It took me three days to build the Das Werk hull and Trumpeter turret and then two weeks to scratch build/3D print my own extra parts...
As this Panther was designed to fight aircraft it seemed appropriate to fit it with anti-aircraft armour over the engine deck. I have a photo-etch set of the Panther's anti-aircraft armour but I decided to save it and instead scratch build my own armour from some bass sheet and steel wire, using the photo-etch set as a guide. I also used some of the bass to add a debris deflector to the roof of the turret.
Years ago I bought several boxes of resin parts from Custom Scale which included over 100 rounds of 5.5cm flak ammo, I've been waiting for the opportunity to finally use some of them so I scattered a few around the engine deck.
I 3D printed a bracket to hold a Jerry can and added it to the rear of the turret, I filled it with a pair of MG42 ammo boxes and a rolled up tarp. I originally planed to add a second bracket with a Jerry can on the other side of the turret but I decided to leave it off as I liked the asymmetry of the single bracket.
The turret has two lifting loops at the front of the turret, in order to actually lift the turret you'd need a third lifting loop at the rear of the turret, so I added it with the some wire. To preform maintenance on the guns you'd need to lift them out of the turret so I also added some lifting loops to the front of the guns with some wire. Continuing with the wire I added a handle to the rear hatch and camouflage loops to the sides of the turret and side skirts.
After adding all the camouflage loops I thought I should put them to use so I made some tree branches with Woodland Scenics foliage clusters that I tore up into small parts and then glued onto some seafoam trees. I've had the foliage clusters and seafoam trees for 20 years but this is my first time actually using either of them, I should have tried using them sooner as I'm quite happy with the results and now look forward to experimenting with them on future projects.
I 3D printed a travel lock to hold the guns in place when the tank isn't in combat. This part took several days of iteration until I was happy, the first design was a simple ledge that's was fixed in place but it would get in the way of the turret as it rotates. The next version could fold down onto the top of the hull but this then blocked the crew hatches. The third and final design folds down on to the top of the hull but then folds again back into itself. I was was inspired by the travel lock on the Jagdtiger which uses a similar folding mechanism.
