've come up with a film idea to combine both these loves. The idea is to retell the Ernst Barkman July 27th 1944 by using models and dioramas instead of actors and sets. I'll shoot it with a combination of video and still photographs and composite it all together in software on my edit suite.

I've already started my research on the subject, there is tons of Ernst Barkmann information out there but not so much from the American side. So if there is anybody out there with information from that day and in particluar the US vehicles present and destroyed in the action please let me know. This is what I've found out so far: all accounts indicate that the American units were from the 3rd armored division and included 9 shermans (no specifics on types) and at least one fuel truck/tanker destroyed , other accounts indicate there were many jeeps, halftracks and other softskins aswell. What i don't know is the number of infantry involved on both sides, the US tactical units and their size nor the german units in the nearby villages of Le Lorey and Le Neufbourg apart from Barkmann's 2nd SS. All information will be much appreciated.

To complete this task i will most likely need the help of other members of the modeling community as there will be at least 12-15 tanks and many soft skins, dozens of infantry in different poses etc and not to mention the various dioramas, a village and several different road scenes. It all sounds very complex but i think the end product will be quite worth the effort and anyway what else will we be doing?