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Despite my initial concerns on the Verlinden Panther I really wasn’t that upset by it, after all, what fun would it be if all one had to do was pour a box of perfect parts together and out popped a perfect tank, when it gets right down to it the work and the shortcomings are the fun part! So starting with Panzer Tracts No.5-2 and volume’s 4 and 5 in the Panther series of Tankpower I developed a course of action.
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The first step was to get the hull square and braced. A lot of baking soda, ca glue, and plastic bracing later I had a square hull with very close to right angles but a lot of gaps. |
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An overall shot of the Hull and Turret mocked up. |
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An above shot showing the corrected upper plate which has been divided into three sections as opposed to one as the model came. |
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I used a round burr in a Dremel to cut out all the weld beads and missing joints in the hull plates and then started making my own welds from Magicsculp using a method outlined by Lee Lloyd in an article in AfV Modeller, which issue I don’t remember because I downloaded it from their website. |
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The filled weld on the left side. |
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Again on the Right front corner. |
A photo detailing the work done to the welds on the glacis plate. |
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A close up of the corner welds. |
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The Lock joint and final drive housing. |
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The transmission cover was dressed up with both sets of mounting screws. |
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Additional weld work as done to the turret. |
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Weld work done in the area of the loaders periscope. |
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Rain channels added to the cupola. |
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The turret escape hatch. |
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Originally the models turret sat flush on the upper deck. A spacer was fabricated from strip to allow the turret to sit proud of the deck. |
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A simple fix. |
Some more Screw detail, this time on the turret roof. |
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This picture shows typical gaps that can be found around the hulland turret that must be repaired also it shows how the rear plateand the wedge-shaped side plate are not made correctly.The rear plate should extend over the wedge plate not thewedge plate over the rear as is the case with this model
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