Panther II

[cthulhu77]

 Oh yeah, got this baby in the mail today !!!!

[cthulhu77]

I'm thinking hull down in the dirt, with the troops launching wire guided rockets !  Oh, this one just makes me smile all over!

[Daryl J.]

What's the plan?  


Daryl J.

[Edit].....see what gets answered above when your computer freezes up for about 4 minutes?  The above sounds great! 

[cthulhu77]

Scott just emailed me and said "go crazy and whatiff the kit"...now, that is a green light to sure madness/goodness !!!  Where are my percs?

[cthulhu77]

March, 1946, near Potsdam, Germany


   The night was silent, the only sound in the city rubble was the noise made by the Sherman tanks and halftracks as they worked their way through the disaster that used to be a beautiful city.
   Sitting on top of his cupola, Lt. Richards smoked a Lucky Strike and watched the snow fall down towards him, it was mesmerizing. They only had a few more kilometers to go the bivouac point, and everyone was relaxed. Allied air cover had swept the area for the last three days, and found no enemy movement at all.  The locals gave them wine and fresh bread, it was amazing to see them so industrious in so much ruin. If only the allied army had held out last year in France, this whole mess would already be over, and he'd be home gardening. God, how he missed California.
   The stars were up there, but barely visible in the moonless sky, just because of the snow streaming down like miniature white meteors driven by a high wind. None of the streetlights were on, and the dim headlights of the M4's could barely pierce the white fog. Some of the ground troops carried flashlights to avoid stepping on rusty iron bars left from the bombing campaign, others just used zippos and walked carefully.

   The lead tank, three up in the formation from Richards, exploded in a fireball at 21:11, the turret was flung up into the air at least twenty meters, and he knew instantly that there were no survivors. "We're under attack!" he screamed into the wind, but with no radios, there was no way to communicate with the other vehicles. Infantry were scrambling around like roaches, seeking whatever cover they could find.

[cthulhu77]

Well, got the underpainting done, and the assembly is ongoing...this is a really well done kit. Only twelve steps for a 1/35th panther?

[Sisko]

This should be good! Looks like a nice kit can't say I know that much about Cyber Hobby.

[cthulhu77]

It's a Dragon mold, with Dragon figures...quite nice to put together.

[cthulhu77]

The tracks are from the King Tiger tank, and I really like link build tracks anyway...it's a Zen thing, like tying flies.

[cthulhu77]

I see a Panther and I want it painted black:

[frank2056]

I see a Panther and I want it painted black:

And here's the matching theme song ("Paint it Black", by the Rolling Stones)

[cthulhu77]

Part 2:
The Uhu 251 was hidden in the woods just outside the buildings, hull down and under complete netting, but that did not interfere with the infra-red system mounted on it's back. Through the eyepiece, Kraamer saw the first tank go up in a puff of white, and quickly moved his targeting system to the rear of the column. If they could get them stuck, the tankers could wipe out the entire batch of invaders.
The 6000 watt infra-red light tracked the column slowly, while the passive sensors on the Panther II's and the X-7's sucked in the information, applying it to their targeting systems. Through the viewfinder, the Allied tanks appeared as wobbling green images, some now moving faster, others with turrets swinging around, searching for a target that was invisible.
Another X-7 left its cradle in a plume of smoke, Erich could see the heat trail as it fried the way to hit another Zippo at the base of the turret. He looked away as the entire scope went bright green, the tank had exploded, and cascading debris rained down around the Shermans and half-tracks. The troops scurried about, looking for anyplace to hide.
SS sharpshooters began taking them down, even the small Vampir scopes could fasten onto the passive infra-red signatures, and the STG-44's caused even more havoc in the ranks. Frantic yells over the wind came echoing over the rubble, and the Allied formation dissolved into a total rout.
His tank lurched as the massive 88mm gun fired at the rear M-4, the sound was deafening, and he shook his head to try to hear what the radio link between the Uhu and himself was spitting out.
"Tank Destroyers!" it was a frantic yelp, "On your right flank!" He pulled out his IR binoculars, and saw what the Sdkfz 251 driver was panicked about. Three large barreled tanks with white stars on them came rumbling down the other street, towards their positions. Most Panther commanders would have panicked, but he just grinned. He wasn't worried about them firing at his group at all.
"Rudolph to Viking. Rudolph to Viking. You have some company."
Even through the wind, he could here the Maus tanks' turrets rotating.

[cthulhu77]

starting on the shading:

[cthulhu77]

Onto the second layer:

[BlackOps]

I think you've got the hang of this whole model building thing     Looks great!